Initiatives for human resources
- Labor environment
- Health management
- Human resource development
- Participation of diverse human resources
- Encourage diverse working styles
Labor environment
Internal Environmental Improvement Policies
The Group has raised “Improvement in well-being” as one of the materiality issues in which we will engage. We believe that the well-being of each employee, that is, maintaining a good physical, mental, and social condition, leads to better outcomes from daily activities and has a significant impact on individual performance.
In addition, we will create a comfortable work environment and job satisfaction through our initiatives, including respect for diversity, reforms in work styles, and health management practices, and establish a workplace where all of our employees can work enthusiastically.
Promotion structure
The Group has established the Human Recourse Activation Association (HRA Association) as a promotion mechanism for employee labor environment improvements. Chaired by the executive officer in charge of the Human Resources Division, the HRA Association includes managers from major businesses and the general managers of departments in the Human Resources Division. This association determines responds and policies to issues related to the labor environment and human resource training. It is striving to improve the labor environment by working with related departments in each Group company.
Health management
The Group believes that each employee can only maximize their own abilities if they are healthy. For that reason, the Group promotes initiatives to preserve and improve the physical and mental health of employees and their families by promoting appropriate work hours and work efficiency improvements. The Group conducts health management that strives to build a workplace environment where all employees can work lively. We established the Health Management Promotion Committee, chaired by the Representative Director and President, which is promoting these initiatives.
Human resource development
Human Resource Development Policies
The Group has raised “Improvement in human capital” as one of the materiality issues in which we will engage. Underpinned by our belief that all of our people serve as the source of our value creation, we accordingly deem that the growth of each and every individual leads to growth of the Group. We support our employees in obtaining qualifications and providing opportunities for self-education so that they can not only improve their skills, but can also develop their capacity to address their own career options and the strength to transform themselves, thereby promoting their growth and enabling them to achieve their self-directed career formation.
Education system
The Group has set a mission to be a “change agent group” that brings positive change to individuals and organizations.
We call each employee who is responsible for achieving this mission a “change agent” and define the qualities required of them.
Various training programs are provided repeatedly by “WILL University (in-house university),” which was established with the aim of effectively developing change agents, including Level-based mandatory training, Training for specific teams, Departmental custom-made training, and Voluntary training.
These training courses are conducted online, minimizing risks and costs and ensuring high learning effectiveness.
The Group has constructed an efficient, multi-layered educational system by using an e-learning “Learner” system developed in-house at an early stage as a learning aid for some training programs.
We also focus on staffing and training support using people analytics data. We have organized a team specializing in people analytics to create a “formula for success” by combining various types of data (personnel information, surveys, financial data, etc.) to improve the success and well-being of each employee.
[Level-based mandatory training]
Level-based training defines the roles by level as follows and aims for employees to gain the qualities, knowledge, and skills needed for each role.
- Board Members
- This program is for cultivating human resources who can fulfill their responsibilities for long-term company management as “vision makers.”
- General Manager
- Can fulfill the duties of medium-term level department management as a “market maker.”
- Manager
- Can fulfill the duties of yearly level department management as a “company maker.”
- Leader
- Can fulfill the duties of performance of a branch or team as a “team maker.”
- General employees
- Can properly understand and act upon the company philosophy, Group policies, and departmental vision as a “thanks maker.”
A feature of the level-based training of the Group is how it is conducted in a multi-layer strategy of education through the Group headquarters supervisor, education through the business company supervisor, and education through the department supervisor. The former aims for the development of skills needed for that specific level across the Group, and the latter two aim for the development of expertise required in business management.
The core element of level-based training is “coaching training.”These sessions are conducted by members of the human resource development department in the Group headquarters who have licenses as professional coaches. Targeting employees with subordinates (leaders or higher), the program is split into those for managers or higher and those employees who are leaders. We will continue follow-ups for ongoing training even after these sessions.
Not only will new employee undergo group training when entering the company, they will also do regular group training several times throughout the year. In addition, we create a “map for success” that is a growth plan through the year for each new employee and make individual follow-ups.
Managers and higher are invited for a yearly overnight study session, the WILL Summit, as well as programs from GLOBIS CORPORATION. These employees learn from experts, conduct planning for self growth, and engage in Group conversations for business growth. We are also proactively implementing a succession plan to train the next generation of managers.
[Training for specific teams]
The core element of training for specific teams is the “team-building workshops.” This is a program that aims to optimize the relationship of team members in order to support business growth. Human resource development department members, who are professionals in team-building and organization development, perform this training across the country. There tends to be divisions among team members between management and the managed. However, this program aims to prevent these divisions from causing fractures, and actually use knowledge and skills to change them into a positivity and achieve business growth.
[Departmental custom-made training]
An opportunity to learn about coaching techniques systematically and professionally in order to enhance ability to support job seekers or working staff in the relevant department. This training is conducted by a professional coach enrolled in the Human Resource Development Department at the Group Headquarters. We aim to enhance participants’ support capabilities so that the job seekers can improve the “line” and “aspect” of careers and lives, not the “dot” of changing jobs, and for working staff, they can play an active role in the workplace and achieve self-fulfillment. We also aim to support participants acquire basic knowledge and skills about well-being so that both job seekers and working staff can be guided to become even closer to well-being through their work. The Human Resource Development Department also provides support and training to resolve other issues which the department is facing.
[Voluntary training]
This is a small-group, ongoing training program that can be attended by any employee at any level or from any team, at their own discretion. The core training programs are Well-being & Coaching Training and Cross-Departmental Dialog. This training program is provided by specialists in coaching and dialog from the Group Headquarters. This is an opportunity to learn and deepen your skills in effective coaching techniques and dialog across departments to achieve the Group’s most important concept, “well-being.” Simultaneously, this program fosters connections among employees from different departments and a sense of organizational unity by “crossing borders” between position levels and teams. In addition, almost all departments continuously conduct dialog training and regular study sessions instructed by executives of the division department.
Participation of diverse human resources
We seek to instill a desire to work among people who were previously restricted by their working hours and work location, and will accordingly create positive changes by helping to transform the world into one in which people are able to choose work arrangements tailored to various life stages and lifestyles.
Examples of major initiatives
Career training
In the current VUCA era (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity), it is essential that all people assume responsibility for their own careers and take initiative in contemplating their career paths.
To such ends, we provide career development training mainly to employees in their 20s and 30s, which is a time of significant influence for future career formation.
Our training provides an opportunity for participants to gain perspectives on empowering careers suited to them by gaining an understanding of and developing their strengths and qualities.
Training to strengthen management skills for managers
For employees in managerial positions, we provide training to strengthen management skills on the theme of empowering diverse human resources. In the training, we use actual data and actual examples to deepen our understanding of management stances and methods for the active participation of diverse human resources, as well as the ideal and direction of support for employees’ autonomous career development. Starting in 2020, a total of more than 180 managers have participated. One of the participants said, “I was able to understand the importance of the active participation of diverse human resources.”
WILL Color project to promote the empowerment of women
The name “WILL Color” is short for “WILL GROUP colorful career.” It serves as a project to promote the empowerment of women, created with the aim of enabling employees to achieve colorful careers with the WILL GROUP.
The project was launched as a first step toward creating opportunities for empowering all people with diverse range of personalities.Although many of the Group’s female employees play active roles, we are concerned that the percentage of women holding managerial positions is low.
Questionnaires administered with the aim of identifying potential means of addressing this issue indicate that female employees need role models who enable them to envision long-term career possibilities.As such, with the WILL Color project for promoting the empowerment of women having been formed in 2021, we have been furnishing articles through our in-house newsletter profiling employees who are striking a childcare-work balance and employees who are playing active roles.
Encourage diverse working styles
WILL GROUP conducts initiatives to encourage flexible working styles in order to maximize the abilities of each employee.
The Group aims to improve the well-being of each employee by enhancing “working,” “interesting,” “learning” and “living” of each employee through a flextime system, reduced working day/hour system, a work from home system, and allowing side jobs.
Examples of initiatives
- Implementation of flextime system
- Implementation of reduced working day/hour system
- Implementation of work from home system
- Enhancement of childcare leave and nursing care leave systems
- Allowing side jobs