Human Resource Management

In our Articles of Incorporation, we designate our employees as one of the Company’s principal stakeholders to realize our Corporate Concept (hhc), and enhance the value of our “human talent” by ensuring stable employment, respecting human rights and diversity, providing full opportunities for growth in support of self-fulfillment, and creating an employee-friendly environment.
We aim to effectively achieve social good by placinghhcand compliance as our core value for human resources, aligning our vision with what employees want to accomplish, and by providing an environment and programs that enable every employee to carry out their daily work with a sense of fulfillment and job satisfaction based on a strong sense of empathy with our corporate concept, and at the same time, support the growth and self-realization of the employees themselves.

We are focusing on strengthening organizational management, both in terms of systems and operations, in order to conduct the appropriate placement of human talent that supports the effective achievement of social good, treating them fairly, improving work engagement, and fostering a sound organizational climate.
In order to foster a climate that accepts and acknowledges differences in opinions and ideas among employees and promotes dialogue based on diverse values within the organization, we continue to work on simplifying the design of the organization and hierarchy, data-driven visualization of the characteristics and activities of the organization and its members, and developing and enhancing training programs that contribute to the improvement of management skills.
In addition, we support employee self-realization, along with careful management of goals, through fair screening of individual employees’ willingness and attitude toward work, performance and contribution to the company in light of the standards required for each role, as well as by conducting career reviews and providing opportunities to realize their potential.

Under the supervision of the Chief HR Officer (CHRO), we have established a system in which the HR organizations in each country work together globally to design and operate systems in order to maximize the performance of each employee, conduct optimal placement of human resources, and develop talent. This system allows us to understand issues concerning the management of the Company, including the rapidly changing business environment and diversifying employee values and work styles, and to swiftly resolve them, leading to the realization of management and business/divisional strategies.

In Japan, we also provide all employees with a system to assist self-actualization that allows them to envision what they want to be in the future, understand their own strengths, weaknesses, and values, and incorporate it into action plans. We also provide a system that reflects each employee’s requests, ideas and opinions in personnel transfers, company policies and other measures. In order to enhance employee autonomy annual goal execution and growth potential, we promote quarterly meetings (mid-quarter reviews) between employees and their supervisors through guidelines and systems. This approach comes with not only reviewing the progress in business goals but also raising the likelihood of end-product completion and accelerate personal growth through checking and reassessing assessment results of quarterly action plans.

1）Engagement survey
To maximize the value of human resources, we have introduced an annual global engagement survey since fiscal 2021, surveying and indexing the awareness of employees awareness of employees on the company, work and organizational culture in all global companies of the Group, and utilized the results for analysis and action. In the second survey in fiscal 2022, the overall Employee Engagement Score, which uses the percentage of employees who responded positively about their attachment to the company and their work, engagement drivers and vitality, remained at 85%, the same as last year, outperforming the average of the global pharmaceutical companies. In particular, 96% agreed with the corporate concept and vision, and 89% were conscious of ESG and social contribution, showing the strength of the company. Regarding psychological safety, which was newly introduced as a survey item, the score for seven related questions was 82%, which also exceeded the benchmark. On the other hand, in terms of the “environment where innovation can be created”, where there is room for improvement from the previous fiscal year, we are strengthening initiatives for various measures, such as facilitating dialogue based on mutual understanding of diverse values and ideas and fostering an organizational culture that takes on challenges without fear of failure and leads to learning from the results, and support for the acquisition of new skills. In addition, regarding the item of “well-being” where there was room for improvement in the fiscal 2022 survey, we are striving to improve the environment with the extension of the systems to increase flexibility of workstyle, such as the promotion of smart work based on the concept of Work Life Best and a planning-type discretionary work system.

　

The results of these surveys are used for improvement in actions in each region, as well as for verifying and strengthening HR strategies. In addition, from fiscal 2022, we have incorporated the global engagement survey into the performance-based compensation indicators for Corporate Officers to enhance mid- to long-term human resource value. In the global engagement survey, we aim to increase the percentage of employees who highly engaged to the company from 85% in fiscal 2022 to 90% or more in fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2030.

2）Initiatives Toward Enhancement of Organizational Strength
In order to visualize important positions and talents in the company globally, we identify important positions and formulate a succession plans with talent requirements and skill maps. At the same time, we have created development plans based on the experience and knowledge of successor candidates and are striving to produce global leaders systematically and sustainably. For positions that cannot be filled with the existing talents, we hire personnel and reassign personnel across regions to strengthen our global talent management. Regarding next-generation talents who have been recognized through these activities, corporate human resource managers conduct individual interviews on-site, and work to create a talent map that includes not only the status of duties but also future career plans of candidates.

3）Job Challenge (Internal Job Posting System)
In Japan, we are promoting the “Job Challenge (Internal Job Posting System)” that allows employees to apply voluntarily for internal transfers, thereby strengthening the realization of the human talent allocation based on employees’ career preferences. We anticipate fostering a culture of career ownership through this system. After its introduction in 2016, a total of over 20 employees used the system to develop their new careers by FY2022.