Photo/Illutration Tomohide Miyata, next president of Eneos Holdings Inc., apologizes for top executives’ misconduct toward women at a news conference in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward on Feb. 28. (Jumpei Miura)

After top executives departed Eneos Holdings Inc. due to misconduct toward women for the second year in a row, the major oil vendor has introduced new measures to prevent further incidents.

These measures include implementing alcohol restrictions and introducing a personality assessment test for the selection process of top executives.

Eneos Holdings announced on Feb. 28 that Executive Vice President Tomohide Miyata, 58, will replace former president Takeshi Saito, 61, who was dismissed in December for inappropriately hugging a woman while drunk at a social gathering.

“I will lead the group management with a determination for a fresh start,” Miyata said at a news conference on Feb. 28.

At its core operating company, Eneos Corp., Executive Officer Atsuji Yamaguchi, 53, will replace Saito as president.

Both appointments will be effective as of April 1.

In August 2022, Tsutomu Sugimori, then-chairman of Eneos Holdings, resigned over allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman.

Despite measures taken after Sugimori’s departure, misconduct scandals continued at the company.

Following Saito’s dismissal in December 2023, the company asked external experts to review its existing preventive measures.

The results were presented at the news conference.

Two of the measures, the “internal reporting system” and the “disciplinary process for executives” were rated as “effective.”

Since a whistleblower reported Saito’s misconduct, it was concluded that the reporting system worked.

However, the experts said that while the rules for disciplining executives were effective, they were not enough to prevent inappropriate acts and needed to be supplemented with other measures.

On the other hand, the “due diligence of human resources when selecting executives” and the “training for executives to respect human rights and compliance” were found to be insufficient and required improvement.

In light of these results, the company presented additional preventive measures.

One measure is to strengthen the selection process for executives by implementing an online personality assessment test and having third-party organizations conduct interviews.

This process was used in the appointment of Miyata.

Another measure is to implement rules for alcohol consumption at dining occasions involving executives, since the experts pointed out that “the company had not taken measures to deter excessive drinking.”

“The core rule is to refrain from drinking alcohol,” Miyata said.

He added that the rules also hold individuals accompanying executives responsible for inappropriate misconduct at dining events.

“I myself will not engage in any misconduct,” Miyata said. 

Yoichiro Hamabe, a professor at Aoyama Gakuin University who is well-versed in compliance, praised the additional preventive measures but raised concerns about the delay in promoting women.

As of March 2023, only 4.4 percent of managerial positions at Eneos were held by women.

According to the labor ministry data, across all industries the average representation of women at the level of department chiefs is 11.6 percent.

“Although it is an indirect factor, misconduct toward women is less likely to occur in environments where women make up 50 percent,” Hamabe said.

“The fact that there are still few women in these positions may be contributing to the problem,” he added.

Related News