NEWS LETTER
October 21, 2020
Sekisui House, Ltd.

Sekisui House Joins The Valuable 500, an International Initiative
Promoting the Inclusion of People with Disabilities into Society
On October 20, 2020, Sekisui House, Ltd. joined The Valuable 500, an international initiative
promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities into society.

The Valuable 500 is an international initiative established at the January 2019 annual meeting of theWorld Economic Forum in Davos. The idea underlying the initiative is that “inclusive business creates
inclusive societies”. It aims to encourage business leaders to make their own companies’ businesses
inclusive ones in order to let persons with disabilities demonstrate their potential to add value tobusinesses, society and economy. They aim to get 500 company endorsements, and currently haveover 330 companies already signed up.
In agreement with the ideas and efforts of The Valuable 500, as we aim to become a leader in ESG,
we established the following commitments.

The commitments of Sekisui House Group
With its global vision to “make home the happiest place in the world”, Sekisui House Group supplies
and integrates the physical structures and technology with the intangibles and services required tomaximize the happiness and well-being of its customers, employees and society as a whole.

1. The happiness and well-being of customers – Creating homes andcommunities based on the lifelong-housing concept
In 1975, an accident occurred at one of our construction sites where a worker fell and seriously injured
his spine. Feeling a deep responsibility, we worked together with surgeons and research institutes tobuild a prototype wheelchair-accessible home within the medical institution where the injured worker

Contact

Public Relations - Sekisui House, Ltd.
TEL: Osaka +81-6-6440-3021 / Tokyo +81-3-5575-1740

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was undergoing rehabilitation. The intent was to provide a house utilizing our pre-engineered housing
technology that enabled injured people to live with their family as they prepare to re-enter society.
This initiated our advanced R&D into housing tailored to the elderly and people with disabilities, and in1981 we built the first model house in Japan specifically tailored for people with disabilities. We alsobegan other efforts including participation in projects run by the Ministry of Economy, Trade andIndustry. In 1985, we established the lifelong-housing concept of “Comfortable living - now andalways”, to be our home design philosophy enabling people to live in their homes throughout theirlives. We received the Caring Company Award from the United Nations-affiliated International Council
for Caring Communities (ICCC) in February 1999 for our concept and efforts.
In 2002, we established Sekisui House Universal Design (SH-UD) as our universal design for
comfortable housing based on research into lifelong housing and our experience. SH-UD is used for all
detached houses.
We will continue to create homes and communities that not only provide safety and security but also
comfort through rich tactile experiences and function, as well as utilizing our new Smart Universal
Design philosophy for designing living environments that provide vibrant experiences for all people
including children, the elderly and people with disabilities. On top of this foundation we aim to provide
the intangible assets of Health, Connectedness and Learning that are essential for happiness in the eraof the 100-year life.

2. The happiness and well-being of employees – Creating opportunities andwork environments that give diverse employees the opportunity to fully
demonstrate their abilities
In 2006, Sekisui House Group declared Human Resource Sustainability as our fundamental humanresource policy, which integrates the three major policy pillars of encouraging female employees topursue career development, effective utilization of human resources, and promoting a variety of work
styles and work-life balance. In 2014 we introduced a system that gave employees with disabilities
greater career opportunities, and since then, twelve employees have already transferred to jobs within
the company with a greater prospect of promotion and are working with enthusiasm.
In 2015, the company started to hold diversity exchange meetings in different areas of Japan to enable
employees with disabilities working in various regions to mix with each other and talk. A working groupof employees with disabilities have implemented a number of innovations to maximize meeting
efficiency, with their managers and colleagues also participated in recent years to share creative ideas
for working and communicating, while identifying issues to tackle with and energizing their workenvironment. The Promotion of Employment of Persons with Disabilities Office was established inFebruary 2020 to be a dedicated unit for further promoting these initiatives.
Based on the Human Resources Sustainability Policy, we will continue to create an environment andsystems that enable all employees and the company to achieve sustainable growth.

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3. The happiness and well-being of society - Supporting the inclusion ofpeople with disabilities in society and the promotion of the normalization
principle
While collaborating and co-creating with the NPO Together since 2000, Sekisui House Group supports
the independence and inclusion of people with disabilities in society and promotes people'sunderstanding of social diversity. As a company we procure merchandise made at welfare facilities forpeople with disabilities around Japan and give them to visitors of events and display homes.
House of Dialog, a program created jointly with Dialogue in the Dark (DID), was set up in 2013 to bea permanent exhibit at our “Sumufumu Lab” housing experience center in Grand Front Osaka. Dr.
Andreas Heinecke, a Doctor of Philosophy, developed DID in Germany in 1988. DID has taken place inover 50 countries, and over 8 million people have experienced this socially aware entertainment
experience. Participants enter a totally dark space in groups, and led by attendants with visualdisabilities, they explore the area to experience an awareness and type of communication that cannot
usually be experienced. We will continue to offer more opportunities for dialogue and enhance
experiences that are valuable for society to develop the ability to feel, build relationships, and recognize
the value of diversity.
We have been involved in the Accessibility Consortium of Enterprises (ACE)* since its foundation. The
foundation works together with businesses, universities and supporting organizations to promote thenormalization of life patterns for persons with disabilities, for example by commending successful
examples, promoting collaboration between corporations, holding career development seminars foreducators and students with disabilities, and conducting internship programs.
We will continue to support the independence and social participation of people with disabilities andpromote understanding of social diversity through collaboration and co-creation with other companies
and organizations.
*ACE was founded in 2013 to establish a model for people with disabilities that benefits the growth of enterprises and sends the talentneeded by businesses into society. As of September 2020, there are 36 corporate members, mainly large companies.

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