We revised the structure of the Group’s existing Corporate Philosophy and established the Furukawa Electric Group Purpose in March 2024 that serves as the basis for management decisions and inspires each and every employee to take pride in their work and continue taking on challenges.

We have positioned “Furukawa Electric Group People Vision” as our ideal state of people and organization toward achieving this Purpose. The growth of each and every one of our diverse personnel is the driving force behind the success of our Group, and we aim for the growth of both individual and the organization through teamwork to produce results.

“Strengthening human capital and organizational execution ability,” risk-related material issues, are not only management risks for our Group, but also the most important key management issues directly related to management strategy, we have established a system for executing personnel strategies, headed by the General Manager of the Strategy Division (CSO). The issues are executed, discussed and resolved at the Management Committee.

For individual theme directly related to management issues, we establish committees chaired by the president or CSO to formulate strategies, determine activity plans, and promote implementation of measures“—Professional Appointment Committee” to certify highly specialized personnel, “HK^* and D&I Committees” to promote work-style reform, diversity & inclusion and other measures, and Furukawa Electric Group Occupational Health and Safety Committee” on occupational health and safety.

The status of these operations is regularly reported to and shared with the Board of Directors.

In the implementation of our management and business strategies, we will coordinate our growth vectors through dialogue so that both individuals and organizations can improve their performance, grow, solve social issues, and achieve “Furukawa Electric Group Vision 2030”.

We are developing a narrative that envisions building an organizational culture where individuals can continue to thrive with a strong sense of purpose. This involves assembling the talent necessary to execute our management and business strategies, forming an effective organization, and supporting the growth of each individual so they can perform to their full potential. We frame this approach around three key elements—Will, Can, and Needs—and are undertaking specific initiatives based on these elements.

We have implemented the Furukawa E-survey, an assessment of human capital and organizational execution abilities, since FY2022 to visualize the state of our human capital and organizations. By operating a PDS cycle, in which improvement measures based on the survey results are reflected in our business activities, we are promoting both risk mitigation and the capture of revenue opportunities.

A decline in employee engagement can increase risks such as reduced motivation, lower productivity and performance, decreased quality of services, higher turnover rates, and difficulty in attracting top talent. Conversely, improvements in engagement are expected to produce the opposite effects. For this reason, we have designated the “employee engagement score” from the Furukawa E-survey as a sustainability indicator. Along with this, we are also tracking the “ratio of female workers in managerial positions” and “ratio of mid-career hires in total new hires.” Progress on these indicators is regularly reviewed in the the Sustainability Committee, where countermeasures are discussed as necessary. These matters are also periodically reported to and shared with the Management Committee.

We appropriately execute such risk assessments on a regular basis and reflect the results in our initiatives for various measures while revising our risk perception each time. As for our current risk perception, we recognize “people and organization” and “human rights and labor practices” as important management perspective risks. In addition, we recognize “employee health and safety” as an important operational perspective risk.

To “strengthening human capital and organizational execution abilities”, we have set targets for employee engagement scores, ratio of female managers, and ratio of mid-career hires in total new hires. These are set as sustainability indicators and targets for achieving the Furukawa Electric Group Vision 2030 and the Medium-term Management Plan 2022-2025 (the 2025 Medium-term Plan).

We define the talent necessary for executing our business strategies as "individuals capable of driving transformation toward value creation and business development rooted in solving social issues, by leveraging the technological expertise and proposal capabilities that our Group has continuously and sincerely refined." To secure such talent over the medium to long term, we are strengthening our recruitment capabilities and providing various training and educational opportunities. Additionally, we are focusing on developing management personnel and global talent, implementing reskilling initiatives, and supporting career autonomy.

In revising the personnel system in 2021, we reviewed the operation of the target management system based on the concepts of “promotion of a culture to take on challenge,” “simplicity & openness,” and “human resource development.” Aiming to align the achievement of individual goals with the achievement of higher-level policies and performance improvement, we reinforce the alignment between departmental and divisional policies and individual goal management.

We believe that cultivating a highly engaged organizational culture—where each employee resonates with our Purpose and feels motivated to grow and thrive within the Group—will enable us to develop and retain the talent necessary to execute our business strategies and contribute to the sustainable enhancement of corporate value. Alongside measuring employee engagement score, we utilize these results to implement initiatives focused on "further instilling corporate philosophy and policies" and "improving operational efficiency," aiming to elevate employee engagement.

We promote diversity and inclusion (D&I) as a key element in strengthening our human capital foundation for sustainable corporate growth. We are advancing initiatives for promoting women’s careers, supporting work-life balance for childcare and nursing care, promoting the employment of persons with disabilities, and driving workstyle reform.

Recognizing the risks of an employee suffering death, inability to work, permanent disability, long-term leave of absence or health impairment primarily due to an occupational accident, traffic accident or illness, we are developing various measures based on the idea of “prioritizing safety and health over everything” as the basic premise for business continuity.

We define “KENKO Investment for Health” as the aim for each employee to achieve good physical, mental and social conditions (well-being). Based on the belief that improving the vitality and performance of employees will lead to the growth of organizations and companies, we are promoting various KENKO Investment for Health measures as a unified organization.

Regarding risks associated with “human rights and labor practices,” to fulfill the company’s responsibility to respect human rights, we promote business activities that respect human rights based on FEG Human Rights Policy and conducts human rights due diligence. In addition, we analyze the results of whistleblowing and compliance awareness surveys to take remediation measures when necessary. Furthermore, we engage in dialogue with the labor union representing our employees to ensure shared awareness and to prevent or mitigate any potential negative impacts.

To reduce risks in the area of labor affairs, we prepared checklists to assess the labor compliance undertaken in accordance with the laws and regulations of the countries where our group operates, and periodically check the labor risks across the Group. Furthermore, individuals responsible for human resources at group companies in Japan meet twice a year to share information on policies and issues related to human resources and labor within our Group and strive to strengthen the Group’s cooperation on various issues.

Regarding labor-management dialogue, we maintain the basic position that both labor and management should endeavor to engage in sincere discussions. As such, we focus on issue resolution and the deepening of mutual understanding based on that position. We have held our Central Management Briefings twice annually for formal exchanges of opinions between labor and management for 70 years since FY1952.

Representatives from labor and management actively exchange opinions and share information about a broad spectrum of items at these briefings, such as business environment, management, and topical matters. We also have in place various committees which are designed to improve the working environment, such as the Personnel System Exploratory Committee and the Committee for Studying Shorter Hours. Management and labor discuss things on a daily basis at these committees. Through these discussions, we are working to resolve various issues, such as improving the system and strengthening the monitoring function for compliance response.