Realization of an Inclusive Society throughthe Employment of People with Disabilities
and the DX (Digital Transformation) of
Regional Companies
Co-Designing
Institute for
Polyphonic Society

NTT West

Understanding of people with disabilities and cultural
background in Oita

Promotes active initiative as the hometown of Dr. Nakamura, a contributor to the developmentof parasports in Japan
Yutaka Nakamura, Doctor of Medicine, the Father ofJapanʼs Paralympics

Ø Contributed to the development of parasports
in Japan, aiming to improve welfare for people
with disabilities through sports
Ø Established a facility for self-reliance of people
with disabilities, Japan Sun Industries in 1965
*From Japan Sun Industries
official website

International Wheelchair Marathon for 42 consecutiveyearsØ The world first single wheelchairinternational competition, Oita
International Wheelchair Marathon started
as per a proposal by Dr. Nakamura.

Regional participation of NTT West Oita branch
Actively participates in the promotion of the realization of an inclusive society throughcooperation for the International Wheelchair Marathon and the Collaboration Agreement with
Oita City
Participation in the marathon serving as volunteers

Ø Cooperates in the operation of theInternational Wheelchair Marathon as an
official partner
Collaboration Agreement with Oita City (2018〜
2022)Ø Concluded a collaboration agreement
towards the realization of an inclusive society
using ICTØ Promoted accessibility map creation using
ICT and Kokoro No Barrier-free Training
through public participation

Social trends in employment of people with disabilities
More companies will be obliged to hire people with disabilities due to the riseof the statutory employment rate in the future.
<Changes in the statutory employment rate and actual employment rate in private companies>
2.8
2.7
2.6
2.5
2.4
2.3%
2.3
2.2%
2.2
2.2 2.25
2.15
2.1
2.0%
2.11
2
2.05
1.97
1.9 1.8%
1.86 1.92
1.8
1.82
1.7
1.76
1.6 1.69
1.5（%)

2012 13

14

15

16

17

18

Actual
実雇⽤率
employment

19

rate

Statutory
employment rate
# of employees
whose companies
are obligated to hirepeople withdisabilities

20

21

22

Statutory
法定雇⽤率
employment
rate

23

2.7%
2.5%

More companies will be obliged to hire people withdisabilities.

Ø Statutory employment rate will rise in aphased manner; it will be 2.7% in 2026.
Period when theannounced
statutory employee
rates will be applied

24

25

26

27

Current

April 2024
(scheduled)

July 2026(scheduled)

2.3%

2.5%

2.7%

43.5
employees or
more

40
employees or
more

37.5
employees or
moreØ The exclusion rates in specific industries
will uniformly increase by 10%.
Ø The number of employees whose
companies are obligated to hire people
with disabilities will decline; it will be 37.5
people in 2026.
⇒The number of obligated companies will
increase by approx. 35,000 companies

Employment situation of people with disabilities at domestic private companies
Employment rate of people with psychological disabilities are significantly lower than thosewith physical disabilities, and half of them leave the company after one year even if they are
employed.
<Approximate number ofpeople with disabilities><Employment situation of people with disabilities>(Private companies)

1094
（18%）

4360
（38%）

6148
（53%）

146
（24%）
110
（18％）

358
（58％）

(k people)
Physical

⾝体

Psychological

精神Intellectual知的（千⼈）(k people)
Physical

⾝体

Psychological

精神Intellectual

Employment situation by type of disabilities

Ø The percentage of people with psychologicaldisabilities is the largest share of all those withdisabilities with over 50%.
Ø On the other hand, although the number ofpeople employed with psychological disabilities isgradually increasing every year, the percentage
still remains around 18% of all.

知的*Source: The Cabinet Office “2023 White book of People with Disabilities”

Retention rates by type of disabilities<Retention rates of people with disabilities at private companies>
As of employment

3 months after
the employment

1 year after theemployment

People withintellectual disabilities

100.0％

85.3％

68.0%

People with physicaldisabilities

100.0％

84.7％

60.8%

People withpsychologicaldisabilities

100.0％

69.9％

49.3%

Ø The retention rate of people with psychologicaldisabilities after one year of employment is lower
than those with intellectual or physical disabilities,
and more than half of them leave their jobs.

*Source: International Institute of Vocational Rehabilitation, Japan Organization for Employment of the Elderly of
the Persons with Disabilities and Job Seekers, 2017 Survey ResearchCurrent state of employment of people with disabilities and issues in Oita prefecture
Although the employment rate of people with disabilities in Oita is high, that of those withpsychological disabilities is equally low to that in the nation.
<# of Employed people with disabilities in Oita
prefecture (employment rate)>

Employedpeople withdisabilities
3,362.5
peoplePeople with physicaldisabilities
2,155.5 people(1.67％)[Reference] Nationwide

358,000
people(1.31％)*Compared withlast year: 7
people less

Employment
rate
2.61％

People with psychologicaldisabilities
743.5⼈(0.37％)

110,000
people(0.4％)

People with intellectual
disabilities
733.5 people (10.57％)

146,000
people(0.54％)*Aggregate results of the employment status of people with disabilities as of June 1, 2022
Dec 23, 2022 MHLW Oita Labor Department press release

Employment rate of people with disabilities is theseventh highest in JapanØ Although it used to be the first highest in Japan,
it declined after 2006 and has been the seventh
highest in the last few years(Oita prefecture: 2.61%, Nationwide: 2.25%)
Ø Companies that have achieved the statutory
employment rate is in decline with 61.5%
Issue towards the increase in the employment rateof people with disabilities

Ø How to promote the employment ofpeople with psychological disabilities
is the key for Oita to get back to No. 1.

On-site issues on employment of people with disabilities
A new system is required to solve issues (on support systems and lack ofworkforce) that both employers and employees face.
<What needs to be improved for people with psychologicaldisabilities to continue working>Evaluation and promotion
according to their abilities
Ease of taking a leave whenfeeling unwell
Means of easing communications
and placement of a supporter

Voices from workers (especially those withpsychological disabilities)
Ø

Want to get promoted in a job in which I can fulfil myself, notbeing hired under supported employment

ØConcerned about the understanding of disabilities and support
systems at general companies

Assignment to position where
their abilities are fulfilled
Regular counseling withsupervisors and specialists
10%* Source: 2017 Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare,
Current State of Employed People with Disabilities

20%*Source: Interviews with users of employment support type A welfare offices in
Oita prefecture

30%

Voices of employers (SMBs)<Issues in employment of people with disabilities at companies>
Task allocation for employees/
Improvements in operational proceduresØCannot secure human resources (with disabilities) by SMBs
alone. Cannot gain understanding from employees without
disabilities and the management.

Ø

Are lacking a workforce in the first place. Are in no position tohire people with disabilities. Operational DX comes first.

Set-up of working conditions
considering their disabilities
Placement of a supporter/ coach
Hiring criteria and selection method

Securing of human resources* Source: Japan Organization for Employment of the Elderly of the
Persons with Disabilities and Job Seekers, 2012 Survey Reports on
the Expansion of the Types of Jobs for People with Disabilities

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

*Source: Interviews with approx. 70 companies in Oita prefectureRealization of an employment model for people with disabilities througha regional joint employment
Towards realization of an inclusive society by promoting the employment of people withdisabilities and DX of local companies through a regional joint employment system for people
with disabilities (business cooperative) and NTT Westʼs assets
Resolve the lack of workforce in SMBs

Improve employment ofpeople with disabilities

General companies（Coexistence with people
without disabilities)

Promotion of
employment ofpeople withdisabilities

Generalemployment(centered on people
with disabilities)

Various human resources
playing vital roles
Company growth

Oita D.I.A. business cooperative[Use of joint employment & special
calculation system for employment rateof people with disabilities]

NTT Lucent

Local employment
support businesses

DX of local
companies

workforce・Improve operational
efficiency
・Expand the employmentof people with disabilities

opportunities
・Promotion basedon individual abilities

GrowthOperational DX(Support on clerical workand sales, etc.)

・Resolve the lack of・Expand working■Know-how on

employment of people
with disabilities

Match various local human resources
with companies

Supported
employment(Employment support
type A/B)

Manual work,
paper-based culture,a lack of workforce

Local government

Growth■DX know-how/
ICT tools
NTT West

Local companies

Overview of the Oita D.I.A. Business Cooperative(tentative name)
Promote the employment of people with disabilities, improve business efficiency of companies, andachieve employment rates at the same time by association member companiesʼ outsourcing theirbusiness operations and people with disabilities hired by the association performing those operations

Oita D.I.A. Business Cooperative

Benefits of association member companies

OITA D.I.A: OITA Diversity & Inclusion Association

Association member companies
Business outsourcing

Human
resources

Delivery/ Serve(Special calculation
applied)Association officeØ

Resolve the lack of workforce by outsourcing
operations

Ø

Achieve statutory employment rates by applying thespecial calculation

ØImprove their corporate image as a D＆I promotion
company

Benefits of employed persons
Operations are performed by people withpsychological disabilities hired by the association
Provide know-hows on
employment of people withdisabilities and ICT tools

NTT West Group

Human
resource

Operations

Employment support
type A/type B welfare officesØ

Create new working opportunities

Ø

Create a workplace where people can work withoutworrying by utilizing Lucentʼs know-howssØPossibility to be directly hired by the association
member companies by improving oneʼs own skills

[Reference] Overview of the special calculation of employment rate ofpeople with disabilities for business cooperatives
Illustrative
exampleAssociation
membercompany A

Association
membercompany B

Association
membercompany C# of workers: 50# of employees obligatedto hire: 1# of employed people
with disabilities: 0# of workers: 100# of employees obligatedto hire: 2# of employed people
with disabilities: 3# of workers: 150# of employees obligatedto hire: 3# of employed people
with disabilities: 1# of missing
workers: 1# of missing
workers: 0# of missing
workers: 2

Participate in the employment promotion
project (outsourcing and allocation ofbusiness operations)

Allowed to calculate one shared actual employment
rate across the all member companies

Ø Calculate one shared actual employment
rate utilizing the special calculation forbusiness cooperativessØ Able to secure employment opportunities
for people with disabilities by several SMBsʼ
jointly employing them
*Able to utilize the calculation across the business cooperative

Business cooperative# of workers: 10 #of employed people with disabilities: 3（Able to calculate one shared employment rate
among the association member companies ）Out of the scope(i) Companies with 0 employees obligated to hire(ii) Companies that do not participate in the employment promotion
project (outsourcing and allocation of business operations)Outline of NTT Lucent Corp.（Special subsidiary company of NTT West Group）
NTT Lucent Corporation has a good track record of employment ofpeople with disabilities and their retention.
High employee retention rate

# of employees withdisabilities

Ø Percentage of those who continue working one
year or longer after the employment largely
exceeds the average of private companies withapprox. 95%（Average of private companies: approx. 49％）or moreRetention rate of
employee with disabilities

Percentage of
employees withdisabilities<Changes in the # of employees with disabilities at NTT Lucent>

272
17

46
1
23
22

52
1
26
25

74
3
34
37

2014

2015

2016

302 321
21
21

326
19

334 336
18
17

182

206

227

235

245

248

52

73

75

73

72

72

70

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

141
4
85

Physical

⾝体

Psychological

精神Intellectual

知的More than 70% of the employees are people withpsychological disabilities
Ø The percentage of employees with psychological
49%s the average of private
disabilities largely exceeds
companies with 70%（Average of private companies: approx. 16％）

Know-how on employment of people with disabilities
at NTT Lucent Corp.
Implement the know-how to the business cooperative that will allow them to effectively guide and care for
employees on an individual basis from recruitment to operations design and employment retention andgrowthData processing /aggregation

Internal
correspondence

Data entry

External
correspondence

List check, sealing,deliveryCheckØ Understand the individualities of workers andallocate them according to the features of theirdisabilities and their specialties
Employee G

Employee F

Employment retention
and growth◆Effective use of digital and analog approaches

DigitalAnalogUnderstanding of states
Detect signs

Effective guide and care

Asudrive(Web daily reporting system)*Self-developed system for daily reportmanagement (physical condition, work progress)

Recruitment 〜 operations design

Entry reporting

Employee E

Employee D

Employee C

Employee B

Employee A

Recruitment
operations design!

◆Task modularization and allocation plan based on
the features of the disabilities

Reaching out, having
interviews, andproviding comfortableworkplace environment

Employment retention and growthØ Support individual retention and growth byunderstanding their conditions using ICT (digital
approach) and reaching out and having interviewss(analog approach)Ø Communications with employees using the selfdeveloped Web daily reporting system AsudriveUnderstanding of workers conditions and detection of signs using ICT
Will detect signs using AI and support supervisors in the future
Asudrive[Physical and mental conditions][Working conditions]Physical condition
Mental condition(State of mind)
Sleep
Change inmedication?

[Comments (e.g.)]
Yes No*Free description
・Went to bed at 1 a.m., woke up at 2 a.m., and stayed up.
・Forgot to do xxxxx and am in a panic.
・Employee Y does not respond to me, and I am emotionallystressed.

Detection of signs (alert examples)・Employee A keeps leaving negative comments.
・Employee B is likely to report physical andmental conditions due to interpersonal
relationships.

Understanding of workersʼ conditions using
AsudriveØ Employeesʼ daily entries allows supervisors
to always understand their staffʼsconditions
Ø Hold an interview depending on thecontents

Detection of sights using (Future vision)
Ø AI analyzes accumulated employees
comment data and detects signs of physicaland mental disorders based on theirsindividual tendency
Ø Prevent inexperienced supervisor fromoverlooking any signs

Detailed work performed by the business cooperative
Performs a wide variety of tasks centering on back-office work using computers
utilizing NTT Groupʼs ICT tools (cloud service, AI service, etc.)
Operations performed byworkers with disabilities(examples)

Contract
Digitalization of paper-based documents,
management Contract management on cloud (Tools(digitalization) used: WAN-Sign etc.)
Writing
Transcribe voice data at meetings to text
(transcription) (Tools used: COTOHA etc.)

Data entry

Data entry in paper-based documents
including application and request forms(Tools used: WinActor etc.)

Operations performed by the
association office

Support for
Perform tasks acting over employees on
employees onleave and support their return to work
leave
Consultations on employment of people
Consultation
with disabilities, creation of barrier-freeand others
map, mind barrier-free education
Application on
behalf for the
specialcalculation

Paperwork on behalf related to
employment of people with disabilities（Application on behalf for the special
calculation）

Use of ICT toolsØ Reduces workersʼ operational burden by using NTT
Groupʼs ICT toolsØ Aims to improve workersʼ skills by actively
increasing the volume of advanced operations

Support for companyʼs employment of people withdisabilities
Ø Provides consultation on companyʼs employmentof people with disabilities and support for
employees on leave at the association officesØ Aims to expand direct employment of people withdisabilities by the member companies in the
futureImplementation of an operational trial
Verify the utility of the ICT tools and quality of the provided work by implementing an
operational trial at an employment support type A office in Oita City (December 2022〜)[Paper-based order form]
(iii)

(i)

Voices from the company(ii)②ホーム画⾯の「書⾯契約管理」のボタンをクリック

Ø Attached documents are not bent and clean.
Ø It is efficient that documents can be searched andviewed quickly. More digitalization will save thestorage space.

(iv)

(v)
(vi)

Covert into PDF and register in WAN-Sign(i) Order No.＋ Double-byte space＋Customer’s last name＋ Double-byte space ＋Customer’s firstname (e.g. N1111A111 Nishinihon Taro)*The fourth and ninth digits of the Order No. are alphabets and the rest are numbers.

Voices from the workers (with disabilities)(ii) Customer’s last name＋ Double-byte space ＋Customer’s first name (e.g. Nishinihon Taro)*Clicking Add button will display entry fields.
No need to fill in(iii) Order dateNo need to fill in

No need for selection

No need to fill in

No need to fill in
No need for selection(iv) Name of responsible shop (e.g.: Furugo shop)(vi) Contract amount (e.g.: 3,000,000) *Put a comma every three numbers

No need to fill in(v) Sales rep’s last name＋ Double-byte space＋ Sales rep’s first name (e.g.: Oita Taro)No need to fill in
登
録
⽇
アッ
プ
ロー
ド⽇

(vii) Registration date (e.g: 2022/4/1) *A format using slashes(viii) Upload date (e.g.: 2022/4/1) *Upload date in a format using slashes

Ø WAN-Sign is easy to operate, which made me workswith less stress.

Partner companies and implementation framework
Consists of local companies in Oita with the support of NTT West Groupʼs relatedcompanies
Member companies

The president is a former employee of thewelfare division of Oita City. In charge ofthe secretariat of the association office.

Oita Broadcasting
System, Inc.

⼤分放送

Oita Nissan
Dealer Co., Ltd.

Participated by local companies in Oita

A local media company. Participatedafter the trial.

Ø The members consist of local companies in Oita

A local auto dealer. Participated after
the trial.

Ø Participated by a wide range of businesses includings and start-up companies
media, dealer, real estate,

An IT start-up from Oita

Oita Chisho Co., Ltd.

Supporting
companies

NTT West

A local real estate company. The
president is a former executive directorof a welfare facility.
The Oita branch assists the operationsof the association.
A communication construction
company. The headquarters is in
Kumamoto.

NX Wanbishi
Archives Co., Ltd.

Operational support as supporting companies

A vender that developed theelectronic/paper-based contract
management system WAN-Sign*Agreed companies as of December 2023

Ø Participated in by companies inside and outside
Oita Prefecture, and theys support the association
operations as supporting companies

For further promotion of employment of people with disabilities
Deploy the Oita model from the following three perspectives to other regions withsimilar issues
Deploy the model by establishing new
business cooperatives

Ø Deploy the Oita models

Deploy the model to existing businesscooperatives

ØProvide know-how from the Oita
model to existing associations

ØImprove the raison d'etre ofexisting associations by creating
new values, including D&I
sProvide know-hows directly to businessesØ Deploy support by companies
that employ people withdisabilities, including NTT
Lucents

Promote employment of people with disabilities nationwide by fostering
opportunities in local communities and companies and through theircontinuous participation

Future vision
Expand the target to senior, female, and foreign people by leveraging the efforts in the projectand create a new workforce by realizing an inclusive society and a diverse society

Expanding the target

Diverse local communities(Seniors/females/foreign people)

Promotion of
employment of people
with disabilities（Oita project）

Complement the 15 million workforce*
decline with the new workforce*The Cabinet Office (2022) 2022 Aging
Society White Book

Fostering opportunities
through lectures, media
information distribution,and collaboration withstaffing agencies

Inclusive society(people with disabilities)

Expand the Oita project to areas nationwide