Toyota Motor Manufacturing

At Toyota we recognise that highly skilled and motivated people who are treated with trust and respect show great commitment to the fulfilment of the company's goals.

Toyota's 'people' philosophy provides each and every member with growth opportunity and stable fulfilling employment. Toyota believe that this can be best achieved by securing long-term prosperity for the company.

Securing the commitment necessary to fulfil the company's objectives depends upon a number of factors. Training is essential to the on-going development of individuals and company performance and it is therefore directed at developing skills to meet job requirements. From day one On the Job Training (OJT) encourages individuals to learn their own jobs well enough to be able to train others. All members are multi-skilled and so broaden their knowledge and optimise production flexibility.

The focus of each member’s training is the development of initiative and creativity. Members are involved directly in running the Toyota Production System. They are also given the responsibility for the quality of their own role in the production process, passing on only good work to the next stage on the line which they see as their ‘customer’.

Both short and long term success at depends on the continuous commitment of members.  Total involvement, training, multi-skilling, job rotation and good communication play a part, as do a competitive salary and benefits package, regular performance appraisal, company support for education and an opportunity to discuss work issues with the company through the Toyota Members Advisory Board. The company is committed to providing fair and equitable treatment for all members. The company’s single union agreement with Amicus helps to support this philosophy.

 

Health & Safety

Health & Safety is our number one priority at our UK plants. We are committed to providing designing safe processes, and maintaining safe equipment to ensure we provide a safe and healthy working environment for all.

Safety training is part of our policy of continuous improvement. Training commences immediately upon starting employment with Toyota, during the induction programme and continues through an employees career.

Safety is integral to each employees working day. At pre shift meetings safety it is the first agenda item and pre safety checks are carried out on equipment. It is also important to confirm employees health ahead of each shift and for some employees pre shift exercises are undertaken to ensure muscles groups are warmed up ahead of production.

Safe working is split into three key areas, safe processes and equipment, safety kaizen and training &confirmation. For all three areas to be effective employees require a safety mind, this is enhanced via KYT (hazard awareness training) and near miss reporting. A fundamental part of the Toyota Way is genchi-genbutsu - (go, look and study) - is a key part of the accident prevention process and allows senior management to witness first hand any safety related issues and to heighten awareness of health and safety issues.

In order to raise safety awareness of employees, each year February and October are dedicated ‘safety focus months’, during this time special focus activities are carried out and promotional material circulated to all employees The focus area for 2007 safety months is: vehicle and pedestrian safety.

The below graph shows that through our continued focus in this crucial area we have been able to reduce the number of loss time accidents and incidents of Muscular Skeletal Symptoms (MSS) at our UK manufacturing plants.

Our commitment to Health and Safety is evident with our awards history, in 2001 we were awarded the UK’s premier accolade for Occupational Health and Safety from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) when we were awarded the ‘Sir George Earle trophy’ in recognition of having the best health and safety systems in the UK. Year on year we continue to receive recognition from RoSPA for our commitment in this area.

Download TMUK Awards and Accolades

Occupational Health

A comprehensive Occupational Health service is provided for all employees. This commences with the pre employment medical through to regular health confirmations throughout an employees career. Two occupational health centres are manned by trained health professionals to support members with ill health, occupational health advice and illness prevention.

Training and development

Each occupational classification with the company has a structured development path with clearly identified courses to develop employees skills and provide a pathway to the next level within the company. Development courses offered are a mix of job related or licensed training, Toyota tools and personal development. The company also offers financial support for employees who wish to complete external training and qualifications.

Code of Conduct

Our code of conduct ensures that our business practices are conducted with integrity and honesty, therefore confirming our commitment to complying with laws, regulations and working standards. The code of conduct explains the type of behaviour required and expected by all employees irrespective of their level whilst enhancing business performance to provide employment and to maintain fair and stable working conditions for our employees. In addition, the code gives guidance to our employees to support them in their daily decision making activity:

The code covers a wide range of topics :-

• Respect for human rights
• Health and Safety
• Compliance with the law
• The Management and use of confidential information
• Environmental preservation
• Honest and fair transactions
• Our relationships with suppliers and shareholders
• Philanthropy and community relations

All employees have been issued with the code of conduct and it form part of all new employees induction training:

Download TMUK code of conduct

Whistleblower policy

The whistleblower policy is designed to help employees report any form of unethical behaviour. The policy provides a channel to confidentially report a serious concern regarding misconduct or wrong doing within the company. The status of whistleblower calls are reported at the Board of Directors monthly meeting and quarterly to Europe and Japan for sharing with other plants.

Download PDF of whistleblower booklet

Member representation

The Toyota Members Advisory Board (TMAB) is the forum for employee representation. The aim of TMAB is to ensure that employees are represented effectively in company decisions regarding employment issue. TMAB discusses many subjects including the annual salary review, member car plan, holiday and other terms and conditions.

TMAB comprises of 12 elected employee representatives (1 per constituency), 6 nominated company representatives, chairman (Managing Director) secretary (HR General Manager). At Toyota our relationships are based on consensus and balance, and we have a small number of reps and one facilitator – the TMAB Secretary. In addition to TMAB representatives we also have Shop representatives. In general the TMAB reps are involved with company related business, and the Shop reps will deal with constituency and departmental level issues.

TMAB’s purpose is to achieve 6 principal objectives:

• 1. To provide an opportunity for all Employees to be kept informed about company plans and performance.
• 2. To offer advice and ideas which will assist the company to become more effective and successful.
• 3. To provide a forum for Employees’ views to be taken into account by the company in reaching its business decisions.
• 4. To consider and, if appropriate, advise on matters of general interest to Employees such as safety, timekeeping, attendance, the working environment, catering and social amenities.
• 5. To review with the company Salaries and other Terms and Conditions of Employment in a constructive and well informed manner.
• 6. To consider and advise on solutions to difficulties which might otherwise lead to conflict.

TMAB Meetings are held eight times per year and include the annual salary review.

Equal Opportunities

Toyota Manufacturing UK is committed to the principle of Equal Opportunities by providing fair and equitable treatment to all Members and applicants. We seek to abide by the intent as well as the letter of appropriate legislation in these matters and our management team is committed to the promotion of and adherence to the Equal Opportunities Policy.

Only with the commitment and support of all employees can we achieve an environment of mutual trust and respect. Our Equal Opportunities Policy has been developed in conjunction with TMAB – Toyota Member Advisory Board. Its aim is to ensure providing equal opportunities to all applicants and Members, regardless of their gender, age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, or nationality.

Our equal opportunities policy (see download) applies to all employees and all contractors working on site are made aware of its content. The policy covers: Discrimination – direct & indirect, Harassment , Victimisation, Recruitment and selection, Promotion, Transfer, Development Equal opportunities awareness and How to raise a concern

The Equal Opportunities Steering Group, chaired by the General Manager of Human Resources and including representatives from Employee Relations, Recruitment and Development functions, meets on a bi-annual basis and review key statistics. The Steering Group will report key information to company level meetings and TMAB - Toyota Members Advisory Board, on a regular basis. The Steering Group also proposes any appropriate actions based on the information reported.

Our aim is for our employee population to broadly reflect the ethnic minority group mix of the local communities in which we operate. Our current ethnic minority group population, of those declaring, is 5.98% (3.90% of members non-disclosing) . The ethnic minority groups population of the East Midlands is 5.86% and in Wales is 1.90% (Source: Office of National Statistics)

The gender breakdown of our employee population is measured as a shop floor and office groups. For shop floor the gender breakdown is 2.12% female & 97.78% male. Within the office and support areas the gender breakdown = 28.99% female & 71.1% male. The average age our employees is 36.8 years and average length of service across the company is 7.12 years.

Download: Equal Opportunities policy

Dignity at Work

We are committed to providing equal opportunities to all employees and applicants and a working environment where all employees are treated with dignity and respect. To emphasise this commitment, policies on both equal opportunities and dignity at work have been developed (see download)

The policies set out the company’s intention to operate fair systems covering all aspects of employment, standards relating to areas such as conduct and behaviour and the support and process available for employees if they have a concern.

Every employee must contribute to building an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect. Any form of discrimination, harassment, victimisation or bullying within the workplace is not be tolerated, any employee found guilty of such behaviour may be subject to Toyota’s corrective action procedure.

Our aim is to have zero incidents of employee concerns related to dignity at work.

Download: Dignity at work booklet.

Opinion survey

Every two years we ask all of our employees to complete an opinion survey to assist in the understanding of employee feeling and opinion in the key areas relating to :

• Teamwork
• Health and Safety
• Standardised work
• Job security
• Competitive benefits
• Continuous improvement
• Environmentally friendly
• Communication
• Development
• Fair treatment

Between the two main surveys we hold a mini survey to monitor our progress. 30% of our workforce participate in each mini survey. The surveys identify focus areas in which we can then measure our improvement activity. The results are shared with all our members and action plans are developed to make progress in identified areas.