Human Resources

Basic Idea

At Nippon Shinyaku, we believe that human resources are the driving force for sustainable growth. As one of the principles of our Business Philosophy, “Employees: Develop Each Employee”, each and every Nippon Shinyaku employee is treasured for his or her personality and given the opportunity to grow as a person and mobilize his or her potential to the fullest.
In order for Nippon Shinyaku to continue to grow sustainably, it needs to be a company employees choose, a company where employees feel self-fulfilled and that they are growing, a company where they want to continue to work. To that end, Nippon Shinyaku will be tackling four themes: Realizing employee treatment in line with roles, duties, and accomplishments; realizing self-directed career development and the placing of the right employee in the right position; realizing a highly psychologically safe organization; and realizing flexible work styles. Accordingly, we will be establishing systems and an environment which enable all employees to flourish regardless of gender, nationality, age, or other personal characteristics. Additionally, in securing human resources, we engage in systematic mid-career recruitment, and the 4% of our employees who are mid-career hires provide us with their high levels of expertise. Going forward, we will be increasing our numbers of global human resources through both new graduate and mid-career recruitment.

Realizing employee treatment in line with roles, duties, and accomplishments Realizing self-directed career development and the placing of the right employee in the right position Realizing a highly psychologically safe organization Realizing flexible work styles
  • ・Job descriptions
  • ・Reforming wage system
  • ・Reducing number of years for promotions
  • ・Revising evaluation systems
  • ・Competency surveys
  • ・NS Academy
  • ・Expanding the professional system
  • ・Work experience in other departments
  • ・Second job system
  • ・1-on-1 meetings
  • ・Engagement surveys
  • ・Internal praise application
  • ・Leadership assessments
  • ・Telecommuting
  • ・Flextime
  • ・Staggered working hours
  • ・Supporting worklife balance

Realizing employee treatment in line with roles, duties, and accomplishments

We have carefully considered our job descriptions establishing work content, authority, areas of responsibility, necessary skills and experience, objectives, and evaluation methods. Our goal is to make it easier for employees aiming for a specific position to create a self-development plan by clarifying the roles, duties, experience, and skills needed for positions, realizing employee treatment in line with roles and duties, and openly disclosing the required experience and skills. In addition, we have revised our evaluation systems to reflect employees taking on challenges in their work. We are also working on reducing the number of years required for promotions and reforming our wage system, which were previously based on age and experience.

Realizing self-directed career development and the placing of the right employee in the right position

Nippon Shinyaku has introduced competency surveys for its managerial positions so employees can get an objective analysis on the gap between where they are now and the role they should aim for. In addition, we looked into the NS Academy, a human resources development program whose goal is the success of diverse personnel and which supports employees’ autonomous career development. Nippon Shinyaku has established three types of human resources essential for its sustainable growth: those who promote “Change,” those who are “Global,” and those who are “Professional.” The Company has further established programs for each type spanning four categories: “Career,” “Basic,” “Skill up,” and “Challenge.”

NS Academy

Fostering future managers

We have revised our Next-Generation Leader Challenge Program, operated since 2007, into a program called HONKI Juku (Change/Challenge). By taking self-development programs and tackling management challenges provided by our management team, the aim of HONKI Juku is to give employees the knowledge, skills, and attitude needed by the next generation of management. In addition to providing selfdevelopment programs, we have expanded opportunities to engage in dialogue with the management team.

Fostering global human resources

In accordance with our global expansion, we have also enhanced our training and support in order to foster global human resources. Through global mindset training (Global/Basic) and other training, we offer programs that cultivate the kind of mindset to face global challenges constructively and on a level footing. In FY2023, 68 new employees and 81 employees who have received a promotion have undergone such training, which is also mandatory for new employees. Our foreign language support program (Global/Skill up) supports employees’ self-directed study of English and other foreign languages. In order to promote actual English usage abilities beyond mere study, we have introduced the PROGOS English speaking test (Global/Skill up), and to date 349 employees have taken this test.
In addition, we have also established study abroad support systems (Global/Challenge) to provide opportunities to the next generation of employees who will lead the Company to study at international universities and research institutions, gain an understanding of global business, and expand their knowledge. The aims of these systems are not only the acquisition of specialized knowledge and the building of personal connections but also to support life in other countries and cultures, foster global human resources, and increase employee drive to take on new challenges. In addition to a system supporting study abroad at an institution of the employee’s choice, we also offer a system which recruits interested persons to study abroad at an institution that Nippon Shinyaku has selected.

Fostering human resources for DX

Nippon Shinyaku is focusing on creating an organization suited to the digital age and fostering human resources who will promote DX. Our efforts are supported by the two following pillars: “measures to enhance the IT and DX literacy of all employees,” and “selective DX specialist training,” in which there have been a total of 1,493 participants.
Our measures to enhance the IT and DX literacy of all employees (Professional/Skill up) include support for obtaining Di-Lite*1-compliant certifications, internal DX webinars provided by both in-house and external instructors, and the introductory “Manan-DEGITA-ru” course for improving IT skills directly related to employee work. Our selective DX specialist training (Professional/Challenge) is divided into foundational and applied courses for three skill categories: data science, business, and data engineering. Each training session is implemented for half a year.

  • *1 Di-Lite: The scope of digital literacy all businesspersons should have as defined by the Digital Literacy Council of Japan.

Fostering human resources who will produce competitiveness

Nippon Shinyaku provides a system which supports employees in technical and research positions who wish to obtain a PhD with the aim of improving the Company’s research and engineering capabilities. We also foster human resources aiming for middle management and executive positions with a support system, open to a few employees each year, for obtaining an MBA with the aim of strengthening our organization as a whole. Nippon Shinyaku has around 50 MBA-holders, and 36.2% of employees have a PhD or master’s degree.

Fostering human resources who determine their own careers

We provide career development training (Career) for employees aged 30, 40, 50, and 55. This program, provided to all employees when they reach critical ages, provides them with the opportunity to think about the work style that best fits them, how they can contribute to Nippon Shinyaku, and the future of their career.

We will also be expanding our professional system for evaluating not just management capabilities but also the expertise needed for one’s position. Other programs we will be expanding include our internal open recruitment system and work experiences in other departments to promote career planning and inter-departmental exchange. Through these means, we will be supporting diverse work styles at Nippon Shinyaku. In August 2022, we introduced a second job system for working outside Nippon Shinyaku. This system supports the autonomous growth of employees and helps them gain a diverse background as well as knowledge and skills they could not acquire internally, promoting employee growth.

Realizing a highly psychologically safe organization

Nippon Shinyaku is aiming to cultivate a work environment that promotes employee well-being. In addition to promoting 1-on-1 meetings to enhance communication between superiors and subordinates, we have also introduced an internal praise application for use between colleagues. Further, we implement leadership assessments which collate the results of anonymous answers by subordinates on the words and actions of superiors, providing feedback on strengths, weaknesses, and the degree to which a superior has been able to demonstrate their skills.
Nippon Shinyaku has focused on health and productivity management since 2018. In addition to annual stress checks, since 2003 we have also implemented programs to support employee engagement. Stress checks, however, are only one component of proper self-care, and it has been difficult integrating them into improving workplace engagement. In the spring of 2023, we introduced a new engagement survey*2 with the aim of resolving organizational challenges at a deeper level and promoting the well-being of each individual employee. We are working to achieve a positive response rate*3 of at least 75% for each of the three engagement items*4 in the survey.

  • *2 Nippon Shinyaku uses a survey provided by Qualtrics for its engagement surveys.
  • *3 The three engagement items in the survey are as follows:
  • ・This company motivates me to contribute more than is normally required to complete my work.
  • ・My work gives me a feeling of personal accomplishment.
  • ・I would recommend this company to people I know as a great place to work.
  • *4 Positive response rate: The rate of those who answered “agree” or “strongly agree” on a five-point scale.

Realizing flexible work styles

With the aim of enabling flexible work styles, increasing productivity, and creating work-life balance, Nippon Shinyaku has introduced flextime, telecommuting, and staggered working hour systems. Our flextime system, already introduced in some departments, is scheduled to be expanded to additional departments in the future.
With the revisions to the Childcare and Caregiver Leave Act in April 2022, Nippon Shinyaku’s president released an internal message encouraging the utilization of childcare leave so that all who desired could make use of such leave with peace of mind. In addition, Nippon Shinyaku now provides paid leave for a portion of childcare leave (up to 14 days total paid leave when taking childcare leave for five consecutive business days or more). As a result, the childcare leave uptake rate was 76.1% in FY2022. In addition to a 100% uptake rate among eligible women, the uptake rate among eligible men rose to 69.3%, up from 50% in FY2021.
A workplace where employees trust and understand each other and can take childcare leave with peace of mind is a workplace that is comfortable not only for employees raising children but all employees who may have personal circumstances necessitating leave-taking. In order to realize such a workplace, Nippon Shinyaku will create a culture of mutual acceptance of each other’s situations and circumstances, and of helping each other.

Data

Employees & Promoting Women in the Workplace

Classification Units FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022
Management Total number of managers persons 321 329 331 343 301
Number of female managers persons 25 32 34 38 40
Ratio of female managers % 7.8 9.7 10.3 11.1 13.3
Executives Total number of executives persons 555 554 555 571 596
Number of female executives persons 72 78 84 92 100
Ratio of female executives % 13.0 14.1 15.1 16.1 16.8
Number of employees Total number of employees persons 1,761 1,793 1,806 1,827 1,857
Number of female employees persons 494 516 529 552 565
Ratio of female employees % 28.1 28.8 29.3 30.2 30.4
Number of recruits Total number of recruits persons 72 79 76 57 62
Number of female recruits persons 25 28 33 28 20
Ratio of female recruits % 34.7 35.4 43.4 49.1 32.3
Average years of service Average years of service years 17.5 17.8 17.3 17.4 17.5
Number of female employees years 17.3 18.1 16.7 16.5 16.6
Number of male employees years 17.5 17.7 17.6 17.8 17.8
Difference in average length of service for female and male employees years -0.2 0.4 -0.9 1.3 1.2
Number of employees taking parental leave for childcare Number of employees taking parental leave for childcare male persons 0 7 14 30 61
Rate of uptake of parental leave for childcare male % 0 9.72 20.28 50 69.3
Number of employees taking parental leave for childcare Female persons 18 22 19 19 25
Rate of uptake of parental leave for childcare Female % 100 100 100 100 100
Paid annual leave acquisition rate % 70.6 71.3 63.5 63.5 69.6
Total annual working hours hours 1804.22 1791.6 1821.96 1819.89 1841.69
Employee turnover % 1.49 1.68 1.97 1.66 1.92

Human Resources Development

Classification Units FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022
Training for new employees times 1 1 1 1 1
Training for newly appointed supervisors times 2 2 2 2 2
Compliance training times 12 12 12 12 12
Classification  Units  FY2020 FY2021 FY2022
total per employee total per employee total per employee
Training hours by level per employee hours 13,070 7.23 18,296 10.01
Hours of self-development training
per employee
hours 19,381 10.73 18,835 10.32
Education and research expenses
per employee
Thousands of yen 79 83