Expanding walking events utilizing our original health app to group companies
– Accelerating health and productivity management through ROHTO GROUP Health Insurance Society–
January 20, 2025
ROHTO Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture; President: Masafumi Sugimoto) has long promoted employee health activities based on the belief that "only when employees themselves are healthy can they provide good products and services to the world." We are pleased to announce that, in order to promote health and productivity management throughout the Rohto Group, we have launched our original health app "W-UP" and have begun rolling it out to group companies.
About the Rohto Group's health and productivity management
Our company has set its own key priorities regarding health, such as promoting smoking cessation, ensuring sufficient sleep, and establishing regular exercise habits, and is committed to health and productivity management. Throughout the year, we conduct seminars and events to help each employee review their daily life and take initiative towards achieving well-being.
In 2022, we established ROHTO GROUP Health Insurance Society (hereinafter referred to as "Health Insurance"), and are currently working to further promote health and productivity management throughout the entire group. Based on health and productivity management initiatives we have implemented so far, we are striving to maintain the health of our employees by clarifying the health status of each individual through measures such as improving health checkups and standardizing judgment criteria, and by implementing specific preventive and corrective measures according to each person's age and health condition, thereby building a health support system that can be acted quickly.
We are expanding walking events utilizing our original health app "W-UP" to our group companies.
At our company, we have long promoted "8,000 steps per day and 20 minutes of brisk walking" as one of the foundational indicators of health. In addition to daily efforts, we regularly hold walking events called "TokoChalle," where teams, mainly within their respective departments, encourage each other to establish exercise habits, revitalize communication, and invigorate the organization. *1 Employees who have achieved this indicator *2 have lower presenteeism *3*4 and a higher percentage of those who answered that they "are confident they can continue working in good health" *5. We believe that establishing exercise habits and maintaining and improving health awareness have an impact on working healthily and energetically.
To further encourage regular exercise habits, we launched our original health app, "W-UP," and introduced it to all group companies. Starting January 20, 2025, we began offering walking events accessible through "W-UP" to employees of our group companies. We will continue to utilize the app and work together as a group to maintain the health of our employees.
*1: Reference: Announcement of the start of "Toko Challenge 2024 Sleep+" https://www.rohto.co.jp/news/release/2024/0517_01/
*2: Those who achieved an average of 8,000 steps and 20 minutes of brisk walking per day in the first half of 2024 (April-September).
*3: Presenteeism refers to a situation where work efficiency is reduced due to some kind of health problem (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare).
*4: Average of actual values measured using the SPQ (Single-Item Presenteeism Question, University of Tokyo 1-item version) in the health survey conducted in December 2024 (n=1,876).
*5: Health survey conducted in December 2024 (n=1,876)
About our original health app "W-UP"
To support employee well-being, we have developed an app version of our original system "W-UP," which we have been using internally since 2018, making it more accessible and widely usable. In collaboration with the health insurance association, it is now being implemented throughout the Rohto Group. It can be linked with activity trackers and smartphones to record daily steps and check one's exercise status, as well as to check participation in walking events and answer drills to improve health literacy. The unique health currency "ARUCO" which is awarded according to the level of achievement, can be used for a wide range of purposes that contribute to the physical and mental health of employees.
Accelerating smoking cessation initiatives at group companies
Our company has been supporting employees in quitting smoking for over 20 years, and in 2020 we achieved a smoking rate of 0.1%. However, the smoking rate across the entire group of companies remains at 8.8% *6, so we launched a group-wide smoking cessation support program in 2024. Teams have been formed with smoking cessation promotion leaders from each company and the health insurance association. The health insurance association provides financial assistance for the smoking cessation challenge program, offers smoking cessation advice from health nurses affiliated with the health insurance association, and shares the know-how we have accumulated in smoking cessation support. Moving forward, the Rohto Group will continue its efforts to support smoking cessation with the goal of achieving a 0% smoking rate.
*6: Smoking rate for the entire ROHTO GROUP Health Insurance Society in fiscal year 2023 (ages 40 and over)