Advancing disability inclusion at work: insights from a business and human rights study group in the Kansai region, Japan

In February 2026, the 8th Kansai Business and Human Rights Study Session, hosted by Cre-en, was held in Osaka, bringing together companies from a wide range of industries based in the Kansai region.

At the event, three companies — Sekisui House, Ltd., Hankyu Hanshin Holdings, Inc., and Nitto Denko Corporation — presented their initiatives on the employment of persons with disabilities. Their presentations covered a range of topics, including responses to the revised Act for Eliminating Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities, which came into effect in April 2024 in Japan, and the increase in the statutory employment rate for persons with disabilities introduced the same year. They also shared insights on the roles and practices of their disability employment promotion teams, approaches to recruitment through internship and training programs, disability employment operations at special-purpose subsidiaries — dedicated affiliates established under Japanese law to employ persons with disabilities, whose workforce counts toward the parent company's statutory quota — and efforts to promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities through their business activities and service delivery.

During the discussion, two shared challenges emerged among participants: the direct employment of persons with psychosocial and neurodevelopmental disabilities, and improving retention rates after hiring.