Investment in Human Capital

Governance

The CSR Promotion Committee, chaired by our President & CEO, is the highest decision-making body in the company for promoting CSR initiatives, including those relating to human capital. The CSR Promotion Committee is composed of all of Nippon Soda’s directors, executive officers, and general managers of our business units and major Group companies in Japan. The committee holds regular meetings twice a year to set, evaluate, and review targets by management for continuous improvement and to spiral up the PDCA cycle.

Strategy

We have established in our long-term vision, Brilliance through Chemistry 2030 and medium-term business plan, Brilliance through Chemistry Stage II, a human capital management vision titled Make Employees Brilliant, and various initiatives are being promoted.

In promoting these initiatives, we strive to create a virtuous cycle in which each and every employee, with the diverse values and strengths they possess, plays an active role in the organization, which energizes it, enhancing productivity and profits, and leading to further employee success. The primary policies and measures are as follows.

Human Resource Development Policy

With Make Employees Brilliant, we have set forth the ideal image of our human resources throughout all job categories and levels, in which they should be “autonomous and able to learn, think, and act on their own initiative”. With this at the core, we are studying and implementing various measures to respond to changes in our company’s human resources, particularly the increasing numbers of female employees in key positions, the smooth transition from veteran employees to the next generation, and the diversification of work styles and ways of thinking about one’s career.

In recent years, we have introduced a career development support system (individual questionnaires, interviews with HR and supervisors, and career training for employees up to their 15th year with the company), an early selection system for management positions, and the establishment of the NISSO Technical Training Center, a facility for manufacturing site employees (to pass on skills and develop human resources capable of operating manufacturing sites that are both safe and highly productive). In addition, in connection with the personnel system revisions described below, we are encouraging employees to pursue "learning" and promoting the acquisition of various certifications, including the IT Passport qualification.

Internal Environmental Improvement Policy

In addition to the previous section of Make Employees Brilliant, it also states that employees should “maximize their abilities by practicing flexible and efficient work styles”. Based on this, we have implemented the following measures:

• Introduction of open-plan (free-address) office spaces, as well as telecommuting and staggered working hour systems (implemented progressively)
• A home office system for some sales office employees to reduce the burden of commuting between their residences and their assigned sales areas
• Child nursing leave and restrictions on overtime work for employees raising children
• Shortened working hours exceeding legal requirements for employees raising children up to the sixth grade of elementary school
• Spouse accompaniment leave system (for both domestic and overseas assignments)

In addition to the above, we have recently been working on revising our personnel system to enhance its alignment with our long-term vision (partial implementation beginning in FY 2025). In the new personnel system, we have established an HR policy, "Become a 'Brilliant Person' through Chemistry," as a connecting point between our long-term vision and the systems for "grade," "evaluation," and "compensation." Furthermore, we have set three perspectives linked to this policy—"Challenge," "Learn," and "Action"—and by evaluating the degree to which each employee demonstrates their abilities based on these perspectives, we aim to strengthen the linkage between our evaluation system and long-term vision. Additionally, under this system, employees in general career-track positions at or above a certain level are categorized into different courses (Leader, Generalist, Professional, and Area courses), and movement between courses and job categories is permitted, creating a framework that enables personnel placement matched to each individual's aptitudes and circumstances. We are also actively promoting health management. We believe that maintaining and promoting good health not only improves the quality of life of each individual, but also revitalizes the organization to which they belong by increasing their motivation, which in turn improves corporate performance. The Health Management Promotion Section was established in FY 2023/3 to unify the efforts of industrial healthcare professionals, which had been scattered across different workplaces until then, and to promote company-wide health measures.

Furthermore, as part of our other efforts to improve the internal environment at our company, an engagement survey of employees has been conducted since FY 2023/3. We are conducting ongoing tracking to make improvements to the internal environment.

Risk Management

In consultation with the relevant departments that have risk jurisdiction, risks are identified, their impacts assessed, and critical factors identified on an annual basis, then plans are developed to handle these identified risks. These plans are assessed and reviewed by management in the CSR Promotion Committee, then incorporated into the overall corporate management plan.

Metrics & Targets

The metrics and targets relating to human capital are as follows.

In addition to the above, regarding health management, we have been focusing on improving the follow-up examination rate for those requiring detailed medical checks, and we will continue to work toward this goal (FY 2025/3 result: 95.0%). Furthermore, as another objective, we have set “improvement of employees' health literacy”.