Human Resource Management

Management Approach

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, the Kawasaki Group 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.

For our human resource development policy, we believe that it is necessary to develop human resources capable of undertaking the challenge of engaging with new business domains and delivering results that go beyond the boundaries of internal and external organizations and of product and service categories. We also believe that appropriate management is required to motivate organizations and thereby maximize results. 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.”

“Challenge & Commitment” is an initiative that promotes challenges in new fields so as to achieve our further growth as a Group. By not only conducting routine work but also setting more challenging targets and boldly making challenges, we will enhance our results as an organization. At the same time, our aim is to foster and grow our employees through detailed conversations with supervisors at the time of setting goals and follow-up. In addition, to further clarify reflection in performance assessment, through absolute evaluation we reflect target achievement directly in bonuses and have increased the portion paid in accordance with the degree of target achievement.

Company-wide policies on human resource development and utilization with significant potential impact on corporate management, in particular: 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, and other matters, are discussed and reviewed by the Company-wide HR Management Committee. With the president as its presiding officer, the Company-wide HR Management Committee is comprised primarily of internal company presidents and the Presidents of Kawasaki Railcar Manufacturing and Kawasaki Motors, and meets four times per year. This framework is designed to reflect the content of deliberations by the Company-wide HR Management Committee, with various measures then discussed at Management Committee and subsequently reported to the Board of Directors.
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 Management System

^* The Human Resources Department Liaison Meeting is hosted by the supervising department at Head Office appropriate to the meeting agenda.

Takeshi Kaneko, Managing Executive Officer, General Manager, 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

Company-wide HR Management Committee

Employee Engagement

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.

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

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

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] (Energy Solution & Marine Engineering Company)

Implementation of “meetings in a circle”

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, more than 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.

Implementation of “works meetings”

In 2023, as follow-up to the “meetings in a circle,” we held the “works meetings” initiative for managers. In addition to overviews of business policy and expectations of the middle management from executive management, these meetings provide the opportunity for two-way communications, taking in feedback and proposals on business policy and consultation on management concerns.

Takeshi Kaneko, Managing Executive Officer, General Manager, Human Resources Division

K-Win Activities Implementation Secretariat

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 (WinDEX).
This survey is widely used by global companies and are comprised of the two results indicators with a high correlation with business performance of “supportive environment^*1” and “employee engagement^*2.” To realize the Group Vision 2030, we targeted the survey at global companies with excellent business performance and set the goal of achieving at least 50% of employees whose two result indicators both exceed the global average on a consolidated basis by fiscal 2030 (the result in fiscal 2023 was 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.

^*1 Ratio of employees who responded positively to multiple questions in the employee engagement survey regarding whether the Company provides opportunities to perform interesting work and a supportive environment (a productive work environment)

^*2 Ratio of employees who responded positively to multiple questions in the same survey on whether employees are willing to go the extra mile and are proud to work for the company (job satisfaction)

Securing and Retaining Human Resources

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.

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.

Instead of seeing the existing organization and human resources as the point of departure, based on the concept of the “right personnel in the right places,” first of all we will establish the organizations and posts necessary for achieving our vision (“right places”). Then we will clarify the conditions required of people doing this work, decide the suitable human resources, and make assignments accordingly (“right personnel”). In considering assignments, we are introducing a mechanism with a high degree of accuracy in matching posts and human resources throughout the Group, conducting assessments of management ability based on 360-Degree Surveys and competency and taking account of expert knowledge and other factors. On top of that, we introduced a “pay for mission” scheme that determines wages by stipulating job ranking in accordance with the results required in the work and taking account of the contents of individual challenges. Through these initiatives, we will realize the establishment of “right places” and assignment of the “right personnel” and promote personnel strategy in tune with management policy.

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

^*2 360-Degree Surveys, etc.

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. We also have a Career Challenge Program that enables employees who want to transfer to apply for positions in departments that are recruiting and are announced once each year. We introduced a Career Development Leave Program that allow employees who want to re-learn skills while making use of outside educational institutions including overseas universities, encouraging and supporting independent career development by employees.

^* Due to changes in the content of disclosures following the abolition of the “Free Agent System” and the establishment of the “Career Challenge Program” from FY2023, we have retrospectively revised results for FY2022 and before.

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.

Years of service, age, work qualifications, work performance

Three years or more

All employees

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.