Through mutual trust, Suzuki has developed a good relationship with the Suzuki Labor Union, which represents Suzuki employees. The number of labor union members is 17,270 as of the end of FY2022, and the unionization rate of full-time employees (excluding managers and non-union members defined in the labor agreement) is 100%.

Building a new labor-management relationship (from negotiations to dialogue)

Transformation in the labor-management negotiation style from 2022 onward

Previously, the annual spring wage negotiations (the so-called shunto (“spring offensive”) wage talks) were the primary occasion for labor-management negotiations. These negotiations revolved around the core theme of pay raises and bonuses, and other issues involved a mix of individual workplace and cross-divisional issues, making the focal point of discussions difficult to understand. It was difficult to align the Company and the labor union in the same direction, and discussions were often merely a formality to communicate each side’s position.
In light of these conditions, Suzuki sought to energize communication between supervisors and subordinates at the workplace level, which is the foundation of a trusting relationship between labor and management, and to carry out level-based discussions. Suzuki implemented measures during the annual spring wage negotiations in 2022 to achieve these aims.

Activities during annual spring wage negotiations

• Suzuki made negotiations “a place of dialogue,” in which the Company conveys its measures for the future, and shares with the union the issues that should be addressed in relation to those measures, with both sides aligning their positions while discussing ways to reach solutions.
• Based on the belief that it would be effective for not only union members, but also managers to work together on labor-management negotiations, a message from the President mainly targeting managers was issued to coincide with the negotiations. Information on the content of the dialogue, including this message, was made available to all members of labor and management.

Continuous activities after labor-management negotiations

Conducting union member awareness surveys

Engagement (workplace communication)

President’s workplace dialogue

Since 2021, the President has visited all workplaces within the Company (divisions, plants, sites) and has held information sharing meetings (2022: 41 workplaces). The President directly conveys his thoughts and ideas to employees, while employees share their daily issues with the President. The President and employees share problems, cooperate, and make a concerted effort to solve those problems. Notably, these meetings provide young to middle-level employees with the opportunity to convey their thoughts and ideas directly to the President in their own words. In addition, the President and other members of management listen to these voices of employees and strive to make improvements flexibly and rapidly.

Revision of business plans

Since FY2023, Suzuki has maintained a balance between personnel development through business execution and man-hours in the business plans of each division by visualizing the necessary man-hours to achieve plans, formulating plans down to the individual level, and assigning work to each individual. Previously, there were some plans that were partially imbalanced in terms of workload and man-hours (number of people x ability). As a result, Suzuki has learned that rather than developing employees, such imbalanced plans result in lower quality work as employees race to handle excessive workloads, resulting in many cases of rework, changes and delays to plans, and exhaustion of the workforce. To ensure that each employee feels like they are growing, Suzuki uses PDCA cycles in operations, while encouraging close daily communication between supervisors and subordinates.

Wages

Welfare and benefits

Dormitory for single employees and housing

Suzuki has a dormitory for single employees who join the Company from distant areas. Depending on the region, there is also company housing for employees working at domestic offices (including those on secondment).

Company-subsidized housing

Suzuki also has subsidized housing where the Company rents ordinary homes for employees as a dormitory or company housing for employees (including those on secondment) working at domestic offices or sales distributors in regions where there is no dormitory or company housing.

Sports facilities

Suzuki has established gym facilities that are provided to employees to improve their health, boost their physical condition or to spend their leisure time. Comprehensive sports facilities (Suzuki ground, Suzuki gym, a weight training room and tennis courts) complete with nighttime lighting are located close to the head office. The Company also has a ground adjacent to the Iwata Plant (which used for sports such as baseball, softball and soccer).

Employee cafeterias

Asset building savings program

Suzuki has an asset building savings program for the purpose of encouraging employees to save, and any employee under the age of 55 can take part (with the three types of assets: general assets, annuity assets or housing assets).

Housing loan financing program

This is a program that enables employees to receive interest subsidies from the Company when they need funds to acquire a home and to borrow for a housing loan from a financial institution.

Employee vehicle or family vehicle purchase program

This is a program that enables employees or a member of their family (a spouse or child of an employee) to receive a predefined discount upon purchase of a (new Suzuki) vehicle (some models are excluded). The program also enables funding if purchase funds are needed.

Employee stock purchase plan

The employee stock purchase plan is a program where a certain amount of money is deducted from monthly pay to buy Company stock on an ongoing basis. Employees can acquire stock easily in proportion to their monthly contribution and the Company also provides an incentive at the time of contribution to support employees’ asset building.
In addition to welfare and benefits, employees owning shares in the Company leads to expectations of increased motivation due to the fact that improving performance leads directly to their own profit, and leads to fostering a sense of participation in management.

• * Please refer to Company Data for details on the number of participants and participation rate.

TOPICSSuzuki increases incentive grant rate for employee share purchase

Suzuki has raised the incentive grant rate for its employee shareholders’ association from the current 5.6% to 100% as part of its human capital investment initiatives. By making the program attractive and easy to join, we will encourage employees to build assets and raise their sense of participation in management.
The employee shareholders’ association is a program where a fixed amount is deducted from employees' monthly salaries to continuously purchase company shares. Suzuki introduced this program as part of its employee welfare and benefits initiatives in 1973. It has supported employees in building assets by offering the opportunity to invest in company shares starting from as little as ¥1,000 and granting an incentive of 5.6% of the accumulated funds.
By increasing the incentive grant rate to 100% of the accumulated funds (with a maximum incentive amount of ¥10,000)^*, we hope to encourage even more employees to join the employee shareholders’ association.
Suzuki will continue to expand its welfare and benefits programs to unite its employees and work as one to achieve the Growth Strategy for FY2030, while aiming to be a company essential to people and society.

* Maximum incentive amount

Building a stable relationship with the labor union in the Suzuki Group

The Suzuki Group has 120 member companies (manufacturers, non-manufacturers, sales distributors) at home and abroad. It is our hope that those 120 member companies are individually trusted by the local residents, society, and customers.
At Suzuki, seminars are given to union officials and human resource management personnel of overseas companies to make them understand the importance of trusting relationships and smooth communication between labor and management, as well as the need for a fair and equal personnel management system, etc. We also work with the Suzuki Union to promote global personnel exchanges both domestically and abroad, and we strive to establish a work environment which allows our approximately 70,000 employees in 120 companies to work with creativity and enthusiasm, and to maintain a stable labor-management relationship.

IndiaMaruti Suzuki India Limited

●Freedom of association and collective bargaining

Maruti Suzuki India respects the right of its employees to form and join labor unions. Maruti Suzuki India recognizes three employee labor unions. There is one labor union each at Gurgaon Plant, Manesar Plant, and Manesar Powertrain Plant. These are independent labor unions, and elections are held in accordance with union regulations.
The union representatives and management communicate regularly through constructive dialogue and collective bargaining. In addition, the three labor unions make wage revisions every three years, based on a shared labor union charter. Elections to decide the representatives of the labor unions at the Gurgaon Plant and the Manesar Powertrain Plant were held without incident in FY2022.

●Compensation system

Maruti Suzuki India provides industry-leading allowances and compensation that exceeds the industry average. In terms of remuneration policy, the company has introduced a well-structured performance-linked remuneration system for all levels of employees, without gender discrimination, and based on indicators of improved productivity and achievement of business targets.

●Employee welfare system

Maruti Suzuki India values employees who contributed to the company’s development. The company contributes 1% of after-tax profit in the prior fiscal year to a fund for employee welfare. The fund is utilized for welfare measures such as housing loan subsidies, educational support for employees’ children, development of shared infrastructure for employee housing, and social security measures such as post-retirement medical benefits for employees and their spouses.
At a housing project carried out in Dharuhera in the state of Haryana, 262 housing units have so far been delivered to employees. Several additional housing units are currently under construction and are scheduled to be delivered to employees.

●Connections between employee families and the company

To build connections with employees’ families and provide for their welfare, Maruti Suzuki India holds events such as career counseling by experts for employees’ children, Family Day, and plant tours for families. Communication through internal newsletters and President’s messages issued on special days fulfill a crucial role in relations with employees’ families.

●Handling grievances from local employees through a specialist help desk

A specialist help desk handles grievances, in order to address grievances reported by employees, including temporary employees. Regular grievance hearings are held to address employee problems.

●Awards presented and received

Maruti Suzuki India has received an award from AmbitionBox for the “Best Places to Work in India 2022” in the automobile industry.