As Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) and Chairman of the Health Station Promotion Committee, the President bolsters and drives Lawson’s internal and customer-oriented health initiatives as well as its health management.
To keep Lawson Group employees healthy and improve their health, we established the Lawson Group Health and Wellness Promotion Center where expert staff members are permanently stationed, as a unit directly under the control of the President. The unit implements various measures in collaboration with the CSO Assistant (Health Officer and Chairman of Lawson Health Insurance Association), Human Resources Division (Employee Health Team), Lawson Health Insurance Association, and labor unions.
For the three years starting from fiscal 2019, we have been implementing health support measures focusing on six KPIs: obesity, blood pressure, liver function, lipids, blood glucose, and smoking. In fiscal 2020, the second year of the project, we continued to work on improving individual lifestyles, despite the constraints entailed in working to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
As a result, the number of people falling within the appropriate range for male obesity increased significantly, but there was no significant improvement in the other categories. We believe that new health issues are becoming apparent, partly due to the impact of the rapid changes in lifestyles caused by COVID-19.
As we approach the targets set out in the KPI for the 3 years, we will continue to follow up with each individual to ensure that they are healthy, both physically and mentally, which includes clarifying the causes of these new health issues and taking measures to address them.
*Figures are percentages of those in the appropriate range | FY2013 Actual |
FY2014 Actual |
FY2015 Actual |
FY2016 Actual |
FY2017 Actual |
FY2018 Actual |
FY2019 Actual |
FY2020 Actual |
FY2021 Target |
Deviation between FY2021 targets and FY2020 results | Against the previous year | Compared to FY2019 | |
Overweight | Male | 50.2% | 50.2% | 49.4% | 49.6% | 51.6% | 51.3% | 50.1% | 61.6% | 57.6% | Exceeded target | 11.5 | ○Increase |
Female | 81.1% | 80.7% | 81.5% | 80.4% | 78.8% | 77.5% | 78.2% | 78.6% | 84.8% | 6.2 | 0.4 | △Slight increase | |
Blood pressure | 74.4% | 72.9% | 75.5% | 73.7% | 74.6% | 75.1% | 75.5% | 71.4% | 80.6% | 9.2 | -4.1 | ×Decrease | |
Liver function | 67.6% | 68.5% | 68.7% | 69.5% | 71.6% | 70.3% | 68.9% | 65.7% | 77.6% | 11.9 | -3.2 | ×Decrease | |
Lipids | 77.8% | 78.6% | 77.8% | 77.9% | 80.3% | 80.5% | 81.1% | 78.0% | 86.3% | 8.3 | -3.1 | ×Decrease | |
Blood sugar | 65.8% | 66.2% | 66.4% | 66.8% | 65.4% | 64.0% | 64.3% | 65.2% | 71.4% | 6.2 | 0.9 | ○Increase | |
Non-smoking | 62.6% | 64.7% | 64.9% | 66.8% | 66.7% | 67.2% | 69.3% | 69.2% | 72.7% | 3.5 | -0.1 | ×Decrease |
●Aggregate for insured person (not dependents) of all ages.
■Overweight: A BMI of less than 25, and with a waist circumference of less than 85 cm for males and 90 cm for females.
■Lipids: Neutral fats of less than 150 mg / dl and HDL cholesterol of at least 40 mg / dl.
■Blood Pressure: Systolic of less than 130 mm Hg and diastolic of less than 85 mm Hg.
■Blood Sugar: Fasting blood sugar less than 100 mg / dl or HbA1c less than 5.6%.
■Liver Function: AST less than 31, ALT less than 31 and γ-GT less than 51.
We conduct numerical analyses of transitions in the health of all our employees and the results of various initiatives, and publish an annual Health White Paper showing the status of progress toward our target values along with results based on other health plan data.
In addition to the approach for high risk groups and the population approach, we are systematically promoting the improvement of employees' health literacy by providing the necessary health information through health promotion measures, employee training and e-learning, etc., in accordance with the situation of each generation.
In particular, in fiscal 2020, we took into consideration changes in people's lifestyles and work styles are a result of COVID-19 (for example, reduced communication due to the promotion of remote work, anxiety about infectious diseases, and a lack of exercise due to fewer commuting opportunities).
Target | Physical | Mental |
New Employees | ・Confirmation of health initiatives | ・Information on consultation services Self-care |
SV (Supervisor: Store Management Instructor) |
・Promotion of health management by wearing wearable devices (carried out in some areas) | ・Information on consultation services Self-care |
Female | ・Holding of consultations | ・Information on consultation services Self-care |
Managers | ・Confirmation of health initiatives・Promotion of health management by wearing wearable devices (carried out in some areas) | ・Line care and self-care・Presentation of support methods for those who are not feeling well (support program for those returning to work)・Support for workplace environment improvement based on stress check group analysis |
All | ・Promotion of health promotion measures (Genki Challenge, etc.)・Distribution of articles about health management (high-risk diseases, exercise, sleep)・Distribution of information on stretches that can be done at home | ・Distribution of articles about health management (coping with stress and resilience)・Provision of e-learning・Introduction of program to support employees returning to work・Implementation of stress checks (implementation rate: 91.3%) |
* Initiatives taken in response to the impact of COVID-19: Stepping up of remote work, setting rules for remote meetings, reconsolidation of business continuity plans (BCP), etc.
We have introduced a return to work support program to help employees reintegrate into the workplace. Under this program, information is shared among the workplace, human resources staff, and occupational health staff in the period between the employee's return to work and the lifting of work restrictions, with the aim of enabling them to perform their duties smoothly at the workplace to which they have returned and helping them avoid having to take another leave of absence.
This initiative will not only reduce the rate of reinstatement of leave, but will also improve the line care and mental health literacy of managers, with the aim of creating a better workplace environment for all through our continued efforts.
This initiative is now in its sixth year. This is a program that awards Ponta points to employees every time they perform the tasks listed in the menu below.
This year, for the Lifestyle Check category, we focused on raising awareness of exercise habits by providing videos of exercises that can be done at home, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition, under the Health Checkup Result Points category, Ponta points are given for each item in the health checkup results if there is no lifestyle risk in the categories of blood pressure, lipids, HbA1c, BMI, and smoking. What is more, two types of bonus points are available: Health Checkup Total (Bonus) Points are given to those who have normal blood pressure, lipids, and HbA1c, and Bonus Points are given to those who have normal values for all five items.
Points are awarded when employees check their own health risks based on a medical checkup.
Points are awarded when employees answer a questionnaire and check their lifestyle to find out where they can make improvements. Useful information in each field is also provided.
Points are awarded when employees learn about health through reading materials and quizzes.
Points are awarded if the results of this year's health checkup show no risk of lifestyle-related diseases.
Lawson actively promotes sports as a way for employees to further improve their health, and has held sports tournaments in eight districts across Japan. However, in fiscal 2020, events were held remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In conjunction with the health promotion program, Genki Challenge!, teams selected one of the seven Shinkansen courses and walked to their destination for 56 days. Rather than assigning points to teams based on a uniform target of 8,000 steps per week, the course-based system allowed each team to set their own objectives, which made it easier to work on. As a result, the overall utilization rate, average number of steps taken, and score improved. In particular, one major achievement was that the utilization rate increased at branch offices, which had been an issue.
●Departmental Genki Challenge in the second half of 2019!
No. of participants | Utilization (no. of people) |
Utilization rate* | Average no. of step | Average score | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Overall | 4,001 | 1,716 | 43% | 4,384 | 20.0 |
Headquarters | 913 | 794 | 87% | 7,821 | 32.3 |
Areas | 690 | 600 | 87% | 7,194 | 35.6 |
Branch offices | 2,398 | 432 | 18% | 946 | 4.6 |
●2020 Sports Festival in Conjunction with Genki Challenge!
No. of participants | Utilization (no. of people) |
Utilization rate* | Average no. of steps | Average score | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Overall | 3,585 | 2,537 | 70.7% | 7,305 | 31.5 |
Headquarters | 960 | 862 | 89.8% | 7,817 | 37.8 |
Areas | 798 | 728 | 91.2% | 7,277 | 31.2 |
Branch offices | 1,827 | 951 | 52.1% | 5,880 | 21.3 |
* Number of people who launched the app at least once a week ÷ Number of participants
In addition, we used communication tools to allow participants to post real-life updates on their activities, which helped to maintain and improve motivation among employees all over Japan, as well as those overseas, who are not usually in contact with each other. In the course of these efforts, some departments launched club activities to continue their health activities, which helped to foster wide-ranging communication among employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through these initiatives, we are working to further improve health by encouraging communication among employees, not only among those employees who have less contact with each other in their day-to-day work, but also among all employees, from frontline store employees to management.
●Shinkansen Walking! Course
Course name | Tohoku Shinkansen | Sanyo Shinkansen | Tokaido Shinkansen | Hokuriku Shinkansen | Joetsu Shinkansen | Kyushu Shinkansen | Hokkaido Shinkansen |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Distance (km) | 674.67 | 553.75 | 515.35 | 454.08 | 300.84 | 256.82 | 148.79 |
Average number of steps required | 15,060 | 12,360 | 11,503 | 10,136 | 6,715 | 5,733 | 3,321 |
Maintaining the health not only of employees but also of our franchise owners and store crews is one of Lawson’s most significant concerns. We offer subsidies for physical examinations, flu vaccinations, etc. through the Lawson Owner Welfare Association along with a menu of other health support benefits.