Employee Engagement
Human Capital Strategy
We aim for each and every employee to play a part in creating "a truthful and sustainable life for all" by implementing good corporate activities in cooperation with various people in the society, based on our core value "to contribute to society and people".
We believe that society is truly enriched when the three elements of "environment", "economy" and "culture" are in good balance. The beauty and richness of the nature and the environment being sustained, the wealth of the economy enhanced by bringing out the best of each individual's unique abilities, and the cultural life of the people ensured in connection with others. This is the society we aim for.
Thus, we endeavor to be a company that generates both public interest and commercial profit in a sustainable way, by making profits through our business activities that contribute to social good.
For a company with such ideals, our greatest capital is "human resource." We treasure and encourage each employee in each region and stores making independent actions on one's own initiative, with the passion and will to "contribute to society and people" and to make one's dream come true. This is what we call "public interest and people-centered management," and the development of human resources and the reinforcement of the organization is the cornerstone of our management strategy.
The Qualities We Seek In Employees
1. Passion and ambition to contribute to society and people
Being thankful, humble, considerate, conscientious and sincere towards others with the understanding that we all live in each other's support. The passion and ambition that comes as a result, to contribute to society and people and to resolve social issues.
2. Empathy and sense of ownership
Imagining the everyday life and values of various people, such as close people, customers and local residents with respect. The ability to empathize and to have the sense of ownership with those lives and values.
3. Professional mindset
The mindset to keep making effort to improve situations and to create new values, with the belief that generating profit by contributing and bringing joy to the customers and the region is good.
4. Inquisitive mind and intellectual curiosity
A continuous inquisitive mind to imagine the ideal future life and society from the perspective of those who live the most considerate everyday life. Intellectual curiosity and the mindset to continue thinking, by actively collecting information and hints from newspapers, books and arts, and by going for a walk or making connections with others.
5. Creativity and conceptual ability
The ability to look deeply into the situation and find out gaps and surprises. The creativity to give shape to the ideas generated from those realizations and findings. The conceptual ability to design business models and structures to resolve confronted issues and contradictions and to create recurring values.
6. Teamwork and collaboration skills
The teamwork skill to realize big events that cannot be done alone, and the collaboration skill to create new things. Cooperating with people inside and outside of the company by sharing values and awareness of issues.
7. Vitality and thoroughness
The vitality to put ideas into practice by oneself. The thoroughness to continue making improvements until one achieves success.
8. Challenging spirit and positive attitude
The challenging spirit to confront with unknown obstacles and difficulties without being timid and having the belief in oneself. The positive attitude to enjoy every situation.
Each employee shall work together with their customers and the people in their communities to help create the desired lifestyle and society of the future. The products, services and stores generated through these connections shall be enjoyed, trusted and appreciated by many people. The employees shall experience personal growth and find happiness in the process of creating products and services, which then shall become a motivation for their next business activities.
This is the story we imagine, and our goal is to gradually push the society and communities in a better direction by spreading these activities throughout the world.
The Six Pillars of Our Human Resource Development
Our human resource development policy for achieving "public interest and people-centered management" is as follows.
- Recruit and develop employees who have the ambition to embody Ryohin Keikaku's philosophy and values
- Foster a healthy corporate culture in which diverse employees can show their individuality, think independently and act on their own initiative
- Create a working environment where employees can be themselves, realize physical and mental well-being and continue to work with peace of mind
- Train and assign leaders capable of bringing out the individuality and potential of diverse employees and maximizing organizational performance
- Develop and establish education and training systems to support the needs of employees who want to learn and grow through their careers
- Establish and operate a personnel system to support employees' sense of participation and willingness to take on challenges
Human Resource Development Policy and Main Initiatives
1. Recruit and develop employees who have the ambition to embody Ryohin Keikaku's philosophy and values
We recruit employees who share Ryohin Keikaku's philosophy and have the passion and ambition to embody it, and provide them with training on our ideology, philosophy and values. Through that training, we foster empathy and a sense of ownership toward the issues of communities and society and develop employees who are motivated to help resolve social issues and make a positive impact.
Main Initiatives:
- In conjunction with our "Second Founding," redefine and conduct training on our ideology, philosophy and values
- Promote internal understanding of our philosophy, create ongoing opportunities for dialogue and motivate employees
2. Foster a healthy corporate culture in which diverse employees can show their individuality, think independently and act on their own initiative
We create the conditions for fostering a healthy corporate culture, where employees with diverse personalities respect each other and have open discussions in an environment of psychological safety; where every employee can think independently and show initiative; and where people enjoy working positively toward achievement of goals.
Main Initiatives:
- Visualize the corporate culture through a Company-wide engagement survey, and continue to implement improvement activities
- Redefine and conduct training on the behavioral guidelines that realizes our philosophy and values for the "Second Founding"
3. Create a working environment where employees can be themselves, realize physical and mental well-being and continue to work with peace of mind
We provide and promote working environments where employees can be themselves, realize physical and mental well-being and continue to work with peace of mind, regardless of their nationality, birthplace, age, gender, disability, or the environment or life stage they are in.
Main Initiatives:
- Consider and introduce human resource management system that enables acceleration in store opening throughout the country
- Introduce expanded systems to accommodate diverse work styles (examples: challenge-work system, balanced four-day workweek system, return-to-work system, internal job posting)
- Adopt systems that support employees to continue working through each stages of life (examples: childcare leave and nursing care leave system, benefit programs)
- Establish systems and support for maintaining and improving the mental and physical health of employees
4. Train and assign leaders capable of bringing out the individuality and potential of diverse employees and maximizing organizational performance
We continually develop leaders who can bring out the individuality and potential of our diverse employees, direct them toward achievement of the Company's goals, and maximize the organization's performance. We also manage human resources by assigning such leaders to the right jobs.
Main Initiatives:
- Improve education to strengthen management skills for leader development
- Provide opportunities for development through on- and off-the-job training for store managers and community managers, who lead independent store management and community activities
- Reinforce external cooperation and human interaction
5. Develop and establish education and training systems to support the needs of employees who want to learn and grow through their careers
We have established education and training systems and a self-development support program to enable employees to learn the basic hard and soft skills necessary as a businessperson as well as the practical skills required for various positions and levels. With these programs, we maintain an environment in which motivated employees can continue to learn according to their needs throughout their career.
Main Initiatives:
- Maintain and create training programs to fit the needs of different positions and levels in store and headquarters operations
- Improve problem-solving skills and foster independence through Quality Control/Industrial Engineering education and project promotion
- Reinforce external cooperation by connecting with specialists, and provide opportunities to grow
6. Establish and operate a personnel system to support employees' sense of participation and willingness to take on challenges
We have introduced a personnel system in which employees who act independently and spontaneously to achieve goals, and employees who take risks and set difficult targets and achieve results are praised and rewarded. We create and maintain an environment in which employees experience growth through their work and feel rewarded and happy.
Main Initiatives:
- Introduce a grade system and evaluation system to assess each employee's ability, willingness to take on new challenges, and contribution to their organization, the Company and society
- Expand the employee stock ownership plan to foster the idea of "Co-owned Management"
- Introduce stock incentive plan to encourage employees to set higher goals
- Develop an internal recruiting system that encourages employees to take on new challenges and build their careers
- Consider systems for personnel exchanges and dual employment to promote community activities and contribution