ESG

Respect for Human Rights

Human Rights Policy and Systems

The Group aspires to enrich the human rights-related aspects of its advertising and business communication activities. To this end, it regularly conducts Group-wide employee training programs designed to provide employees with a sound understanding of human rights, which they can then apply to their work. We at Dentsu also consider the prevention of harassment and protection of employees’ human rights to be important themes in ensuring that employees are able to showcase their individual capabilities.

The Group is well aware of the impact that communication activities have on society, and carries out human rights awareness promotion activities as part of its Group’s Basic Policy on Human Rights Awareness program. As a global company, Dentsu supports the international norms on human rights, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Labour Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. We also develop due diligence processes to identify, prevent, mitigate, and address any negative impact our corporate activities may have on human rights, in accordance with the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Furthermore, the Dentsu Aegis Network released the Group’s declaration with regard to “Slave Labor and Human Trafficking” based on the 54 articles of the UK Modern Slavery Act of 2015 enforced in the United Kingdom. In the future, we will make an effort to prevent human trafficking, slavery and forced labor by identifying and evaluating potential human rights impacts and risks within our business activities and supply chain.

Statement on UK Modern Slavery Act　 ➡ http://www.dentsuaegisnetwork.co.uk/modern-slavery-statement

Human Rights Promotion System

The Dentsu Group Human Rights Education Conference is held twice a year for those in charge of human rights education at the Company, and for human rights education managers at Group companies. In addition to fundamental human rights issues concerning mainly discrimination and, other topical themes are also covered.

Human Rights Awareness

Site screen of the Human Rights College

To increase human rights awareness, the Group runs human rights awareness training programs based on both employee hierarchy and occupational field. The Dentsu Group Human Rights Education Conference is held twice a year for those in charge of human rights education at the Company, and for human rights education managers at Group companies.

There are also various opportunities to raise awareness of human rights. Textbooks with information on human rights and explanations of their connection to advertising are utilized by employees. The Human Rights College, a site that collects past examples of advertising expressions related to human rights, is posted on the Company’s intranet. This initiative enables continuous online learning that increases knowledge and realizes the pursuit of better communication.

Further, a newsletter dealing with timely human rights-related topics is distributed within the Group twice a month. In the area of advertising and human rights, the Group has a permanent consulting contact, to ensure that expressions communicated to the world are appropriate, and to respond to Group-wide inquiries. In addition to this, we cooperate with human rights-related seminars held at the Japan Advertising Agencies Association, and make efforts to raise awareness throughout the advertising industry.

Internal Reporting to Protect Human Right

We established a contact desk that responds to inquiries from Group employees and allows the identification of possible human rights-related risks associated with the right of expression in advertising. During fiscal 2016, the desk received 144 inquiries. These were handled individually, in a bid both to prevent any recurrence of the issues and to increase human rights awareness. All harassment-related issues are centralized at the Harassment Counseling Section, which has contact points at Dentsu branches, as well as outside the Company, and provides consultation services. The section coordinates with harassment contacts at each Group company, in a bid to prevent harassment across the Group.

To ensure that employee education prevents both power and sexual harassment at Dentsu offices, we have issued an educational book entitled STOP! HARASSMENT. We also hold training sessions tailored to target audiences, including new employees and new managers, and post messages on bulletin boards calling attention to the Company’s anti-harassment policy.

In fiscal 2016, there were 68 consultations at the Harassment Counseling Section (FY2015 [April to December]: 49 consultations; FY2014: 53 consultations; FY2013: 50 consultations). These were individually handled so that improvements might be made to the working environment.