Education and Awareness
Employee Compliance Awareness
Compliance Week
Since 2004, Canon Inc. and its Group companies in Japan have held Compliance Week semiannually, providing employees with the opportunity to contemplate the meaning of compliance and corporate ethics as their own problem. During Compliance Week, more than 40,000 employees take part in workplace meetings to discuss issues related to compliance.
In actual practice, this means that compliance issues specific to each workplace are identified and solutions are discussed by everyone involved, with the results checked during the next Compliance Week. Repeating this issue resolution process contributes to the cultivation of a more positive corporate culture.
We also seek deeper awareness of compliance which befits the times by bringing up current topics related to compliance and corporate ethics for discussion at the workplace.
Flow of Compliance Week Activities
Compliance Card Distribution
To reinforce the importance of demonstrating high ethical standards and a strict sense of compliance, Canon produced a portable Compliance Card in 17 languages and distributed it to all executives and employees of Group companies worldwide, including full-time, part-time and temporary employees. The card carries a reminder of the San-Ji (Three Selfs) Spirit and a test section that employees can use to check themselves and reflect on the role of compliance in their everyday activities.
Canon Inc. has also developed a mechanism to check employee behavior. Once a month employees are required to take a six-subject compliance test, which automatically appears when they start up their workplace computer.
Compliance Card
Information via the Intranet
Canon Inc. established the Compliance Website on its intranet system as a means to enhance everyday awareness of related issues and provide employees access to company regulations and a variety of compliance-related information.
We also publish the Compliance Newsletter, which is released companywide, with the goal of improving awareness of compliance. These were published semiannually in 2011 with a focus on the Compliance Week results reports. Case studies of the issues and efforts set at each workplace were reported on in the first-half newsletter, along with information about the importance of confidential information controls. The second-half newsletter reported on trends in issue-setting at workplaces, and introduced the opinions of employees.
In a separate initiative, we established the Canon Group Compliance Site for employees of Group companies in Japan. Materials such as the Canon Group Code of Conduct, Practice! A Corporate Ethics Reader and the Compliance Newsletter are posted there for access by all Group employees.
Compliance Training
Rank-Based Training
A strong sense of ownership in each employee is the basis of compliance. Rank-based training designed to foster compliance awareness has been conducted for general managers, managers and assistant managers, as well as new employees.
Canon has also conducted training for managers since 2007 for each organizational unit within Canon Inc. as well as at each Group company. Approximately 800 managers attended this training in 2011. Training for managers reaffirms the importance of compliance and the conduct expected of managers, while also providing an impetus for sharing common values.
Global Legal Affairs Seminars
Canon has held Global Legal Affairs Seminars on legal issues and regulations since 2007. These seminars explain in detail the main points and specific responses relating to guidelines and white papers issued by the Global Legal Affairs Coordination Committee. Participants are drawn from among Canon Inc. and Group company personnel in Japan working in fields relevant to the seminar theme.
Along with raising interest in legal affairs and facilitating a direct communication approach that includes opportunities for Q&A, these seminars promote a deeper understanding of compliance with major legal and regulatory frameworks around the world.
There were four sessions of the Global Legal Affairs Seminar in 2011, covering the following topics, including follow-up reviews of guidelines and white papers.
Planned topics for the 2012 seminars include trade secrets management and Guidelines for Uniform Labelling in Measurement Units (based on the International System of Units (SI)), and revision of the Canon Compliance Program for Security Trade Control Legislation. We will continue to conduct these seminars regularly to make information on laws and regulations more prominent and make our employees more knowledgeable about them.
Seminar on global product laws
| Theme | Times held |
|---|---|
| White Papers (IT Law White Paper, Product Environmental Law White Paper, China Law White Paper) | 3 (once each) |
| Explanation of Transfer Pricing Tax Code | 1 |
Drunk Driving Eradication Program
Drunk driving is a serious social problem. Taking preventive measures as a corporate entity is a social imperative. Canon conducts these efforts Group-wide so as to eliminate drunk driving, whether on business or privately.
In 2007, Canon developed the Drunk Driving Eradication Program for Group company employees across Japan who commute by car or motorcycle. We ran the program again in 2011, targeting new recruits and mid-career hires, as well as employees who have recently started to commute by car.
The program comprises lectures featuring real-life case studies, video messages from victims of drunk driving accidents and group discussions on the causes of drunk driving.
We continue to update the content of the program in response to changing laws and other social factors.
In 2011, three Group companies- Nagahama Canon, Ueno Canon Materials, and Oita Canon Materials- also conducted a similar program for managers. In the program, the elimination of drunk driving is posited as a facet of management, which leads to awareness on the part of managers and thorough guidance for their subordinates.
Canon will continue efforts to eliminate drunk driving.
