Human Resource Management


Management Approach

Our Basic Stance

Human resources are the most important asset necessary to sustainably provide the new value required by society, and in the Group Vision 2030 as well, we have positioned the enhancement of human capital as an important element supporting our growth scenario. Based on this understanding and in accordance with our basic policy on human capital (Kawasaki Group Policy on Human Resource Management), we are implementing various measures to recruit and develop diverse human resources, to create an environment that leverages individuality and abilities, and to realize proactive individuals and organizations that continuously embrace challenges.

Guidelines on Human Resource Management

Our Company-wide human resource development policy, which has a significant impact on management, is being discussed and examined by the Company-wide HR Management Committee, chaired by the president. In addition, since fiscal 2021, we have launched a new personnel system based on the concept of "Challenge & Commitment." We aim to continuously improve corporate value by securing and assigning human resources from both within and outside the company, regardless of age, gender, nationality, or other attributes, who can fulfill expected roles and achieve results, and by maximizing their abilities.
 Regarding the policy for improving the company environment, we believe that creating an environment where a greater number of human resources can experience job satisfaction and ease of work is crucial to continue being an open, free-spirited, and creative team that surpasses boundaries and continues to grow, as stated in the Group Vision 2030.
 Furthermore, for the sustained enhancement of our corporate value, we are endeavoring to create an organization that enables individual employees active around the world to fully display their diverse abilities regardless of nationality, gender, age, religion, disability and so on and to maximize this talent. These proactive efforts to promote diversity have been recognized, and we have been selected as a "Nadeshiko Brand" for women's participation in the workforce. We have also obtained such certifications as "Eruboshi" and "Kurumin."

Personnel-related Structures

Company-wide policies on human resource development and utilization with significant potential impact on corporate management are discussed and reviewed at the Company-wide HR Management Committee. With the president as its presiding officer, the Company-wide HR Management Committee comprises primarily internal company presidents. The committee discusses and reviews matters regarding 1) cultivating corporate managers, 2) the application of human resources in key strategies, 3) the assignment of human resources to new business and new product operations, and 4) the status of human resource measures in operation.
 In addition, the Head Office Human Resources Division maintains various meetings and committees in which division managers in charge of human resources and labor at the business segments convene to gather views and opinions on the drafting of detailed human resource initiatives and communicate Company-wide policies.

Human Resource Committees and Meetings

Body Purpose Attendees Meeting frequency
Company-wide HR Management Committee To discuss and consider Company-wide policies on human resource development and related matters with the potential to significantly impact corporate management
  • Head Office Human Resources Planning Department (host)
  • President, Senior Corporate Executive Officers, internal company presidents
  • General Manager of the Corporate Technology Division
  • General Manager of the Head Office Corporate Planning Division
  • General Manager of the Human Resources Division
Four times a year
Meeting of Company-wide human resources planning departments* To consider and share information on policy and operations related to personnel & labor administration
  • Head Office Human Resources Planning Department (host)
  • Senior managers of human resources of business segments
As needed (approximately twice a month)
Meeting of managers in charge of human resources To exchange views about and discuss the operations of Human Resources & Labor Administration Department
  • The Head Office Human Resources & Labor Administration Department (host)
  • Managers of personnel & labor administration sections of business segments
As needed (approximately twice a year)
Meeting of managers in charge of human capital development To exchange views about and discuss the operation of Human Capital Development Department
  • The Head Office Human Capital Development Department (host)
  • Managers in charge of human capital development of business segments
  • Managers of human capital development sections of the Group companies
Twice a year
Meeting of managers in charge of labor administration To exchange views about and discuss the operation of Human Resources & Labor Administration Department
  • The Head Office Human Resources & Labor Administration Department (host)
  • Managers of personnel & labor administration sections of business segments
Twice a year
Meeting of managers in charge of safety & health management To exchange views about and discuss the operation of Safety & Health Management Department
  • The Head Office Safety & Health Management Department (host)
  • Managers in charge of safety & health of business segments
Four times a year

* Meetings of managers serve as venues for discussion, while the meeting of Company-wide human resources planning departments serves as a venue for sharing information and communicating policy.

Responsible Officers

Katsuya Yamamoto, Representative Director, Senior Corporate Executive Officer, General Manager of Human Resources Division

Company-wide HR Management Committee: Yasuhiko Hashimoto, Representative Director, President, and Chief Executive Officer

Other various HR meeting bodies: Senior Managers from the Head Office Human Resources Division

Responsible Executive Organ and/or Committee

Company-wide HR Management Committee


Employee Engagement

K-Win Activities (Kawasaki Workstyle Innovation)

The Kawasaki Group launched K-Win activities, an effort to promote workstyle reform, in fiscal 2016 with the objectives of "increasing the productivity of administrative and technical personnel," "promotion of work-life balance," and "reducing long working hours." Through these activities, we pursued three areas of transformation, namely, operational transformation, organizational and corporate culture transformation, and system transformation.
 K-Win activities are currently integrated with Group management and have been expanded to include overall corporate innovation to change the corporate culture and employee awareness for the purpose of achieving the Group Vision 2030. Through these efforts to increase the number of employees who have a high level of motivation and feel that an environment is provided in which they can demonstrate their abilities, we are building organizations that create virtuous cycles of corporate value enhancement.
 In addition, a WinDEX engagement survey is being conducted to visualize the progress.

Vision for Our Employees and Organization

We have identified a vision for our employees and organization as described below. This vision is aimed at making effective use of human resources with an eye to total business portfolio optimization, maximizing results by improving productivity, and realizing value creation by bringing together diverse insights.

  • People and organizations with high levels of engagement, job satisfaction and enjoyment, and ease of work
  • Organizations in which every employee takes specific actions that go beyond internal and external boundaries based on market-in perspectives for achieving the Vision

Priority Issues to Be Addressed in K-Win Activities

Encouraging the formation of connections and dialogue that link management topics with employees: proactively moving in a single direction

  • Informing employees about the Group Vision 2030 and engaging in dialogue with senior management
  • Implementation of the WinDEX engagement survey to make visible the corporate culture and address organizational issues
  • One-on-one engagement and organizational development to establish a shared awareness with employees and revitalize organizations

Promote crossover action internally and externally with a focus on demonstrating competence and results: break down existing constraints and overcome internal and external boundaries

  • Shift to new workstyles for Kawasaki and advance communications (e.g., use of remote communications and DX)
  • Share information and solve cross-organizational issues using a suggestion box on the Company intranet
  • Form a crossover community made up of members from inside and outside the company and exchange knowledge

K-Win Activities Structure

The structure consists of two main parts: the K-Win Activities Implementation Secretariat, led by the Head Office, which is responsible for promoting Company-wide activities, and the Business Segment Implementation Secretariat, which is responsible for promoting activities within the respective organizations. Additionally, employees with strong determination to promote activities and expertise in various themes actively participate in actions to drive the initiatives forward.

[Example of a specific activity theme]

The implementation of meeting in a circle (Energy Solution & Marine Engineering Company).

The objective is to directly capture the voices of employees through dialogue between management and workers, to connect this to problem-solving through a top-down approach, and to foster an awareness that employees themselves can bring about change within the organization.
 In fiscal 2022, a total of approximately 2,300 employees participated, making it a meaningful platform for management as well to hear employees’ voices. Beyond simply gathering opinions, management promptly implements business actions that have been proposed via this initiative.

K-Win Implementation Structure

Responsible Officer

Katsuya Yamamoto, Representative Director, Senior Corporate Executive Officer, General Manager of Human Resources Division

Responsible Executive Organ and/or Committee

K-Win Activities Implementation Secretariat

Overview of the WinDEX Engagement Survey

We are actively engaged in K-Win activities with the aim of further increasing the number of employees who have a high level of motivation and feel that an environment is provided in which they can demonstrate their abilities. To connect these activities to the visualization and continuous improvement of organizational challenges, we regularly conduct engagement surveys. Our target in these surveys is to raise the ratios of employees ticking “supportive environment” and “employee engagement,” which are both high, to 50% or over in the consolidated results for fiscal 2030 (actual achievement for fiscal 2022: 29%). We implement various initiatives, such as meetings in a circle with top management, one-on-one meetings, organizational vitality through organizational development, and the use of the suggestion box on the Company intranet, to share and address cross-organizational issues.


Securing and Retaining Human Resources

Hiring

Administrative and technical positions are characterized by a prevalence of team-based operations. As such, finding team players who can engage in friendly competition with their colleagues is a major focus in hiring. When recruiting human resources, rather than simply filling the gaps left by outgoing retirees, we seek to secure individuals with the necessary skills in the required numbers from a medium- to long-term perspective. Furthermore, to flexibly meet the need for more employees due to business expansion, we are actively recruiting not only new graduates but also individuals with career experience. To facilitate overseas business expansion and promote diversity, we hire new overseas college graduates and foreign national students in Japan.

For details on the employment of diverse human resources, please refer to Diversity and Inclusion.

Employee Evaluations

Our Approach to Human Resource Evaluation

Kawasaki operates a personnel system that rewards employees based not on such individual characteristics as age, but on the size of the employee’s role, the ambition of the targets they set, their ability to carry out the necessary work with determination and speed, and the results they achieve. By using this system, we aim to promote the further growth of our human resources and ongoing corporate growth. At the core of this is our target management system, which values commitment and ambitious effort.
 Employees set targets for themselves that comprise both the expected targets entailed in carrying out their basic responsibilities as well as targets that reflect taking on self-directed challenges and rising above their normal roles to generate additional added value. Supervisors and their subordinates meet regularly to discuss hurdles to achieving these targets and employees’ initiatives to do so. At the end of the fiscal year, employees themselves and their supervisors evaluate their performance regarding each target, and supervisors provide feedback that includes the reasons for their evaluations and reach a final evaluation. They then discuss initiatives for the coming year and the subordinate’s career path.
 To ensure fair and equitable evaluations, we have established fixed evaluation procedures. We also incorporate case studies and other training aimed at improving evaluation skills into the training of managers. In addition, for managerial staff, we implement 360-Degree Surveys aimed at observing a person’s behavioral characteristics in an objective and multisided manner, clarifying their personal traits as seen by others, and using the results as reference for the person’s training, future assignments, and so on.
 Moreover, once a year, the labor union is briefed on promotions and compensation to verify that employees are being treated in an equitable and fair manner.

Percentage of Employees Assessed by Different Evaluation Methods (Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Railcar Manufacturing, and Kawasaki Motors)

(FY)

Unit 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Evaluation based on target management*1 % 100 100 100 100 100
Multifaceted performance evaluations*2 % 21 21 21 21 22
Evaluations for ranking employees within their category % 100 100 100 100 100

*1 Evaluations based on targets and other criteria agreed to by the Line Manager.

*2 360-Degree Surveys, etc.

Support for Career Development

In accordance with our basic policy of "supporting career development that respects the individual wishes of employees," our Group strives to provide substantial opportunities for employees to clarify their goals in terms of skill development, and acquire the required knowledge, skills, and abilities, and gain necessary workplace experience.
 For instance, to enable our employees to actively shape their careers, we provide them with information about our career development support measures through the “Career Support Guidebook” and offer theme-based career seminars and career counseling opportunities. We also conduct career support seminars for supervisors, promoting an environment where supervisors can support the growth and career development of their subordinates in the workplace. Additionally, we have established systems such as the "Job Challenge System" and "Free Agent System" to encourage employees to take on new roles and voluntarily pursue career challenges.

Number of open positions (Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Railcar Manufacturing, and Kawasaki Motors)

(FY)


Unit 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Number of open positions Number 28 28 28 26 38

Overview of Long-term Incentives for Employees

Kawasaki provides a retirement payment system where employees can receive payment in a lump sum or as a pension. In addition to defined benefit pensions, Kawasaki offers defined contribution corporate pensions, which allow employees to choose their contribution amounts to suit their life plans and put them to good use in their long-term asset building plans.

Assessment Criteria

Years of service, age, work qualifications, work performance

Period for Assessment

Three years or more

Scope of Policy Application

All employees

Employee Stock Ownership Association

The Kawasaki Group operates an employee stock ownership association system established to promote employee welfare (in terms of wealth building) as well as employees’ sense of involvement in management. As part of the employee benefit system, the Company matches a certain portion of employee contributions, and the dividends on shares held by employees are used to buy more shares, achieving a compounding effect and enabling employees to build wealth. Furthermore, holding shares of the Company through the ownership association helps employees gain a greater awareness of corporate management, just as for general shareholders. We believe that this will contribute to the enhancement of enterprise value over the long term.

Shares Held by the Employee Stock Ownership Association and Position on the Register of Shareholders

(FY)


Unit 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Shares held by the Employee Stock Ownership Association Shares 3,286,221 3,790,021 4,501,521 4,934,251 5,223,751
Position on the register of shareholders (by size of shareholding) 7th 6th 4th 4th 4th

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