Equal Opportunity Policy (EOP) - Canon India

Canon India Private Limited (CIPL)

Overview/ Introduction

Canon India Private Limited (CIPL), is committed to being an equal opportunity employer which provides a safe, inclusive and enabling work environment for its employees. It aspires to create a workplace in which employees regardless of their race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, sexual orientation or disability will work together collaboratively. Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) framework embraces equal opportunity for all. This is in accordance with The RPwD (Rights of Persons with Disability) Act, 2016 and Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019.

Message from President & CEO

At Canon India, we are passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that promotes and values diversity of human resources. Our diversity policy is in line with our corporate philosophy ‘Kyosei’ – living & working together into the future. While we intend to promote diversity in all dimensions; in the mid-term, our focus would be to improve our gender diversity and inclusion of persons with disabilities.

Policy Statement/Declaration

CIPL is committed to being an equal opportunity employer. We recognize the importance of having a diverse workforce and adopting inclusive and equitable work practices for all our employees. We are committed to:

• Building a workforce that is representative of different sections of society with provisions for reasonable accommodations for our colleagues with disabilities (in alignment to the RPwD Act, 2016).
• Providing facilities and amenities that are accessible for all and conducive to full and effective participation of employees at the workplace.
• Creating a work environment which is safe and non-discriminatory along with a suitable grievance redressal process to handle issues reported in a fair and equitable manner.
• Encouraging employees to be empathetic to the needs of their peers and to be compliant to the guidelines detailed in the EOP.

Responsibility

Overall, the Management is responsible for rollout, publishing and compliance of the Equal Opportunity Policy. The HR head will have the functional responsibility of ensuring compliance, developing, coordinating and implementing programs and reporting finding and progress.On this journey, HR will periodically review impediments in achieving fair representation by coming up with an actionable strategy which will effectively address these challenges. We wish to focus on gender diversity and inclusion of person with disability in our mid-term strategy. The strategy is based on four pillars:​

• Hire - Promoting equal representation of women in the recruitment and selection process; thus, ensuring fair balance of employees at all levels and functions. Ensuring no discrimination against any person with disability in any matter related to employment.
• Sensitise - Organising sensitisation workshops & e-learning courses on relevant topics.
• Develop - Helping employees develop inter- personal, functional and leadership skills to enable them to achieve goals and improve performance.
• Retain – Analysing attrition trends for understanding any unique challenges faced by women, person with disability and making efforts to mitigate those.

Any employee who violates this policy or discriminates against a person with disability or different gender identity or renders harassment shall be dealt with under the code of conduct of CIPL.

CIPL’s Equal Opportunity Guidelines

1. Facilities and Amenities - CIPL will work towards providing a barrier free environment for all employees, which includes digital infrastructure, accessible transport, gender neutral washrooms, proper access to the buildings and parking areas.

2. Identification and Listing of Posts - Vacancies will be reviewed and opened for hiring persons with diverse needs. When it comes to the notice that a particular job profile does not suit an applicant, the situation will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and appropriate reasonable accommodations will be considered.

3. Equal Opportunity Practices – The company will strive towards providing equal opportunity to candidates at the time of employment and to the employees during the course of their employment. Policies, processes, guidelines and practices around recruitment, training, transfer, leaves, medical benefits etc. would reflect this intent.

• Recruitment and Selection– The process of recruitment and selection will be reviewed and made accessible for a diverse set of applicants.
• Training – The company recognizes that all the trainings need to be accessible and available to employees with diverse needs for their effective working in the organization. The company will also work on identifying learning needs for employees to help them improve their job performance.
• Leaves – Leaves for the purpose of treatment, medical emergencies or ongoing treatments will be provided to employees on a case-by-case basis and as per the company’s leave policy.
• Reasonable accommodations - will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis to address the individual working needs of employees and provide a comfortable and enabling working environment for all. The reasonable accommodation form can be accessed through the attachment.
  

4. Work life balance– At CIPL, we believe in the importance of maintaining a healthy work life balance. The organization offers five-day working, hybrid/remote working, flexi-timings and comprehensive leave benefits to its employees.

5. Equal Pay - CIPL does not discriminate in the compensations offered to its employees. The selection and promotion processes are merit based.​

6. Grievance Redressal: zero tolerance to discrimination and harassment at the workplace –

CIPL is committed to providing employees a safe and secure working environment. All employees are supposed to follow guidelines listed in code of conduct document. The company has the portal ‘ethicpoint.com’ where issues can be posted anonymously.

The ‘Discipline Committee’ ensures that action is taken in case of violation of the code of conduct. The internal committee as per the provision of sexual harassment ensures that all grievances reported to them can be reported and dealt with fairly without any discrimination. Employees are protected from intimidation, discrimination, or retaliation for filing a complaint or assisting in an investigation. Details of complaints raised are maintained by CIPL.

7. Liaison Officer – As per the RPwD Act, 2016 and Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, CIPL has deputed the HR head as the Liaison Officer to ensure no discrimination or harassment is experienced by colleagues with disability and different gender identity.

8. Diversity Sensitization - Diversity sensitization workshops are organized to address any unconscious biases present in the workplace. Sessions enable leaders/managers to build an enabling and sustainable work environment for diversity.​

9. Learning from Industry/Diversity Leaders - Diversity leaders and industry experts are invited to deliver talks on topics which help create a healthy, unbiased and inclusive workplace.

10. Communication - CIPL’s Equal Opportunity Policy is published on its website, intranet sites and on the staff noticeboards in accessible format. The policy will be registered with the Chief Commissioner and / or State Commissioner for persons with disabilities.All communications and information will be drafted and disseminated keeping in mind the accessibility needs of different employees.

All data related to the gender identity of transgender persons shall be kept confidential, subject to applicable law.

Specific Initiatives to improve Gender-Diversity (women employees)

1. Gender Diversity Program: WE@Canon is a program on Gender Diversity where ‘WE’ stands for Women Empowerment. The WE committee is chaired by the President & CEO and senior women leaders act as advisor.

2. Developing women leaders: Leadership development through a competency framework, integrated into the selection and performance management system helps in development of managerial & leadership skills. Coaching initiative is helping develop leaders within the organization. Workshops conducted on topics which address issues like ‘unconscious bias’ help people-managers to recognize and overcome such issues. CIPL’s mentorship program has been initiated where women leaders mentor women colleagues through sharing life experiences.

3. Support for working parents:

a) Maternity/ Paternity Policy ​ - Beyond the maternity leave of 26 weeks, mothers are allowed flexible working options which enable them to make a smooth transition back to work. We offer 5 days paternity leave to new fathers too.

b) Creche Facility - For young parents we offer support of crèches (near-site) across all our major office locations.

Specific Guidelines for Employees with Disability

Eligibility - Persons with Disabilities (PwD) as recognized by The RPwD Act, 2016.

Guidelines below are re-iterated in alignment to the requirements of the Act.

1. Reasonable Accommodations

To facilitate effective working and participation of employees with disability, necessary and appropriate modifications and adjustments will be provided to the employees. This will be done without imposing a disproportionate burden on CIPL and keeping in mind equal opportunity needs for the employee. CIPL will provide a reasonable accommodation form to all its employees with disability to seek accommodations at work. This will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and approved.

2. Assistive Devices and Technologies

CIPL will work towards digital accessibility for their colleagues with disability. CIPL will review and procure assistive devices required by the employee for their work and participation at the premise.

3. Maintaining records of Employees with disability

CIPL will maintain records containing details of number of persons with disability employed, names, address, gender, date of joining, nature of disability, specific needs, nature of work performed by them, and any accommodations provided to them. Confidentiality of the data will be maintained.