We are taking a variety of measures aimed at enabling the foreign nationals we hire to comfortably thrive in the workplace. One such measure was launching the Global Nakama Initiative (GNI) to create a place for foreign national employees to network and exchange information. We are rolling out this initiative as a way to enable them to freely exchange opinions and consult with each other. Currently, foreign nationals who work in Japan often have customs and ways of thinking that differ from Japanese people. Through these activities, we aim to foster an environment where every foreign national employee can thrive while also supporting their personal and professional lives in Japan.

In May 2018, Idemitsu Kosan launched GNI (Global Nakama Initiative), a forum of information exchange for foreign national employees. Working with the Human Resources Department, GNI also serves as a support center for the foreign employees to easily consult for advice so that they can work with a better sense of security.
Last year, GNI hosted three meetings and one of the meeting results was to assist newly joined foreign employees by providing them simple guidelines of how to work and live in Japan. The guidelines copies were distributed to the foreign national freshmen during the job offer ceremony.

On October 28, GNI first meeting post-business integration (Idemitsu Kosan and Showa Shell) was held. At the meeting, the participants shared and discussed their lifehacks* to live and work more comfortably in Japan.

• ※ lifehack : methods and techniques to manage time and daily activities in a more efficient way which lead to more comfortable life.

1. Daily Life
   1. (1) Effective use of local public facilities

      Municipal and ward offices provide free Japanese language lesson. Not only that, they also provide opportunities to obtain more knowledge about Japanese culture through lectures and workshops. Foreign employees can enjoy the services provided by these facilities with their families and at the same time deepening understanding about Japanese customs.

   2. (2) Foreign nationals communities on social media

      There have been several groups and communities on social media for foreigners in Japan to exchange information and establish network. Some of those groups also provide serve as platform where foreign nationals can give and receive various unused goods for free.

2. Work
   1. (1) Effective use of the company’s IT tools

      Various work-related applications, such as Box (cloud storage) and Microsoft Teams (communication tool) enable employees to perform their work efficiently.

   2. (2) Changing habit

      Using time more effectively, for example listing up today’s work and duties while commuting on public transport.