We introduced a Group-wide skill map for employees to check their own skills as a tool to support their personal growth. In addition to specialized training with voluntary participation from employees to improve their own skills, we also offer a variety of programs to support employee career development, including level-specific training to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for each level and role, and training for manufacturing that focuses on quality education and other areas.
We are also utilizing My Career, a framework to help employees envision their future careers and think autonomously about the approach they want to take. From this fiscal year, we are also promoting our Career Design Cycle, in which each employee arranges their "cans" (work they can do) and "wills" (the kind of work they want to do). The Career Design Cycle is a process whereby employees take ownership of the design and achievement of their own careers, utilizing interviews with workplace supervisors in order to realize their vision, both for their work and for themselves. In the event that the cycle is not working well for employees and there are concerns regarding their daily work or career, we offer a consultation helpline that they can contact at any time. Employees certified as career consultants provide one-on-one counseling to employees, supporting them so that the consulting employees can find answers for themselves.
At the management meeting the members discuss personnel affairs regarding core positions and work to place the right person in the right job for total optimization.
To develop these human resources, we operate programs such as the "HAGI Program" and "Niterra Business School.”
We have also established a selective human resources development program for each of PAMA, Asia and other regions and implement the program four times a year for the local development of business leaders.
As we expanded our business globally, in 2016, we started a program to find and develop the next generation of global managerial human resources, targeting all Group companies.
This program is intended to facilitate the employment and promotion of candidates regardless of nationality and to provide them with opportunities and environments that allow them to demonstrate their abilities. It was named the “HAGI Program” after Hagi City in Yamaguchi Prefecture, where the Shoka Sonjuku school developed diverse human resources at the end of the Edo period. Chairman Shinichi Odo serves as the head of the program. Under the program, seminars have been held on a continuous basis to provide employees with opportunities to learn together with a focus on gaining a big picture view encompassing the entire company. We are thereby developing leaders with the will and sense of mission required to take the Niterra Group into the future.
Targeting human resources in Japan, we run Niterra Business School classes for employees who are almost qualified to participate in the HAGI Program. For these classes we have prepared a curriculum that helps participants develop logical thinking and acquire knowledge and skills regarding management strategies, marketing and presentations. It also includes case studies based on actual examples and is intended to help participants to develop the spirit, techniques and physical stamina required of leaders.
For the development of managers, we provide them with opportunities to review their past management approaches and observe the situation of their respective workplaces in an objective manner.
We implemented a 360-degree survey targeting departmental managers and those in higher positions in FY2018, and we will expand the survey target to include sectional managers and those in higher positions in FY2020.
The survey analyzes the attitudes of the subjects, including their awareness and preparedness, based on the results of their responses to the survey.
The survey results reveal the gaps between what the surveyed individuals think about themselves and what others think about them. We give feedback to the respondents to help them become aware of the importance of “observing” themselves, and improve behavior.
Along with the “one-on-one meeting,” which we introduced on a trial basis in FY2019 to foster dialogue between managers and their subordinates for the development of workers able to work autonomously, we have also introduced a quantitative indicator as a tool to visualize workplace engagement. This engagement indicator numerically shows the level of employees’ eagerness to contribute to their organizations and jobs, and is designed for use by line managers to check the management level of their workplaces.