Promote Diversity

JX Advanced Metals is dedicated to fostering an environment where female employees feel empowered to demonstrate their full potential. To this end, we strive to leverage flextime systems and telecommuting systems and enhance maternity and childcare support systems. We strive to increase the number of female employees, implementing ongoing recruitment seminars and public relations activities targeting female students. We also roll out direct recruiting policies targeting female mid-career candidates. Furthermore, we are committed to supporting career development through communication from top management and internal training. We also foster interactions and networking among female employees. We will continue to accelerate these efforts, striving to be a company that encourages the success of female employees.

The Company conducts training for all employees to raise awareness on diversity. In doing so, we aim to create a workplace environment that enables diverse employees to work with peace of mind. Our trainings include programs for employees to learn and gain an understanding of diversity in terms of gender, age, nationality, and cultural backgrounds. We also emphasize the importance of respecting different points of view to encourage innovation and overall corporate growth.

We have provided support for childcare for some time, and in recent years the percentage of male employees taking childcare leave has been increasing. In addition to providing presentations about our system, we are working to spread awareness of support measures by holding panel discussions with employees who have taken childcare leave or are balancing work with childcare in our Career Design Training that has been held since fiscal 2020.

We employ and retain people with disabilities in response to their desires to play active roles in society. In September 2020, our head office began training instructors and improving work environments. In January 2022, we established the Cheerful Support Office, which consists of members who have mental disabilities (intellectual and developmental). In April 2023, we made JX Advanced Metals Corporate Service Co., Ltd.^* a special subsidiary, transferring the Cheerful Support Office to this company to accelerate improvements in the working environment. In addition, we hold tours of workplaces and meetings to foster a shared awareness for Group-wide understanding.

• *A wholly owned subsidiary of JX Advanced Metals

Between fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2022, we hired six employees with mental disabilities to work in the head office. These employees sorted and delivered mail, replenished supplies and beverages, and performed other services. In April 2023, we welcomed four new employees from a special-needs school and expanded our operations to accommodate the increased number of members. The office began taking orders for business card production, digitizing paper documents, and general administrative work for various departments. We launched a Cheerful Support cleaning team in April 2024 to bring head office cleaning in-house. These services were previously performed by an outside contractor.
A company-wide understanding is essential for making these types of initiatives a permanent fixture. All new employees and new hires at the head office learn about the Cheerful Support work through presentations given by Cheerful Support Members. Through these efforts, the activities of Cheerful Support Members have become well known among employees, and the office is receiving many requests for services. The cheerful and loud greetings offered by Cheerful Support Members bring energy and vitality to the company.

We established Uchihara Farms as an agricultural and welfare cooperative project in Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture as an organization under JX Advanced Metals Corporate Service Co., Ltd. The farm aims to contribute to social welfare through farming performed by people with disabilities. The farm also aims to contribute to the well-being of Company employees by utilizing agriculture for employee education and company events. With the cooperation of Nihon Nogyo Jissen Gakuen, the farm leases approximately 7,000 m² of land from the organization and employs people with disabilities to farm the land. Harvested vegetables are used in the company cafeteria, provided at various events, and sold at direct sales outlets. In addition, Uchihara Farms serves as an in-house training facility to promote an understanding of people with disabilities.

As part of our efforts to energize individuals and organizations, we are actively working to create an environment where a diverse range of people can work with a sense of motivation. Our efforts include the creation of an environment where people can work fully demonstrating their capabilities even if they are pregnant, raising a child, or caring for a family member. We provide legally mandated systems to support having and raising children, and offer our own unique systems as well. Our handbook on the support available for employees offers tips on balancing work with childcare or family care, provides an overview of the public services and company systems available for their use, and describes the roles managers should play in this context.

As part of our efforts to create an environment where a diverse range of people can work with a sense of motivation, we introduced a remote work system in January 2018. During the COVID-19 pandemic, our employees have been working from both home and office to ensure the safety of our business partners, local communities, employees, and their families, while taking into account the state of the virus and requests from government agencies, etc. We have also been striving to maintain our business to fulfill our social responsibility to deliver essential products to society. We still continue to utilize our remote work system so that a wide range of diverse employees, not limited to those with circumstances such as childcare or nursing care, can play an active role in the Group.

In addition to the current flextime system with core hours, we have introduced a flextime system without mandatory core hours at the head office and for a portion of Isohara Works, with the aim of promoting more autonomous work styles among. We have also defined our flextime system as covering 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., excluding late-night hours, to create a system where employees can flexibly choose their work hours.

The Company implements internal systems, in addition to legally-required standard systems, related to childbirth and childcare, committing ourselves to fostering environment that allow employees to balance work and childcare. We support flexible work styles, ranging from maternity leave and shorter working hours, to the use flextime systems and other styles. We are committed to providing flexible work arrangements and childcare support.

JX Advanced Metals offers the following programs if an eligible family member requires constant care. We support our employees in balancing family care responsibilities with their work. We provide employees who need to care for family members with options, including shorter working hours and telecommuting, fostering an environment that allows employees to balance work and family life. The Company also reduces the burden on employees through interviews with those who provide family care, as well as through our own nursing care assistance. At the same time, we allow such employees to participating in company educational programs while on family care leave, striving to encourage sustainable career development.