In our 2030 Long-term Management Plan “NITTOKU BX,” we have set “change drastically beyond the current way” as our actions toward our vision for 2040. The core message of this vision is to be a company that coexists with a diverse range of human resources with aspirations. We are not only concerned with “what ceramics can do,” but also with the acquisition and development of autonomous human resources, the combination of diverse knowledge and expertise, and the enhancement of engagement with the aim of maximizing our human capital and thereby improving corporate value so that we can take on challenges beyond the realm of ceramics and beyond the world and our own imagination.
The main pillar of our long-term management plan is to transform our business portfolio. In order to realize the business portfolio transformation, we believe it is essential to practice ambidextrous management in both "current businesses" and "new businesses."
And it is human resources, the most important capital in management, that will implement and promote this ambidextrous management. We have adopted "Global Human Resource Management" as a materiality to provide opportunities and a nurturing environment where human resources can play an active role and to foster a corporate culture.
First, we have defined the image of human resources who will lead "Global Human Resource Management" as "self-disciplined creative human resources," and in order to produce them, we provide opportunities for current human resources to play an active role and a nurturing environment, and also strategically acquire human resources with expertise from outside the company.
We also focus on the development of next-generation management human resource, and provide ongoing training programs for selected personnel to acquire the attitude, thinking, and knowledge necessary for management.
We are also actively engaged in fostering a corporate culture that maximizes the abilities of the self-disciplined creative human resources we have developed and secured. We recognize and accept diverse human resources regardless of gender, age, or other attributes, and provide them with the most appropriate support and opportunities in a fair and equitable manner. We are working to improve employee engagement through the promotion of diversity equity and inclusion (DE&I).
Human capital strategies and policies of managerial importance, as well as personnel for core positions throughout the group, are formulated by the Human Resources Strategy Office under the supervision of the director in charge of the Human Resources Strategy Office, who is responsible for human resource capital management, and are discussed at the Executive Committee.
In April 2022, the Company revamped its personnel system. In order to accelerate the creation of self-disciplined creative human resources who can realize the themes of the Medium-term Management Plan to "Break to change" and "Change to create," we have incorporated the Group Human Resource Policy. This policy clearly defines the direction of human resource policies that the entire Group will pursue, creating a highly fair personnel system that rewards achievements and challenges regardless of age, gender, and other personal attributes. We have introduced a system in which employee compensation reflects the results produced by each in-house company, and we expect each employee to be aware of the output that contributes to our business and performance, and to work in a more efficient manner.
We define “self-disciplined creative human resource” as the image of human resources to achieve our medium-term management plan.
“Self-disciplined” means to always think of one's own objectives and act accordingly, and “creativity” means to consider and implement optimal solutions without being bound by the status quo.
We define “self-disciplined” and “creative” as human resources who demonstrate their “existence value” by continuing to embody both of these. We define the four requirements as “clear goals,” “working with intent,” “mutual respect,” and “fulfilling one's role.”
As a specific initiative to create self-directed creative human resources, we have defined the necessary skills. We have visualized the skills possessed by current employees based on two axes: core skills based on the four requirements for self-directed creative human resources, and technical skills required in business areas focused on based on the Group's core competence, and are promoting the development of a company-wide common skill map. We have also identified the gap between the current skills and the skills we are aiming for, and are building a training program to develop each skill in order to create an environment where employees can improve their skills to fill the gap.
Under the new personnel system, self-discipline, creativity, achievement, and challenge have been newly added as evaluation elements common to the Group. The entire Group will work together to develop self-disciplined creative human resources who can realize the themes of the Medium-term Management Plan to “Break to change” and “Change to create.”
Individual interviews are held at the beginning of the term to set personal goals that align with the organization's goals. personal goals that align with the organization's goals.
In addition to confirming progress on a daily basis through one-on-one meetings and progress report meetings, we also review the first half of the term and discuss how to proceed in the second half on Individual interviews during the term. Finally, performance evaluations are conducted at end-of-term interviews.
Additionally, by providing feedback on performance evaluation results and advice from the superiors, we are helping to improve performance and develop future careers.
A role grading system was introduced for managerial positions, and by setting role ranks and salaries according to the roles required, we established a system so that the actual roles played by the employees and their compensation are aligned. By abolishing the annual requirement for promotion for staff positions as well, we have been able to quickly appoint excellent human resources in both managerial and staff positions, regardless of tenure. In addition, as human resources who can make a positive impact on our business management and performance by utilizing their high level of expertise, we have established qualification for specialist positions (SP positions). The M positions, the traditional managerial positions, will focus on management, while SP positions will concentrate on demonstrating their expertise toward more efficient business operations. By further clarifying the roles of each individual, we will realize speedy innovation and the placement of the right people in the right roles to promote the achievement of organizational goals.
Qualification system for core positionsIn order to support employees' independent career development, we have a system in place for implementing the “Career Design Cycle.”
Specifically, in the “WILL” step, participants think about what they want to achieve and what they want to be through a system called “My Career,” in which they discuss their own careers with their supervisors every year. In the “CAN” step, the skills that need to be developed are identified using a skill map, and the role expected in the “MUST” step is connected to the “WILL” and “CAN” of the individual. We implement a career design cycle that involves regular interviews and daily 1-on-1s with the workplace supervisor to ensure that the two parties are on the same page.
We have systematized educational content to support the realization of designed careers, and with regard to core skills, we provide employees with opportunities for self-improvement by making a list of recommended training programs according to the skills they wish to develop and making them available to them.
In the process of the career design cycle, we have established a career consultation service so that employees can consult with us at any time if they have any concerns about their daily work or careers. Employees who are qualified as career consultants provide one-on-one counseling and support to help the clients find answers on their own.
We have implemented an internal recruitment system for Group employees who have been with the company for three years or more as a means of supporting careers that respect individual “Will,” fostering a culture of career autonomy, and promoting the mobility of human resources within the organization. The internal recruiting system is a personnel transfer system whereby departments seeking human resources recruit within the Group and select employees from among those who have applied.
In FY2017, our Group launched an internal job posting system, with more than 150 employees taking advantage of the system and transferring to matching departments.
In terms of recruitment, in order to respond quickly to changes in the business environment, we aggressively pursue employment of mid-career personnel who can immediately take on a job effectively, mainly in the new business and IT departments. We are also promoting the employment of foreign nationals in our effort to adapt to the rapid advancement of globalization and encourage diverse talent to play active roles. For new graduates, we have been employing foreign nationals every year, recently with a special focus on the employment of foreign nationals who have acquired not only Japanese language skills but also more specialized skills from overseas universities, in addition to those who have studied in Japan. We are also conscious of increasing the ratio of female employees and the employment rate of people with disabilities. The inclusion of mid-career employees and foreign nationals in each workplace has helped increase our diversity awareness across the company.
We have established various award systems to encourage employees to engage in various activities.
The NITTOKU BX AWARD is an internal contest designed to recognize employees who embody the spirit of “Beyond ceramics, exceeding imagination” and exhibit the mindset of Nittoku Way. Established in FY2021, the award aims to promote understanding and dissemination of the “Nittoku Way” and the “2030 Long-Term Management Plan NITTOKU BX,” encourage “unprecedented changes,” and recognize individuals who “speak of dreams and make them come true.”
We invite submissions for activities that have achieved unprecedented changes or are currently making efforts to achieve them, as well as activities that contribute to society or the NITTOKU Group. From among the activities submitted by employees, we select excellent activities and award the President’s Prize (one per year from all activities) and the Excellence Awards (top ten every six months).
To encourage employees’ inventions related to patents, utility model rights, or design rights, we recognize employees whose inventions demonstrate creativity, possess high technical value, and are considered to make a significant contribution to our company. These employees are rewarded with cash incentives.
Our group recognizes that improving engagement is an important issue in order to utilize autonomous, creative human resources by respecting the diversity and individuality of our employees, and is working on improvement activities.
As part of this, we conduct employee awareness surveys to visualize organizational issues and lead to organizational improvement. We provide feedback on the results to executives, consider issues to address through dialogue, and link them to improvement activities.
As a specific example of our activities, the human resources department plays a central role in supporting improvement activities in each organization by interviewing young employees and section managers and holding workshops. We aim to promote organizational improvement by holding sharing sessions on improvement activity examples in each department and spreading good examples horizontally.
In addition, in addition to superiors sharing the significance of improving engagement and the purpose of the survey with employees in their own departments, from FY2022, we will adopt the results of the employee awareness survey as one of the indicators used to calculate executive bonuses, accelerating our efforts to improve engagement. The response rate this year was 96.3%, down 10.4% from last year. This is a 3.7 point improvement.
As a result of these activities, the overall satisfaction rating for FY2023 has improved by approximately 0.13 points compared to last year.We will continue to use the survey results to identify issues and implement measures to work together as a group on improvement activities.
We were honored to receive the excellence award of “6th Platinum Career Award” (hosted by Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc.), which recognizes initiatives to support employees' autonomous careers.
The “Platinum Career” is a career vision characterized by three elements: long-term perspective (career development that continues regardless of age), autonomous learning (career development in which employees actively learn and gain experience on their own), and solving social issues (career development with an awareness of the need to solve social issues through business). The “Platinum Career Award” is designed to promote this philosophy in society by recognizing companies that support the development of platinum careers for their employees.
We received the Excellence Award out of a total of 116 companies that applied for the award, in recognition of its “high attendance rate (99%) for DX literacy training,” “visualization of employee skills and provision of learning opportunities for missing skills,” and “fostering awareness and information disclosure of career autonomy
