To develop management personnel and candidates for general manager positions in each organization, we formulate succession plans and development plans.
Regarding management personnel, we are building a pool of candidates by utilizing external assessments, providing external training programs, and promoting well-planned transfers, including tough assignments, based on development plans. In addition, the Nominating/Compensation Committee, in which outside directors hold a majority, monitors the appropriateness and operational status of the management personnel development system and works methodically over multiple years on the appointment of executive officers and succession plans for the CEO.
We also completed formulating succession plans and development plans for general manager level throughout the organizations in FY2023. In FY2024, we will promote periodic discussions between each division and HR division on the formulation of succession plans and the development of manager levels, taking the human resource pipeline of general manager candidates into account.
From the viewpoint of securing diverse human resources to execute management and business strategies, we continue to focus on hiring mid-careers.
As a sustainability indicator in the 2025 Merium-term Plan, we have set a target of maintaining the ratio of mid-career hires to new hires (management, career-track, and clerical positions) at around 30%.
We are working to strengthen and improve our hiring ability to achieve our goals. Specifically, we are striving to strengthen our recruitment team, expand our recruitment channels (considering referral recruitment and alumni networking), review our recruitment process, improve and enhance our onboarding program, and build a flexible personnel treatment plan.
In addition to changes in the hiring environment, students’ attitudes toward employment are also changing. The talent competition is also becoming more intense. As part of our efforts to make our company more appealing to students, we have introduced a “course-based hiring” system which limits to some extent the jobs available at the time of initial assignment. Limiting the types of jobs to which we assign new hires serves to enhance the clarity of their career paths. We do this to make it easier for employees to have an image of their individual growth and promote the acquisition of talented individuals with diverse sets of ideas.