Enhance Human Capital Management
We consider use of human capital through inspiring the best from each and every employee and deploying them as corporate strengths to be essential to the Mitsubishi Steel Group's sustained growth. Toward these ends, we promote sustainability initiatives within the organization with an emphasis on human resource development, diversity, and improving the workplace environment.
Human capital management policies
The four basic policies of the Mid-term Business Plan announced in May 2023 include investing in human resources. In line with this policy, we will boost productivity and realize innovations through investment in human resources.
- Transformation into an organization characterized by high levels of time performance through digital transformation (DX) and operational streamlining
- Building a more comfortable working environment by enhancing paid vacations, childcare programs, etc.
- Enhancing and improving efforts to learn about employee satisfaction through engagement surveys
- Developing workplaces to enable more women to work in plants and training to promote women in the workplace
- Leveraging diverse knowledge and ideas through active midcareer hiring
- Realizing global exchange of human resources through means such as employing staff hired overseas in Japan
- Reviewing HR evaluation systems to increase employee motivation and eagerness to take on new challenges (enhancing feedback from evaluation and promoting the internal startup program)
- Providing opportunities for reskilling based on HR requirements (supporting lifetime learning)
- Developing autonomous human resources (improving HR quality) by enhancing programs that support earning official qualifications
Increased investment in human resources (education, support for earning official qualifications, enhancement of employee benefits) JPY500M over the three-year period of the Mid-term Business Plan
Human capital management initiatives
The Group's human capital initiatives include the formation of two specialized project teams. These teams are engaging in discussions and study on different human capital themes, to formulate strategies related to human capital in the Group and identify employees' needs.
1. Business-strategy linked HR strategy study team
This team, whose membership is drawn mainly from the Corporate Planning Unit, is charged with tasks that include formulation and evaluation of HR strategies coordinated with the Mid-term Business Plan.
2. Employee success story study team
Made up of members chosen from multiple sections, centered on HR sections, this teams aims mainly to develop environments to stimulate and motivate employees even more.
Specific initiatives
- 1Engagement survey
We consider improving employee satisfaction with the Company to be an important part of leveraging our human resources, as it enables employees to get an even stronger feel for the importance of their work with the Company and to grow with motivation. The ultimate aims are to create workplace environments for leveraging our people and develop systems for leveraging their strengths.
In August of last year, we conducted our first engagement survey, intended to make employees' expectations and values visible. We are planning to make it an annual survey.
We will promote measures to increase employee engagement based on the results of this survey. - 2Townhall meetings
We held townhall meetings between top management and core employees in the second half of 2022.
Through these meetings, the President and managing directors engaged in direct, in-person dialogue with employees at the head office and main production facilities, with the ultimate goals of reducing turnover and securing capable human resources, developing systems for rewarding core employees for their performance on the job through benefits and other means, and increasing each employee's engagement in work.
The meetings included active exchange of opinions. HR-system improvements now underway in response to the frank feedback obtained in these meetings include expansion of inflation and other allowances, enhancement of training programs, and adoption of a system for direct reporting to the Human Resources Department to provide opportunities for employees desiring job transfers.
We will continue to make steady and swift progress on investments in human resources through continuing efforts such as these to make employee satisfaction visible and enable dialogue between top management and employees.
Creating comfortable workplaces
Promotion of use of childcare leave programs
To support diverse workstyles, we have sought to enhance childcare leave programs in various ways, including lengthening childcare leave, expanding the scope of those eligible for reduced working hours for childcare, and providing subsidies for temporary childcare services. We distribute materials to summarize childcare leave programs, procedures, and schedules and strive to address concerns about the programs.
Thanks in part to amendments to related laws, increasing numbers of men are taking childcare leave as well. Efforts such as publishing the comments of employees taking childcare leave in the Company bulletin, intended to encourage men to take childcare leave when their spouses give birth, aim to increase rates of taking the leave and encourage employees to take advantage of diverse work styles. We remain committed to building a corporate culture that allows each and every employee to experience truly rewarding work in various ways, including improving workplace environments and promoting more efficient work.
Childcare Leave Regulations
| Leave period | Extendable up to the end of the fiscal year which the child turns 3 years old |
|---|---|
| Actions taken if the employee does not wish to take childcare leave | Exemption from overtime work upon request until the child reaches the age of 3 years |
| Nursing leave for children | Until the 6th year of primary school : Up to 5 days/year for one child; 10 days/year for 2 or more children |
| Shortening of prescribed working hours | Until the 3rd year of primary school: Prescribed working hours may be shortened to 6 hours/day (shifts adjusted on a case-by-case basis) |
| Exemption from overtime work | Exemption from overtime work until the child reaches the age of 3 years |
| Limitations on overtime work | No more than 24 hours/month, 150 hours/year, until the child begins primary school |
| Limitations on late-night work for childcare purposes | Exemption from late-night work upon request until the child begins primary school |
Measures to prevent harassment
In response to amendments to the Act on Childcare Leave, Caregiver Leave, and Other Measures for the Welfare of Workers Caring for Children or Other Family Members in April 2022, we are encouraging male employees to take paternity leave through means including training for all employees on prevention of paternity harassment.
We have prepared different training programs for managers and for ordinary employees to promote efforts to prevent harassment among the workforce.
Workstyle reforms
We have adopted a flextime system with no specified core hours as part of efforts to give employees the flexibility they need to make the most effective use of their time. We will continue to seek to establish diverse workstyles by expanding the range of workplaces to which the flextime system applies and striking a balance between office work and remote work.
Taking paid vacation
The percentage of employees taking paid vacation in FY2022 was up sharply from the previous year to 73.4% as a result of implementing annual vacation plans and the Plus ONE Campaign*, which makes it easier to take paid vacation on days before and after holidays. We will continue efforts toward goals such as building more comfortable workplaces and promoting employees' good health through increasing the percentage of employees taking paid vacation in the future as well.
- *The Plus ONE Campaign designates the days before and after holidays during the three-month period September–November as days on which employees are encouraged to take paid vacation time and sets a target of having each employee take at least one paid vacation day during this period.
Ensuring diversity and inclusivity
We have identified diversity and inclusivity initiatives as part of our management strategies to be a strong enterprise that can realize sustained growth. These initiatives are intended to realize a company in which the full spectrum of our diverse employees can contribute a variety of ideas and experiences, demonstrate their abilities to the fullest, thrive in rewarding workplaces, and take pride in what they do.
On the theme of promoting women employees, we have set targets for the percentage of employees and managers accounted for by women, targeting at least 15% of employees and at least 10% of managers by 2025. We provide training to promote the role of women in the workplace and individual consultation services for women employees. Our wage structures and systems do not differ between male and female employees. While there are some imbalances between males and females in areas such as their percentages in management and composition by age, training to promote the role of women in the workplace is having an effect, and we will continue related efforts.
Human resource education
Human resources represent the wellspring of any company's sustained growth. Accordingly, our human resource development efforts focus on fostering and making the most of our human resources and allowing them to achieve a true sense of growth and self-realization. We have also developed competency maps to make clear the kinds of human resources the Company needs and to describe the actions and qualities required at each level. We will continue to implement training by job level to allow employees to meet the required levels indicated in the competency maps; develop systems for promoting reforms in corporate culture and awareness; and implement training in line with our education structure.
Human resource development initiatives for younger employees
Year Seven training
Despite progress on developing systematic training programs for new hires, younger employees, older employees, and managerial personnel, the lack of periodic training for mid-level personnel has been identified as an issue. To address this issue, we hold meetings in which employees in their seventh year with the Company make presentations to management on their current duties and future challenges.
We will continue holding these meetings in the future to strengthen morale among mid-level personnel.
Professional human resource development
Presentation meeting for business improvements in engineering
In response to the lack of opportunities for presentations on results following engineers' presentation meetings for new hires, a presentation meeting for business improvements was held for engineering staff. This opportunity to gain a sense of accomplishment involves reporting on business improvements at specific workplaces. We plan to continue holding presentation meetings to achieve business improvements, encourage exchange across sectional boundaries, and strengthen motivation to pursue improvements.
Global human resource development
We offer a training program intended to develop more human resources capable of succeeding in international business. This program provides employees planned for posting abroad with training on foreign languages, basic business norms and practices, and intercultural understanding required for overseas workplaces.
We also provide support for language study, to raise the level of employees' English skills.
Professional human resource development
Presentation meeting for business improvements in engineering In response to the lack of opportunities for presentations on results following engineers' presentation meetings for new hires, a presentation meeting for business improvements was held for engineering staff. This opportunity to gain a sense of accomplishment involves reporting on business improvements at specific workplaces. We plan to continue holding presentation meetings to achieve business improvements, encourage exchange across sectional boundaries, and strengthen motivation to pursue improvements.
We have established a program to support employees seeking to earn official qualifications, with the goal of helping them to achieve personal and professional growth by enhancing their abilities and specialized knowledge.
To help employees grow and acquire the skills they need, we are expanding the range of official qualifications eligible for support and developing programs to support learning to earn qualifications. Those who have earned official qualifications are eligible for financial incentives in amounts specified for the type of qualification. We will continue to provide growth opportunities and broaden the base of our support programs for employee growth.
This year, we began offering a new training program to employees called the new-business creation challenge program.
This is a practical mentored training program in which employees propose new business ideas and those that have passed an internal screening process receive training on business model development, mentoring, and other support, to enhance the detail of their ideas and acquire expertise in business development.
In addition to improving employees' skills, this program is intended to enable new business creation by training human resources able to create new businesses and fostering a corporate culture of taking on new challenges.
Safety and Health
Safety initiatives
Based on the "Safety First" principle, the Group strives to build safe, healthy, and comfortable work environments for its employees. Under the Back to Basics slogan, the Group creates numerous opportunities to promote safety activities based on heightened risk sensitivity and a return to the fundamentals.
Our responses
In addition to existing safety patrols, we distribute safety patches and helmet stickers to employees at all facilities in Japan and around the world to promote awareness of safety activities.
safety patrol (2022)
safety patrol (2022)
Accident frequency
- *Frequency of accidents resulting in time away from work (number of accidents resulting in time away from work per million hours)
Calculated from total data for Mitsubishi Steel Mfg. Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Steel Muroran Inc., and Mitsubishi Nagasaki Machinery Mfg. Co., Ltd
Employee meetings for safety
Periodic meetings are held among employees in charge of safety at business sites in Japan, including Group companies. In those meetings, employees exchange opinions on safety and strive to raise the levels of safety management and share information and awareness of related issues.
Safety meetings
We have begun holding safety meetings following accidents to allow other business divisions and the secretariat to investigate reports from the business division involved concerning the causes of and responses to the accident. These meetings seek to enhance organization-wide safety efforts through communication across sectional boundaries.
Examples of individual facilities' safety activities
Slinging contest at Mitsubishi Steel Muroran Inc.
Mitsubishi Steel Muroran participated in a slinging contest intended to improve participant skills at slinging work (moving heavy loads using cranes), a dangerous task that requires special skills. Each team in the competition demonstrated its skills and its diligence in a series of basic everyday operations involving fundamental tasks such as pointing and calling out to others and identifying the load's center of gravity.
Five S contest at the Chiba Works
Three times each year, the Chiba Works holds a five S contest to promote autonomous safety and ensure that safety fundamentals, based on the five S activities of seiri (sorting), seiton (straightening), seiso (systematic cleaning), seiketsu (standardizing), and shitsuke (sustaining), take firm root. Five S activities are based on the participation of all employees, and the Chiba Works strives to prevent accidents and increase vitality and morale in the workplace by ensuring that all understand their importance and objectives. With a focus on sorting and straightening, as fundamental to five S activities, the competition's judges also considered the four items of cleanup, systems and management, consciousness and action, and kaizen.
KYT contest at the Hirota Works
The Hirota Works held a KYT contest intended to help boost employee skill in predicting danger in everyday work.
In this contest, 22 people in six teams from each workplace demonstrated the results of everyday KYT accident prevention activities. Within 10 minutes after the announcement of the task, competitors identified risk factors, decided key danger points, formulated feasible response actions, set targets for the team action, chose items for pointing and calling confirmation, and performed pointing and calling out to others.
Employee health
Employee health management and promotion are crucial management issues. We recognize that enabling every employee to keep in good mental and physical health leads to improved corporate performance.
We study and implement measures to maintain and promote employee health through a tripartite structure consisting of Mitsubishi Steel, the Mitsubishi Steel Health Insurance Society, and individual sites.
Health Management Statement
Under our Corporate Philosophy—Maximizing Human Capital—we strive to create vital, comfortable workplace environments in which diverse human resources can thrive.
We will continue working to create environments that maintain and improve employee health while working with the Mitsubishi Steel Health Insurance Society to make environmental improvements that contribute to good health.
Health Management Policies
- 1Prevention, early detection, and treatment of disease
Together with efforts to prevent disease, we encourage employees who have received health checkup results calling for follow-up examinations or treatment to take the steps needed and monitor their progress.
- 2Preventing infectious disease
We strive to prevent infectious disease among employees through sanitary management.
- 3Mental health measures
We're committed to building more positive workplace environments by responding appropriately to mental health issues through stress checks.
- 4 Health improvement measures
We implement various health improvement measures, including providing opportunities for nutritional improvements and exercise.
Respect for human rights
The Detailed Rules for Mitsubishi Steel Manufacturing Group Corporate Code of Conduct states, "The MSM Group respects human rights, personality and diversity, and does not engage in discrimination. We respect employees, and secure a safe and comfortable working environment, while also aiming to maintain and improve our corporate vitality." In line with these principles, we take action based on respect for human rights and strive to create workplace environments in which all individuals can demonstrate their abilities to the fullest extent. In addition, we established a specialized team within the ESG Subcommittee to advance efforts to enhance our initiatives on respect for human rights.
Establishing the Human Rights Policy
In November 2022, we formulated and announced the Mitsubishi Steel Group Human Rights Policy.
This Policy was prepared based on the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
It serves as the highest-level policy concerning human rights, under which we fulfill our responsibility to consider the human rights of all stakeholders involved in our business activities.
Human rights due diligence
In FY2022, we conducted our first human rights due diligence, which covered domestic and overseas subsidiaries.
The process of human rights due diligence helps corporations identify, prevent, and mitigate any negative effects on human rights related to their business activities.
In the future, we will broaden the scope of the due diligence to include suppliers and make progress on establishing relief mechanisms.
Human rights training
As part of our efforts to respect human rights, we provide periodic training on human rights to strengthen employee awareness and knowledge of human rights.
Recent human rights training has focused on the following themes:
- LGBT training
- Unconscious biases
- Reasonable consideration for people with disabilities