Human Resources Strategy | Social | Sustainability | GUNZE LIMITED

Human Resources Strategy

Gunze’s Efforts to Increase Engagement

The Gunze Group’s basic human resources strategy approach under the Medium-term Management Plan VISION 2030 stage1 is outlined as follows.
Human resources are our greatest management resource. We are fostering a corporate culture in which all employees can fully demonstrate their abilities with a sense of job satisfaction, which is the cornerstone of corporate competitiveness, to become a healthy and visionary company.
Based on this strategy, we define the type of human resources we seek as those who can accept different values, think and act on their own initiative, and provide value Materiality, KPIs (FY2024 – FY2030 Targets) in their areas of expertise. In tune with our human resources management policy, we are advancing initiatives that emphasize the three pillars of diversity, autonomy, and success. In pursuing these initiatives, we first conducted an engagement survey in 2022 to clarify the status and conditions surrounding employees and the organization. Over the ensuing two years, we have taken steps to verify the survey’s effectiveness.
While yet to achieve our established goals, Gunze’s strengths and challenges have become abundantly clear. The scope of the survey is extensive and covers the Company’s structure. Elements extend from workplace relationships to the health of employees. Naturally, the challenges that we face cannot be resolved by a single one-to-one initiative. While currently promoting the following measures, we believe that the fruits of our endeavors will be felt in the future.
With a target date of FY2026, we plan to undertake a fundamental reform of our personnel system. At the same time, we will closely monitor conditions at each workplace and take steps to foster an open and comfortable environment. Our goal is to become a company of choice in society by enhancing employee motivation and engagement and maximizing the human capital of the GUNZE Group.

Materiality, KPIs (FY2024 – FY2030 Targets)

Category		Indicator	FY2023		KPIs FY2024 Targets	FY2030 Targets
Category		Indicator	Targets	Results	KPIs FY2024 Targets	FY2030 Targets
Evolution of Corporate Constitution	Ratio of women in managerial roles	Promoting women’s active participation	5.0%	7.0%	Over 6%	Over 20%
		Ratio of women employees	34.0%	33.8%	35%	41%
		Ratio of women new graduates hired on a main career track (excluding those working rotating shifts)	50.0%	51.9%	50%	50%
	Child-rearing support	Men’s paternity leave utilization rate	40.0%	42.0%	50%	70%
	Corporate culture reform	Engagement score	64 points (estimate)	62 points	70 points (estimate)	80 points (estimate)
	Work-style reform	Annual leave uptake	75% (15 days)	74.5% (14.9 days)	75%	100%

Engagement Score Engagement is a measure of the relationships of trust between employees and companies and the willingness of employees to contribute by exercising their strengths.
Examples show that increased engagement has a direct impact on improving an organization’s productivity as well as a company’s performance. The Gunze Group conducts a monthly survey on 9 key drivers and 26 associated subsets, utilizing the quick-response Pulse Survey method, in order to quickly grasp the status of the organization in a rapidly changing business environment. Utilizing the average of other companies in the same industry and of the same size that employ this survey tool as a benchmark, we aim to improve our overall score to within 20% of the top companies in FY2024 and within 5% of the top companies in FY2030.

Gunze’s Strengths and Challenges Based on Engagement Scores

Engagement Analysis (Main Items)
Areas of strength	Satisfaction with salary	Pride in the Company’s business and services	Cooperation between divisions
Areas with challenges	Providing career opportunities	Satisfaction and motivation	Relationship with manager

Engagement Improvement Framework career_history

Toward a Comfortable Workplace Environment Gunze positions a people-oriented approach at the heart of its management philosophy. Based on this approach, we are promoting the following initiatives with the aim of fostering a corporate culture in which all members can fully demonstrate their abilities while having a genuine sense of satisfaction.

1.Personnel compensation system reform

The environment surrounding the corporate sector is changing rapidly of late owing to the diversification of work styles and promotion of human capital management.
Since the current personnel compensation system was established in 2001, Gunze has undertaken a succession of individual reviews in response changes in its operating environment. In order to further enhance our corporate value by securing and retaining outstanding human resources, and to become a healthy and visionary company, we are working toward the implementation of a fundamental reform of our personnel compensation system, which extends well beyond a mere extension of its current form, in FY2026. Recognizing that the new system will take effect in FY2026, we are undertaking a partial revision of the current system focusing mainly on the early realization of career autonomy from FY2024.

2.Work-style Reform

To create an environment in which employees can work safely, healthily, and to the best of their abilities, we continue to improve operations through DX, thoroughly manage working hours, reduce long working hours, and develop and expand various systems (telecommuting, flexible work hours, etc.) to enable employees from diverse backgrounds to choose the work style that suits them best.
In addition, we are looking to shorten scheduled working hours and improve the annual paid leave utilization rate to reduce the total number of actual working hours each year. From FY2024, we are increasing the number of annual holidays at production sites with varying numbers of days off, as well as making childcare leave partially paid.

3.D&I Promotion

The Gunze Group regards diversity and inclusion as one of its most important human resources strategies. In this regard, we recognize that women’s active participation is especially important. In order to realize a state in which a certain percentage of decision makers in each organization are women, we are working to enhance the number of women in career-track positions as well as develop leaders.

(1) Develop and put in place a system to promote women to leadership positions (GLSL: Gunze leadership school for ladies)

The Gunze Leadership School Ladies (GLSL), a career development training program, was introduced in FY2022 with the aim of retaining and developing female leaders. The GLSL aspires to provide opportunities to better understand the Company’s expectations toward women’s success and to build an independent career while visualizing a career image. The goal is to encourage women to view “becoming a manager” as a positive option in the future.

Promotion of Women’s Empowerment (Conceptual Diagram)

Participants in GLSL training

(2) Mentoring program

First introduced in FY2013, we continue to promote our mentoring program. In addition to creating opportunities for female main career and regional career track employees to meet senior employees of the same gender (mentors) and build networks, and preventing the turnover of young to mid-career female employees, this program is designed to support the career development of women while taking into consideration the need for work-life balance. Recognizing the importance of diverse perspectives, we have added senior male employees to the list of candidate mentors from FY2024.

Number of Mentor Program Participants

	FY2019	FY2020	FY2021	FY2022	FY2023
Results	17	11	9	7	8

(3) Balancing work and childcare

In order to create a workplace environment where not only women, but also men can easily take childcare leave, we introduced an interview support system for balancing work and childcare, and published a manual for managers to in a bid to increase awareness. Through a series of periodic interviews between employees and their managers, every effort is being made to increase awareness and understanding and to ensure a smooth return to work after taking childcare leave. Gunze also introduced three support measures to minimize the impact on employees’ careers as a result of childcare responsibilities from 2022. These measures are: (1) childcare fee subsidies for employees who return to work early from childcare leave, (2) extended childcare fee subsidies, and (3) subsidies for the use of babysitters and other services.

Map of Initiatives for Women’s Active Participation img_human09

4.Career Autonomy Promotion

Against the backdrop of an uncertain current outlook, we recognize the need to engage in human capital management that regards human resources as “capital,” and the urgency involved in developing human resources who are conscious of their own career and are prepared to act autonomously. Only in this way can we enhance our corporate value.
The Gunze Group encourages each and every employee to pursue diversity and to act on their own initiative in order to realize a career that makes the most of their strengths. In addition to supporting their career development as a company, we strategically assign the right people to the right job.

Carrier expectations in each age group and problem-solving approaches img_human04

(1) Implement strategic and appropriate job rotations while assigning the right people to the right job

We initiated Human Resource Share personnel exchange meetings as a forum through which each division can share information on human resources from 2023 and to expand opportunities for individual-led transfers that facilitate autonomous career planning.

(2) Support proactive career development

The Gunze Group has upgraded and expanded a variety of opportunities in an effort to support proactive career development.

Upgrade and expand career training

The Gunze Group has a high percentage of senior employees. As such, the need to ensure that its senior employees are able to work energetically and demonstrate their skills is an important human resource issue. With this in mind, we have upgraded and expanded training opportunities at the age of 40 and 56 in addition to existing programs at the age of 50. Moreover, self-development support programs, including distance learning, which was previously limited to regular permanent employees, have been upgraded and expanded to include post-retirement rehired employees and contract employees to enhance reskilling and recurrent education opportunities.

Promoting widespread acceptance and use of 1-on-1 meetings

The 1-on-1 meetings introduced in 2022 are used to foster psychological safety by increasing opportunities for communication between managers and meeting participants and strengthen trust. Building on this foundation, 1-on-1 meetings provide a place to support growth. Two years have now passed since introducing 1-on-1 meetings. Based on the verification of issues, Gunze is promoting a raft of improvement initiatives while also taking into consideration methods that mirror the Company’s unique business structure and systems. In this way, we are working to promote the widespread acceptance and use of 1-on-1 meetings.

Upgrading and expanding the career counseling system

Human resources staff are encouraged to obtain career-related certifications. In this vein, the Gunze Group has strengthened its career-related support structure and systems. Established in May 2023, the Career Support Desk helps resolve a variety of work-related issues, including career development, human relations, and skills development. As of April 2024, the Desk responded to 11 requests, and will work to promote further expansion of its use.

5. Increasing awareness toward management participation

Attended by a total of 130 participants at five locations nationwide, the “Let’s create the future! ” workshop is a forum to deliberate on long-term strategies. In specific terms, the workshop is an opportunity for the younger generation, who will lead the next generation, to participate in management with an eye to the future based on their vision of themselves and their companies 30 years from now. The workshop provides participants with a sense of the connection between individuals, companies, and society from the perspective of resolving issues. In providing the opportunity to deliberate on one’s own awareness (Will) and the Company’s mission (Must), the workshop allows participants to take personal ownership of the issue of Gunze’s future and to foster a sense of proactive and autonomous participation in management.

The “Let’s create the future!” workshop on long-term strategies

Education and Training Systems img_human05

Established Career Support Desk (from May 2023)

As we enter the era of 100-year lifespans, employees must design their own careers, determine their life goals and career vision (life career), and work toward them in order to achieve independent career development. In order to actively support these actions, we have recently established a Career Support Desk, through which the Company Helps employees deal with the various issues that arise in their duties together so that they do not have look for solutions alone.