Human Resources Development
Approach to Human Resources Development
We believe that autonomous growth by every employee will lead to sustainable growth for our 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 believe that 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, form
the foundation for employees’ growth. In OJT, we encourage not only acquisition of knowledge and skills for jobs but also growth as a
person through work. In off-the-job training (OFF-JT), we are constructing a system for diverse training, workshops, e-learning, and
other training for each human resource management classification* and are promoting autonomous learning 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. In our target management system, we evaluate employees’
medium- to long-term efforts and attitudes toward challenges. We also provide active support for career development, including
our transfer request system, so that all employees can independently consider their careers and work with motivation. To improve the quality of communication between superiors and subordinates and draw out the capabilities of every individual, we are introducing
and gradually expanding one-on-one meetings.
In addition to the Human Resources Division, we conduct division-specific and function-specific human resources development. For specific function, we clarify the person in charge of development and engage in Company-wide development and utilization
(assignment) of human resources.
To 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, conducting development and assignment in line with each human resource system
Training Systems
We are building training systems aimed at improving the capabilities required for each human resource management classification, hierarchical level, job function, and individual.
■ SMM Human Resources 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 | In this training, employees visit Sumitomo‘s and Company-related facilities to encounter the Sumitomo Business Spirit and the Company’s history, to reaffirm their self-awareness and their responsibilities as employees of the Company. |
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| Preparatory curriculum | We are developing e-learning aimed at advance 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. Under this training, employees autonomously consider their careers and study and acquire required knowledge, capabilities, and skills in advance, to enhance their capabilities for executing work and to meet expectations for fulfilling their required duties and responsibilities. |
3-Year Program for Managerial-Track New Employees
We consider the first three years since joining the Company to be a development period for new employees, during which the foundation for the employees as businesspersons is formed. By urging employees to envision their futures beyond those first three years, encouraging self-improvement under clearly defined three-year goals, and conducting training programs at set times, we promote employees’ growth as individuals.
| 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, and having them envision their own roles and futures. Together with this training, we implement overseas programs such as language training 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 autonomous career formation by having employees summarize the issues and work that they tackled during their first three years, along with their prospects from their fourth to tenth years. |
Development of Next Generation of Management
We believe in the importance of expanding our human resource pool through planned development as well as experience through work. Toward that end, we implement multiple selection-based programs (Middle Management Programs, Training to develop the next generation of executive managers, Officers’ Coaching School, etc.) for specific target groups as a way to develop the next generation of management. 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 8 to 10 junior and middle-management employees. Executives serve as the head and deputy head of each class, which operates independently and issues a report once a year. 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 every year and engage in activities with the goals of strengthening the ability to think issues through, to learn together, and to put learning to practical use in the workplace. |
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| Training to develop the next generation of executive managers | We have held training to develop the next generation of executive managers since FY2011. This training is for the purpose of selecting leader human resources in their late 40s who will lead our Company in the near future, instilling managerial sensibilities in the participants. We implement a practical program of about nine months aimed at fostering preparedness and motivation, while training participants in the knowledge and thinking skills needed to stand at the starting line of change and growth and engage in corporate management amid global and rapid environmental changes. |
| Middle Management Program (MMP) | Since FY2008, we have carried out MMP as a program to select human resources in their 30s to early 40s who can be expected to lead organizations in the future, and to equip these persons with more high-level perspectives. Through discussions of material issues for the achievement of Vision for 2030 over the course of about five months, with members of our management team serving as lecturers, 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’ own motivation and ambition, we offer numerous programs including online video-based learning, e-learning, correspondence education, and foreign language courses (English, Spanish, and Chinese), and are preparing systems that let employees learn autonomously. In our online video-based learning program for all managerial track employees, we promote autonomous learning by employees through the acquisition of knowledge and skills required for higher grade categories (problem solving capabilities, management skills, basic management knowledge) and knowledge concerning the Company’s business strategy, occupational health and safety, diversity, and labor management. From FY2023, all employees are eligible for qualification congratulatory gifts aimed at developing employees who possess high-level expertise and at securing holders of qualifications necessary for business or closely related to work, along with appointment and notification allowances designed to motivate employees who take on new external responsibilities due to appointment or notification.
Promotion of Growth, Communication, and Human Resource Network Creation
| One-on-one meetings | In FY2021, we introduced one-on-one meetings aimed at raising the quality of communication between superiors and subordinates, tapping the capabilities of every individual, and building organizations that achieve results. Led by and for the benefit of subordinates, one-on-one meetings provide regular opportunities to draw out the capabilities of subordinates and promote their autonomous growth through dialogues with superiors. In carrying out the meetings internally, we work to widely communicate psychological safety, the purpose and significance of the meetings, and the required skills and mindset to superiors and subordinates. |
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| DX Salon | Every two months, we hold DX Salon as an opportunity for reviewing conventional ways of working as well as to spur employees’ interest in digital technologies. Here, employees who have tackled business efficiency through digital means can share the background, details, and outcomes of their efforts. Through these casual face-to-face exchanges of information, participants have increasingly expressed the desire to make their work easier through digital technologies. |
| Head Office ACROSS | We hold ACROSS* once a month as an event to advance “communication activation,” one of the goals of our renewal
of the Head Office. In ACROSS, employees provide overviews of their business, examples of DX initiatives, and other
topics to promote understanding of each other’s work and targets.
Accelerate Co-creation Roundly Over the Sections in Sumitomo Metal Mining |
Career Design Training, Career Design & Life Plan Training
To remain a company where employees can work with pride, motivation, and joy, we believe it is important that employees are able to autonomously envision their careers and continue working with spirit. 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 have also set opportunities for employees to clarify their future career goals and action plans through reviews of their careers while touching on age-specific career issues.
JCO Study Center Training
We believe that we bear an obligation and responsibility to pass on lessons of the JCO criticality accident that must never be forgotten by Group employees. For this reason, we established the JCO Study Center in October 2010 as an experience-oriented facility where people can come into direct contact with the facts of the incident. Through materials, audio, video, and other media, visitors can 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 are making efforts to have all Group employees undergo JCO Study Center training at least once, by incorporating it into all manner of training. As of the end of March 2023, 92% of our employees and 78% of employees of Group companies have experienced the training.
Human Rights Seminar
As stated in our Corporate Philosophy, we aim to be a forward-minded and vibrant company that recognizes the dignity and value of people based on respect for all individuals. Setting December of every year as Human Rights Month, we undertake human rights training throughout our Group. In the advancement of diversity, people’s unconscious assumptions, preconceptions, and stereotypes can create hindrances and lead to harassment. In FY2022, we conducted education on unconscious bias at workplaces, with the aim of recognizing differences in people’s attributes, backgrounds, and experiences and creating workplace in which people can inspire each other and grow—in other words, achieving diversity.
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