Human Resource Development
Approach to Human Resource Development
GRI 3-3 / 404-2
Our Group believe that human resources are the key to achieving our growth strategies, and we are taking action to recruit the human resources that will be necessary for carrying out strategies from a medium- to long-term perspective. For areas and positions that require medium- to long-term development, we assign recent graduates to positions based on our policy of hiring the few very best candidates, and for positions necessary for carrying out large-scale projects and quickly executing business expansion strategies, we actively recruit experienced and specialized human resources from outside the Company.
We also believe that self-driven growth by every employee hired in this manner will lead to sustainable growth by the Group. In order to build a new business model and adapt to a changing business environment, we provide all employees with opportunities to improve their capabilities and are developing human resources who can steadily execute on growth strategies.
We consider self-development by individual employees and practical on-the-job training (OJT) that is planned and continuously carried out through everyday work, along with appropriate assignment of personnel resources with an intention of development, to be the foundation for employees’ growth. In OJT, we encourage not only acquisition of knowledge and skills for jobs but also growth as a person. In off-the-job training (OFF-JT), we are constructing a system for diverse training, workshops, online video-based learning, e-learning, and other training for each human resource management classification1 and are promoting self-development by employees.
Under the thinking that appropriate involvement of superiors is important in the growth of subordinates, superiors make efforts to actively support the motivation and enthusiasm of subordinates. Regarding the target management system that we introduced with the objective of achieving both individual growth and sustainable growth by the Company, we evaluate employees’ medium- to long-term efforts and attitudes toward challenges. We also provide active support for career development, including transfer requests, so that all employees can independently consider their careers and work with motivation. When performing employee evaluations, we clarify the points of emphasis by adjusting the allocation of evaluation points according to the employee’s job duties, responsibilities, and roles. In addition to conducting interviews to provide feedback at the end of each fiscal year as a means of sharing information on evaluations, superiors also hold one-on-one meetings with their subordinates to improve the quality of communication between superiors and subordinates and draw out the capabilities of every individual.
In addition to the Human Resources Division, we conduct division-specific and function-specific human resource development. For specific function, we clarify the person in charge of development and engage in Company-wide development and utilization (assignment) of human resources.
- 1To accommodate differences in goals and basic approaches in development and utilization (assignment), we have established human resource management classifications of “managerial track” and “operating track” in line with the roles of employees, and are developing different human resource development systems
Medium-Term Targets Relating to Human Resource Development
As medium-term targets relating to human resource development toward addressing key issues and realizing our Material issues and Vision for 2030, we have set the “Utilization Rate of Self-Development Programs” as a target. In conjunction with the revision of the managerial track personnel system for comprehensive employees in July 2023, we are promoting the utilization of various programs—including online video learning, correspondence courses, foreign language courses, business school dispatch, and university/graduate school dispatch—with the aim of fostering a corporate culture in which each employee continues to learn and grow. Our goal is to achieve a 60% utilization rate for these programs by FY2030.
Additionally, we conduct one-on-one meetings to draw out the motivation and potential of each employee and boost personal growth through periodic dialogues between superiors and subordinates, and we are working toward achieving a 100% implementation rate in FY2030.
Training Systems
We are building training systems aimed at improving the capabilities required for each human resource management classification, grade-specific, and individual.
■ SMM Human Resource Development Program
Hierarchical Position-Specific Education for Managerial Track Employees
This education falls under two types: grade-specific training conducted when employees are assigned to a job grade corresponding to staff in charge of a business or bearing duties and responsibilities for managing a workplace, and preparatory curriculum that must be taken in advance. The education enables employees to take on the duties and responsibilities demanded of each job grade category and to deliver results.
| Grade-specific training | We conduct new employee training for about one month under a curriculum focused on classroom learning, group work, and visits to business sites and facilities related to the Company, while also teaching fundamental matters for working persons. Additionally, for newly appointed managerial employees, we provide training on topics such as labor management and compliance, as well as opportunities to acquire practical organizational management skills. |
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| Preparatory curriculum | We are developing e-learning aimed at advanced acquisition of the knowledge and skills (in-house knowledge, problem solving, management skills, etc.) that employees need in order to take on the duties and responsibilities of higher job grade categories. We expect employees to independently envision their careers and study and acquire required knowledge, capabilities, and skills in advance to enhance their capabilities for executing work and to put this into practice through their work. |
3-Year Program for Managerial-Track New Employees
We have set the first three years after joining the Company—a period during which the foundation as a business professional is established—as the timeframe for the education and development of new employees. By encouraging self-development with a clear image of what they should be like three years after joining the Company, setting clear goals for the three-year period, and implementing training programs at regular intervals, we promote the growth of new employees.
| Training program for new employees | We conduct new employee training for about one month under a curriculum focused on classroom learning, group work, and visits to business sites and facilities related to the Company, while also teaching fundamental matters for working persons. This training is aimed at equipping employees with an awareness as employees of the Company and a recognition of their responsibilities. Together with this training, we implement overseas language training and other programs to develop global human resources. |
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| Second-year training | We work to enhance motivation toward work and engagement with the organization by providing employees with opportunities to reaffirm their positions and expected roles, as well as to envision their future careers, by looking back on their first two years since joining the Company. |
| Third-year graduation paper presentation | To wrap up the three-year development system, we hold a paper presentation event aimed at letting employees reaffirm their roles and organize their medium- to long-term career prospects. We work to promote self-driven career formation by having employees summarize work and the issues that they tackled during their first three years, along with their career prospects to tenth year. |
Development of Next Generation Management
We believe in the importance of expanding our human resource pool of the next generation management through planned development. Toward that end, we implement multiple selection-based programs (Middle Management Programs, Training to develop the next generation executive managers, Officers’ Coaching School, etc.) for specific target groups to develop human resources. We also actively dispatch personnel to multiple external programs and, through training and seminars with next generation management resources outside the Company, work to equip employees with perspectives not obtainable within our Company alone.
| Officers’ Coaching School | We launched the Officers’ Coaching School in 2014 as a venue for executive officers and the school’s students to inspire each other and consider their self-development. Each class consists of junior and middle-management employees. Executives serve as the head and deputy head of each class, which operates independently. Classes established based on functions such as mineral resource business, smelting and refining business, materials business, research and development, equipment and technology, human resources, accounting, and sales select key themes for the Company and engage in activities with the goals of strengthening the ability to learn together and to put learning to practical use in the workplace. |
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| Training to develop the next generation executive managers | We have held training to develop the next generation executive managers since FY2011, and most recently, the program has been conducted every other year. This training is for the purpose of selecting human resources who will lead our Company in the near future and teaching them the fundamentals of management. We are implementing a practical program of about eight months to place participants at the starting line of change and growth, thereby fostering commitment and motivation, and to provide the knowledge and train the thinking skills necessary for running a company. |
| Middle Management Program (MMP) | Since FY2008, we have been carrying out MMP as a program to select human resources who can be expected to lead organizations in the future, and to equip these persons with more high-level perspectives. Through discussions on material issues for the achievement of Vision for 2030 over the course of about six months, with members of our management team serving as a lecturer, MMP works to raise the level of the mid-level managers who will lead the next generation. |
Self-Development Support and Recommendations
To actively support employees’ self-development, we offer a variety of programs including online video-based learning, correspondence courses, foreign language courses, business school dispatch, and university/graduate school dispatch. In our online video-based learning program for all managerial track employees, we offer courses on knowledge and skills (such as problem solving capabilities, management skills, and basic management knowledge), as well as the Company’s business strategies, occupational health and safety, DE&I, and labor management. Additionally, since FY2023, all employees have been eligible for qualification congratulatory gifts aimed at securing holders of qualifications necessary for business or closely related to work and at developing employees with high-level expertise, as well as appointment and notification allowances designed to motivate employees who take on external responsibilities due to appointment or notification. Furthermore, in accordance with the Company’s regulations on the management of patents, we provide rewards both at the time of application and based on achievements for inventions made by employees in the course of their duties. There is no upper limit to the achievement-based rewards for inventions that contribute to the business, which increases employees’ motivation to create valuable inventions.
Career Plan Training
To be a company where all employees can take a vibrant and active part, we believe it is important that employees are able to independently envision their careers and continue working. Toward that end, beginning from employees’ second year after joining the Company, we conduct career design training at the ages of 35, 43, 50, and 58. We also create opportunities for employees to clarify their future career goals and action plans.
Additionally, in 2023, alongside the revision of the managerial track personnel system, we also established the Career Challenge System (an internal job posting system). Autonomous challenges utilizing this system have been occurring on an ongoing basis.
JCO Study Center Training
We believe that we bear an obligation and responsibility to pass on to Group employees the lessons from the JCO criticality accident that must never be forgotten. For this reason, we established the JCO Study Center in October 2010 as an experience-oriented facility where employees can have direct contact with the facts of the incident. We learn about topics including the accident’s direct causes and risk management at the time. To ensure that such an accident never occurs again, we have incorporated JCO Study Center training into internal training and are making efforts to have all Group employees undergo the training at least once. As of May 1, 2025, 92.3% of our employees and 90.3% of employees of Group companies have experienced the training.
