Fujitsu

Introduction

A Japanese information and communication technology giant, Fujitsu employs over 125,000 people in more than 100 countries. Despite the challenges that having such a widespread and diverse workforce presents, it prides itself on an organisational culture which is intolerant of accidents, incidents and poor safety performance.

Paul Brown, Head of Shared Services, explains:

“Quite simply, the business recognises that to be successful it must ensure looking after its people is central to everything it does. As well as providing and maintaining a safe and comfortable working environment for all employees, promoting employee mental and physical health is also key.

“We at Fujitsu have been working for quite some time to foster a culture that positively manifests occupational health and safety in the workplace. As part of this, we want everyone to feel accepted, nurtured and like they have an equal place within the organisation – because that’s how talent thrives and succeeds.

“Our employees are our most important asset and one which we are passionate in supporting throughout our regions.  Our occupational health and safety standards are embedded into our organisation and leadership principles, recognising them as key competitive differentiator as well as being crucial to attracting and retaining our workforce.

“Empowering People for a Sustainable Future was the key takeaway from our Fujitsu ActivateNow Conference, which was a great event to showcase our digital capabilities, the digital transformation we’re going through, and what we are doing to make the world more sustainable by building trust in society through innovation.”

Putting people first

The Fujitsu Group's first priority in all business activities is to protect the health and safety of our employees both in mind and body by providing a safe and healthy work environment tailored to the different cultures in which we operate.

• We will foster a culture that does not tolerate accidents, incidents and poor safety performance
• We will ensure safety is a core business value, and make safety important and personal in order to influence people’s decisions and behaviour
• We will completely eliminate the loss of business opportunities due to preventable illnesses, injuries, and unexpected work-related accidents

The Fujitsu way

Governing the way the organisation does business, there are three parts to The Fujitsu Way: its purpose, indicating why it exists; its values, indicating the sense of value each person should have; and its code of conduct, which everyone is expected to adhere to.

Its purpose is to “make the world more sustainable by building trust in society through innovation”.

Looking further into how this plays out, the organisation talks about empowering its people to work creatively and to be able to effectively support customers. It talks about empathising with people’s challenges, to collaborate and demonstrate agility in search of solutions. And it wants to continue to promote diversity and inclusion, treating people with fairness and equality.

Responding to the Covid-19 pandemic

Like many organisations, the Covid-19 pandemic brought significant challenges to the way Fujitsu does business. As its operating model changed suddenly, with people reverting to working from home, there was still an emphasis on ensuring employees were kept safe and healthy while continuing to meet customer demands.

During 2020, the unprecedent impact of Covid-19 meant Fujitsu’s processes were tested to their maximum.  Fujitsu is proud of its early response to the pandemic, supporting all its employees to remote working in advance of State or Governmental authorities triggering requirements around the world.

Fujitsu realised immediately the movement of people in Asia would result in potential for a pandemic which resulted in an immediate travel restriction policy globally. This travel model has not only protected its employees but also prevented potential business continuity and infection risks in the countries.

The organisation became aware that infection data was not always reliably available in several countries, resulting in Fujitsu creating its own Bi Dashboard which was made publicly available to support all its countries.  This, along with Fujitsu’s own Covid-19 employee portal, has provided trusted sources of communications to its employees throughout the pandemic.

In support of its employees’ remote working, revised homeworking assessments were implemented to ensure all employees had access to effective safety arrangements and included occupational health and safety case management to support employee wellbeing to prioritise employee safe return to office planning.

All return to office plans across its regions took best practice from around the world to implement standardized controls in each of its offices and Fujitsu is using its own Bi Dashboard to inform a series of occupational health and safety recommendations on conditions which would trigger and monitor employees working from its offices. As of November 2021, this remains in place and the firm continues to consider local conditions which prioritises Fujitsu employees’ health and safety.

As an additional control measure, in several countries where it was legally permitted, Fujitsu has operated its own Covid-19 testing and vaccination regimes to support and reduce risk to its employees.

Fujitsu's Covid-19 activities and successes

The sustainable workforce

As it strives to support customers and the move toward a sustainable world, Fujitsu recognises it all begins with having a healthy, happy and committed workforce.

In 2019, Fujitsu was awarded the ISO 45001 standard of excellence in occupational safety and health having had to re-write its management standard to address the legal and language requirements in over 100 territories. This led to a change programme, which included:

• Development and promotion of health and safety as a core leadership value and critical dimension of business strategy
• Modular gamification training for all employees in the Europe, Americas and Asia region overcoming language, cultural and legal barriers and establishing a single set of workforce-wide behaviours. The programme connects with employees and aligns with The Fujitsu Way
• Comprehensive international legal register spanning over 30 countries alone
• ISO 45001 standard management system to create an international health and safety platform
• Implementation of standardized internally developed ServiceNow processes via an Ask Safety platform, covering standardized incident reporting, property management, workplace assessments, audit and inspections
• Occupational health and safety pre-qualification for Fujitsu key supplier chain providers.

Simon Head, Head of International Occupational Health and Safety, says:

“Implementing the Fujitsu Way principles and its core values has been an essential element in our occupational health and safety journey throughout the international regions.  Without these principles it would have been virtually impossible to challenge traditional long-held health and safety behaviours and principles, removing costly external consultants, building a proactive team of safety professionals and implementation of standardized processes.

“We expected differing standards across the international regions, however we were somewhat surprised at the level of expected occupational health and safety standards in several countries, which included in well-developed nations and found multiple countries with little or no competent safety professional. IOSH gave Fujitsu a core skills framework to validate its insourced safety professionals and we are proud that all our international team members are now all members of IOSH.

“Working with IOSH, the ILO and WHO on the Vision Zero project will further drive improvement into Fujitsu and its supply chain.  We are delighted that Mr Susumu Amano (Mano), Corporate Executive Officer, and myself will be guest speakers at the Vison Zero Summit in Japan 2022.”

Fujitsu Uvance - moving forward

Launched as recently as October 2021, Fujitsu Uvance is the organisation’s new global business brand which aims to leverage its technological capabilities and problem-solving expertise in seven key areas to offer value to customers while achieving its ultimate purpose.

The word “Uvance” refers to its ambition of making all (universal) things move forward (advance) in a sustainable direction. In the organisation’s own words, it demonstrates Fujitsu’s determination of “building new possibilities by connecting people, technology and ideas, creating a more sustainable world where anyone can advance their dreams”.

Fujitsu Uvance will play a central role in driving the growth of Fujitsu's core business, comprising seven key focus areas announced in the Management Direction update in April this year. These areas are composed of four cross-industry areas that are interlinked with three horizontal areas that form the technological foundation, based on the social issues expected to occur in 2030, the target year of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Since the announcement in April, the firm has appointed global leaders for each of these areas who are working with the relevant departments to evaluate which value the firm can deliver across each area and how it can best deliver it.

Fujitsu Uvance is dedicated to the realization of the firm’s company Purpose and aimed at both contributing to the resolution of social issues and achieving sustainable growth.

Fujitsu will also unveil a new, vibrant brand Visual identity (VI) to its customers that coincides with the inauguration of Fujitsu Uvance. The new VI expresses Fujitsu's desire to be inclusive and respectful of diversity. It includes a new colour palette, a new digitally accessible font, and its revamped Infinity Mark. It will apply the new VI across every touchpoint with its customers to express Fujitsu's own transformation.

Takahito Tokita, ​​​​​​​CEO and CDXO, says:

“In this era of rapid change, maintaining existing habits and established ways of thinking is no longer suitable. We will transform all of Fujitsu with new ideas. I hope that all of you will take part in the realization of our Purpose, by fully understanding "Fujitsu Uvance" and linking it to action.”