Sustainability ESG Management: Social Issues / Human Capital

Our Approach to Human Resources Strategy

Guided by our management philosophy—A Company Centered on Technology Development That Contributes to Society—we believe that helping to resolve social issues faced by society and our customers will lead to the sustainable improvement of our corporate value. For this reason, it is essential that we continue to be a company that is trusted and is relied upon both by society and our customers. So, we position the sincerity and seriousness of our corporate culture and human resources (human capital) as the source of our value creation.

Based on these strengths, we will focus on aspects such as recruiting, developing human resources, improving the education system establishing fair compensation and evaluation systems, and creating a comfortable working environment. These efforts aim to encourage employees to take on challenges, support their independent growth, and enhance their engagement. Guided by being “a group of employees who have a bold and challenging spirit” as the pillar of our human resource strategy, we aim to enhance corporate value by further improving our human capital.

Hiring

As a company that positions human capital as a source of value creation, we see hiring activities as a priority issue at the core of our human resources strategy. Our hiring policy focuses on recruiting new graduates, and aims to develop them over the medium-to long term. This approach allows us to benefit from our high retention rate which is one of our strengths. When hiring, we place importance on finding candidates who meet our requirements and who empathize with our philosophy. In the selection process, through a range of channels and by creating the motivation among candidates to join us, we continue to steadily hire human resources even amid intensifying competition for employees. We are also focusing on hiring career professionals with the aim of diversifying our HR portfolio from the viewpoint of driving innovation. We carry out these activities in a systematic way so that we can maintain a certain ratio of mid-career hires. Going forward, we will continue to acquire the employees who will be responsible for the future of the Company.

Human Resource Development

The Group believes that the trust and support of society and customers through the sincerity and integrity of our employees is the source of value creation, and that it is important to develop human resources that encourage a spirit of challenge based on these principles.

As part of a specific policy, we are focusing on on-the-job training, which is one of the pillars of our development system. Our corporate culture is built on an approach where every member of the workplace is cared to educate and support each employee individually.

In addition, we are striving to develop leaders through offsite training based on varied job levels with the intention of implementing HR strategies. We are also conducting practical training for every department. In addition, we will reinforce the development of the next generation of management executives through training for senior managers and others.

We are also prioritizing and supporting self-development of employees from the viewpoint of their autonomy. We have an incentive system in place for local qualifications, and we also support our employees in obtaining national qualifications. These include technical skill tests. Every year, a significant number of our employees successfully obtains qualifications. With the improvement of employee skills through these activities, we aim to further boost quality and provide high-value-added products.

Also, for HR development, the Group has accepted many technical trainees from IKO Thompson Vietnam Co., Ltd., and we are promoting skill exchanges. We position this training as a way to contribute to the development of employees who will be responsible for the economic growth of their region. Additionally it helps in cultivating internationally-minded employees through diverse experience. This is an area that we will continue to focus on in the future.

Work Satisfaction and Engagement

We believe that the execution of our human resource strategy requires human resource development from a medium- to long-term perspective and that an environment where employees can work with a sense of security is essential to achieving this goal.

To foster a sense of security among employees, we consider benefits to be an important issue. So, we focus on improving programs, such as housing and meal subsidies, in cooperation with labor unions, with which we maintain a good relationship, in order to increase the level of employee satisfaction. In addition, we are working to improve employee engagement by fostering individual growth and realizing career plans through interviews based on a self-assessment system and a target management system.

Through these initiatives, we have been able to maintain our low employee turnover rate for many years and have been able to develop human resources from a medium- to long-term perspective. We will examine current systems and approaches to continue supporting our employees’ sense of security.

Diversity and Inclusion (D&I)

Basic Approach

The Group promotes diversity and inclusion (D&I) to boost corporate value from multiple perspectives, including gender and other diversity and skills, and we strive to create an environment where every employee can work on their own initiative with a sense of fulfillment. Moreover, to respond to the diversified needs of society, we consider securing diversity in human resources to be an important issue. Accordingly, we will work to develop employees by supporting them guided by their own career goals in harmony with their respective work styles, providing fair opportunities for skill development and career advancement to all employees regardless of gender, age, nationality, work experience, etc.

1. Plan period

April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2025

2. Current status of the Company

(FY2022)

(1) Percentage of females among hired employees
 25.9% (Full-time employees)
 92.9％ (Contracted and part-time employee)

(2) Usage rate of paid leave
 62.8％

3. Goals and initiatives

[Goal 1] Steadily increase the percentage of women among all full–time hires to 20% or more

From April 2022: Hold briefings primarily for women at least twice a year.
From April 2023: Implement internships primarily for women at least twice a year.
From April 2024: Share examples of female managers and supervisors as role models.

[Goal 2] Increase the number of women in management positions and above by 1.5 times or more compared with March 2022

From April 2022: Exchange opinions about women's activities for management.
From September 2022: Review the training curriculum for developing managers.
From April 2023: Provide training for women who are candidates for managers.
From April 2024: Conduct interviews about career plans for women who are candidates for managers.

[Goal 3] Increase the number of women in management positions and above by March 2030 to at least 5 times or more compared with March 2022

[Goal 4] Increase the usage rate of infant care leave by male employees to at least 85% by the end of FY2031.

Certified as a “Seki City Approved Workplace for Women”

NIPPON THOMPSON’s main factory at the Gifu Factory complex was certified as a “Seki City Approved Workplace for Women” by the Seki City Hall. This indicates that the Company meets 13 specific conditions including preparing and stipulating rules for child/nursing care, maternal health management for female employees, and protection for mothers.

At the Gifu Factory complex, there are currently around 500 female employees. We will make efforts to improve the environment so that employees who are raising children receive consideration at each workplace, and make it easy for them to use leave for school events and when children are sick.

Implemented systems

Support name	Contents
Infant care leave system	Can be used up until a child reaches 2 years old.
Reduced working hours system for childcare	Work can be shortened up to two hours a day up until the end of March of a child’s third year of elementary school.
Childcare leave system	Childcare leave for when a pre-school-age child is sick or injured. Up to 5 days a year for 1 child and up to 10 days for 2 or more children. Can be used in half-day units.
Family care absence system	Up to 186 days can be used for one family member.
Reduced working hours system for family care	Working hours can be shortened up to two hours a day for one family member up to two times within a period of three years.
Family care leave system	Up to 5 days a year for 1 family member and up to 10 days for 2 or more family members. Can be used in half-day units.

Occupational Health and Safety Initiatives

Basic Approach

We see our human capital as a source of value creation, and especially as a manufacturing company with many employees engaged in production, and we consider safeguarding the health and safety of our employees to be one of the highest priorities for corporate management. Therefore, we aim to harmonize our business activities with employee health and safety based on the principle of minimizing physical hazards and adverse effects on the health of all people participating in our business activities through the participation of all employees in health and safety programs.

Health and Safety Initiatives

All members of the Group are aware of the importance of “safety first” and are engaged in health and safety programs that maintain safe, comfortable workplaces that enable employees to work with enthusiasm and vigor. Specifically, we are working to prevent accidents by holding regular factory safety patrols, by conducting risk assessments, and distributing information at safety and health committee meetings and council meetings. In addition, we are working to raise awareness of accident prevention by displaying accident-free records (number of days) at every workplace within the worksite.

By establishing a mental health consultation desk and monitoring long working hours, we will prioritize the health and safety of all employees. We will work towards promoting additional safety activities.

Results and Compensation System

With the intent to effectively respond to responsibilities and to get results, our HR personnel system is designed to ensure alignment between internal qualifications, evaluations, and treatment. In this way, we are working to nurture ambition and engagement among our employees. For evaluations, we have introduced a goal management and evaluation system that uses KPIs and competencies as the evaluation criteria. Goals are established at the beginning of the fiscal year, and evaluation feedback interviews are concluded at the end of the fiscal year. The purpose of these interviews is to increase engagement by promoting acceptance of feedback and evaluation, as well as creating communication opportunities in the workplace. By conducting periodic interviews and evaluator training, we work to ensure that the system is working correctly. We will continue to build systems that encourage employees to have a bold and challenging spirit, as we strive to maximize the value of our human capital.