Implementing Measures to Enhance the Performance of Human Resources

SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES TOP > Sustainability > Social > Implementing Measures to Enhance the Performance of Human Resources
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Fundamental Concept

  • The Sumitomo Rubber Group

The Sumitomo Rubber Group aims to realize a working environment and organizational culture that encourages diverse human resources to spontaneously develop their careers and competencies and empowers them to earn success. To this end, we are implementing a variety of measures. In these ways, we will nurture human resources capable of exercising forward-looking judgment ahead of changes in the environment, earning success on the global stage, contributing to society and thereby embodying “Our Philosophy.”
Specifically, we have positioned talent management as a priority measure in terms of the strategic and organizational development of human resources. Accordingly, we have expanded the scope of talent management to include a wider range of human resources. We have clarified the requirements for human resources in each position and help establish skill enhancement goals for individual employees. In line with these goals, we implement necessary measures, including training programs, personnel transfer and personnel relocation in addition to assigning employees to particular projects and otherwise providing them with opportunities to broaden their range of job experience. By doing so, we promote the development of human resources over the medium to long term.
Meanwhile, we are expanding career vision training for all levels of employees to help them envision their future careers. Career design education and talent management thus constitute the two key components of our human resource development initiatives.

Human Resource Development Vision

Human Resource Development Vision
Human Resource Development Vision

Striving for the Entrenchment of “Our Philosophy,” a New Corporate Philosophy Structure

  • The Sumitomo Rubber Group

Having established “Our Philosophy” in November 2020, we have since engaged in across-the-board efforts to disseminate it among employees.
To this end, we have implemented various measures designed to accommodate differing circumstances at administrative divisions, factory-based technical divisions, overseas bases, domestic affiliates and other worksites, with the aim of nurturing human resources capable of embodying Our Philosop

Conducting Our Philosophy Training

Since fiscal 2021, we have hosted annual online seminars for employees ranging from staff members and managers at administrative and development divisions to factory employees (foremen or higher positions). This training is designed to ensure that they remain aware of our corporate philosophy from various perspectives.
We also run workshops focused on encouraging participants to think for themselves to help them develop a sense of ownership regarding Our Philosophy and practice it. We also host seminars for technicians at domestic factories on a face-to-face basis as well as workshops for employees at domestic affiliates in a phased manner.
For overseas sites, we have made the Our Philosophy Book (a guidebook) available in multiple languages on our intranet. Moreover, Head Office personnel engage in communication with overseas sites, conduct workshops online with their personnel to explain Our Philosophy.

Our Philosophy Entrenchment Survey

Once a year, we conduct an Our Philosophy Entrenchment Survey to gauge the degree of Our Philosophy’s entrenchment among the workforce. We are promoting activities aimed at bringing the degree of entrenchment up to 80% or higher.

Activities to Disseminate “Our Philosophy” via Web-Based In-House Newsletters

We also utilize web-based in-house newsletters. These newsletters feature interviews with officers and plant managers while showcasing “Our Philosophy” dissemination activities undertaken by each department. Furthermore, we internally disclose the results of the entrenchment survey to raise awareness among employees.

Incorporation into Evaluation System

Our personnel evaluation system incorporates an annual behavioral assessment that examines adherence to the three tenets of the “SRI Way,” i.e., the important values that all employees should keep in mind. These three tenets are: “Being reliable and worthy of trust,” “Seeking out challenge” and “Valuing one another.” The questions used in 360-degree feedback are also based on these tenets, ensuring that both the giver and receiver of feedback are always conscious of the way they need to behave.

Accumulation of Skills and Experience

Career Development Support Systems

  • Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd.

Sumitomo Rubber Industries has developed various career development support systems designed to motivate employees to take on challenges and empower them to pursue autonomous career development, such as the following:

Career Matching System

Under this system, employees are allowed to register their career visions with a database so that their desires are known to the departments they are currently assigned to as well as to the departments they would like to be transferred to in addition to the departments in charge of human resource management. We thus aim to enhance employee engagement by respecting the values of each employee while invigorating job rotation within the Company. Some employees have already achieved transfers thanks to their participation in this system.

Open Calls for Project Participants

This system allows employees to apply for membership in in-house projects irrespective of their current departments. Such projects give participants opportunities to take on challenges and gain experience in operations that may differ widely from their regular duties without being transferred. Moreover, departments in charge of managing projects can benefit from offering in-house postings that attract diverse human resources from other departments.
For example, when the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition, the body responsible for planning and administering the upcoming Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai was seeking talent, we helped it recruit from in-house postings, and in 2022 dispatched two employees who had put their names forward. They have been helping the association ever since.

Employee Exchange Program

Based on interdepartmental collaboration, this program enables particular departments to exchange human resources for a fixed period of time, with the aim of nurturing human resources equipped with extensive experience and broader perspectives, which will, in turn, enable such personnel to serve as bridges between departments.

Career Vision Training

We provide career vision training for different age groups to support employees in proactively shaping their careers.

Career Consulting

Starting in 2023, we have added a career support function within the Human Resources and Organization Development Department in Human Resources & General Affairs HQ, establishing a structure where qualified career consultants offer career counseling for employees.

Talent Management

The Sumitomo Rubber Group has positioned talent management as a priority measure in terms of the strategic and organizational development of human resources.
Specifically, the Human Resources Committee (established in 2022), which is made up of internal Directors, holds monthly discussions regarding the assignment of personnel at the department manager level and above. Furthermore, we are identifying key positions throughout the Group and have already begun an initiative in some divisions to quantitatively visualize positions and human resources.
Going forward, to meet human resource portfolio requirements aligned with management and division strategies, we will be expanding the initiative in phases to encompass the entire Group and utilize digital tools (HR information management system) to visualize it. By doing this, our plan is to establish a platform for systematically developing senior management human resources from an early stage.

Developing Human Resources Capable of Manufacturing

  • The Sumitomo Rubber Group

In line with a policy of constantly upgrading the front lines of operations and realizing a sustainable mode of manufacturing, Sumitomo Rubber Industries is focused on educating employees tasked with actual manufacturing operations.
We place particular emphasis on helping these employees enhance their techniques and skills through a curriculum designed to provide hands-on training and enable them to achieve robust outputs or otherwise contribute to upholding our strong track record on the front lines of manufacturing.

Nurturing Young Employees and Mid-Level Employees

At the Sumitomo Rubber Group, employees are not expected to merely complete the tasks they are assigned but also to be always mindful of achieving some degree of improvement. Therefore, we provide individuals in this employee group with on-the-job training (OJT) aimed at helping them acquire a broader range of skills for operations even as they pursue personal growth and a sense of job fulfillment by making constant improvement. To facilitate improvement, they are encouraged to be sensitive and open in order to detect any issues and thereby identify challenges confronting their workplaces to proactively implement team activities aimed at correcting the current situation and achieve more robust results.

Nurturing Managers and Supervisors

We educate individuals in this employee group on safety, quality, production, facilities, cost awareness, labor issues and the environment, all of which are major on-site management items, through both classroom lectures and hands-on training. We also implement management skill education focused on instilling communication and leadership capabilities as these are deeply relevant to workplace management. Furthermore, we provide selected candidates with special education to secure future senior managers. Through these initiatives, we strive to enable employees to raise their capabilities to identify and resolve problems while helping them envision ideals for their workplaces and gain executional skills. By doing so, we nurture human resources capable of taking the lead in the enhancement of on-site capabilities.

Skill Olympics

We have been holding the biannual “Skill Olympics” since 2009 with the objective of passing down technical heritage to young employees and motivating them to attain an even higher technical standard. This event brings together selected young technicians, including those in charge of manufacturing, facility engineering and production line maintenance from factories at home and abroad so that they pit their techniques against their peers. To date, the Skill Olympics has greatly contributed to the enhancement of techniques used by employees at 12 factories around the globe, helping to ensure their technical heritage is stably passed down to younger generations. In recent years, we have also seen technicians from overseas factories win the championship. This suggests that the event resulted in improvement in technical standards held by Group employees on a global basis while giving them extra motivation.

Human Resource Development Initiatives Undertaken by Overseas Bases

The Sumitomo Rubber Group now maintains a number of bases across the world. With this in mind, we are strengthening human resource development efforts overseas, aiming to ensure identical product quality irrespective of the factory in which manufacturing takes place, so that all employees are able to grow and to feel job satisfaction.
In recent years, we have not only provided overseas employees with instructions and support offered by Head Office in Japan but also striven to implement even more robust human resource development measures aligned with the business characteristics and needs of local workforces.

A training session held in 2019 for new recruits (Changshu Factory, China)
A training session held in 2019 for new recruits (Changshu Factory, China)

Initiatives to Nurture Local Employees Capable of Passing Down On-Site Techniques Independently

As we aim to ensure identical product quality irrespective of the factory in which manufacturing takes place, we are also focused on enhancing the content of quality control education based on “Our Philosophy.” Specifically, our factories implement grade-specific training for employees in key on-site positions, such as chargehands and foremen, while each base nurtures internal auditors and provides quality control education in accordance with various international standards. Furthermore, in order to promote the measures described above, we deem it essential to train Japanese employees stationed at overseas bases and provide support for human resource development. We will continue to focus on nurturing and training managers and supervisors at factories overseas as well as Japanese employees who provide support to these bases and other expatriates operating in countries abroad, with the aim of ensuring that our technical heritage is passed down to younger generations on a global basis.

Initiatives Related to Global Education

In response to the progressing globalization of our business operations, we proactively provide employees with education aimed at enhancing their English proficiency and helping them understand different cultures.
For new recruits, we provide training designed to instill a globalized mindset, including having them attend a series of lectures in English over several days upon joining the workforce. By doing so, we help them gain a deeper understanding of their peers around the globe while stimulating their motivation to study English. We also provide employees about to depart on overseas assignment with training focused on multi-cultural communications as part of initiatives to nurture globally capable human resources.
Furthermore, employees in general are given access to online English lessons. As such, we assist employees in their ongoing efforts to improve their linguistic capabilities.

In-house English language lecturers
In-house English language lecturers

Strengthening of engagement

BTC Project

In 2019, we launched the “Be the Change Project” (usually referred to as “BTC”) as an organizational improvement project. The project aims to strengthen both our organizational culture and profit base and comprises various initiatives being implemented across the Group. Key focus areas include engaging management, taking on big challenges, and transforming work styles, and the entire Group is on board in building a better organizational culture through, for example, the promotion of problem-solving that straddles departmental boundaries.
We are also striving to enhance our organizational culture by pursuing a project that implements four essential policies, namely, “developing an environment supportive of those who take on challenges,” “creating an open-minded workplace free of boundaries between departments and grades,” “enabling each individual to exercise leadership” and “pursuing highly productive operations aligned with Groupwide strategies.” The following are some of the transformative activities being conducted as part of this project: In addition, we have been conducting questionnaire surveys on organizational culture regularly since 2020 to quantify the progress of organizational culture transformation through our activities, and we have been disclosing the results to all employees. We will continue to advance our activities with the aim of growing our organization sustainably and improving our business performance.

Use of “-san” When Addressing Someone (position titles unnecessary)

Previously, we primarily used position titles when addressing each other in conversations and emails. However, to foster a flatter style of communication, we have switched to a general rule of using “-san,” equivalent to “Mr.” or “Ms.” in English.

One-on-One

Although we have not made this an official system, we are instilling the fact that broader communication between superiors and subordinates that encompasses career discussion and casual conversation is essential to prevent their communication from being solely about progress with work.

“Like” Mail

To help encourage individuals to communicate directly and recognize each other's good work, this was a system that allowed people to post messages of gratitude online when it was difficult to express such feelings face-to-face. In this system, the person thanked received a message of appreciation via email a few days later.
Based on the results of a sampling survey, we concluded that this initiative had helped to foster mutual recognition and to instill the importance of giving praise. Having done its job, it ended in July 2024. Moving forward, we will shift our focus to initiatives that aim to create an environment in which people have a positive influence on each other.
A significant challenge that remains is to achieve high productivity in the execution of tasks. With administrative operations, in particular, we need to decide what to prioritize and discover more efficient ways to work. Preparation Office for Business innovation, established in January 2024, will address this challenge and perform administrative operations more efficiently and with a higher level of sophistication.
　In addition, we conduct a work engagement survey along with a stress check once a year, and we are working on improving individual work engagement by listening to how employees feel about engagement and enhancing our organizational culture in the manner described above.

Sustainability Awards

To deepen understanding and interest in sustainability and promote the expansion of sustainability activities, the Group confers awards for workplace and individual initiatives that align with our “GENKI”*1 Sustainability Activity Guidelines. We have been offering these prizes since 2009*2, and this time we received 71 entries from Group companies in Japan and overseas. From these, we selected two for Grand Prizes, four for Excellence Awards, and three for Special Merit Prizes.

Guest Tsuneyuki Nakajima (front row, center), relevant executive officers, and the recipients of the Grand Prizes, Excellence Awards, and Special Merit Prizes
Guest Tsuneyuki Nakajima (front row, center), relevant executive officers, and the recipients of the Grand Prizes, Excellence Awards, and Special Merit Prizes

Third Sustainability Award recipients

Ecology - business category
【Grand Prize】
Recipient ：Hydrogen Project Team, Shirakawa Factory
Details ：“Carbon-neutral mass production of tyres”
Succeeded in carbon-neutral mass production of tyres by utilizing hydrogen energy and solar electricity.
【Excellence Award】
Recipient ：Joint team in Sports Business HQ
Details ：“Reduction of the plastic in tennis ball packaging materials”
Stopped using plastic lids and shrink film in tennis ball packaging materials in favor of paper lids and labels, thereby helping to reduce environmental impact.
Ecology - nature category
【Grand Prize】
Recipient ：Quality Promotion Team, General Affairs Section, Shirakawa Factory
Details ：Receipt of “Green Social Contribution Award” for maintenance/management of green areas and community contribution activities conducted over many years The factory received the “Green Social Contribution Award” under a program sponsored by the Organization for Landscape and Urban Green Infrastructure in recognition of the fact that for 49 years it has continuously taken action to protect the natural environment and increase greenery in the area around the factory.
Kindness - category
【Grand Prize】
Recipient ：Ryo Fukushige, Operations Department, Dunlop Golf Club Corp.
Details ：“Monisu” certification and President’s Award from the Japan Organization for Employment of the Elderly, Persons with Disabilities and Job Seekers Earned the “Monisu” certification in recognition for maintaining a higher-than-legally-required employment rate for people with disabilities for an extended period, and for efforts to improve the workplace environment
【Excellence Award】
Recipient ：LGBTQ+ Project Team (Colors)
Details ：Activities by a project to promote understanding of LGBTQ+ issues Contributed to fostering awareness of LGBTQ+ issues internally through various activities, such as publishing a handbook and distributing ally stickers, aiming to create workplaces in which everyone can work comfortably
Integrity - business category
【Grand Prize】
Recipient ：Sumitomo Rubber(Thailand)Co.,Ltd.　Sustainability Planning Department
Details ：Ongoing social responsibility promotion project
In recognition of various CSR-related activities conducted in the area around the factory, the company has received the CSR-DIW Award from Thailand's Ministry of Industry, which is conferred on companies demonstrating excellence in CSR initiatives, for three consecutive years
Special Merit Prizes
Recipient ：Masami Kurano, Manufacturing Section 2, Miyazaki Factory
Details ：Saving a life and preventing a secondary accident as the first responder to a traffic accident
Recipient ：Takuya Yokose, Manufacturing Section 3, Miyazaki Factory
Details ：Administration of first aid to an elementary school student he encountered on his way to work amid heavy rain
Recipient ：Chusan Sales Office, Dunlop Tyre Shikoku Co., Ltd.
Details ：Rescue and protection activities at the sales office

In recent years, corporate initiatives related to sustainability have been garnering increasing attention. By creating new value from both economic and social perspectives, the Group aims to contribute to the realization of a sustainable society in which people can live and work safely, securely, and comfortably. Going forward, through business activities unique to the Group, we will keep striving to generate even higher economic and social value.

*1 The “GENKI” Sustainability Activity Guidelines are divided into five categories: Governance, Ecology (reduction of the environmental impact of business activities), Next (development of next-generation products, solutions, and services), Kindness (a culture in which everyone is permitted to shine), and Integrity (integrity for society). Sumitomo Rubber has identified issues in each category (13 indicators in total) and is taking action with the aim of resolving them.
*2: The prizes began as the "CSR Award" in 2009 and were expanded and renamed the "Sustainability Award" in 2021.

Fair Evaluations and Wages

  • The Sumitomo Rubber Group

Evaluation of Employee Performance and the Wage System

The Sumitomo Rubber Group evaluates all its employees in an objective and rational manner in accordance with its performance evaluation system, thereby determining the wages granted to each. The performance evaluation consists of annual evaluation as well as biannual evaluations for first-half and second-half achievements. The annual evaluation is designed to assess the degree of improvement in an employee’s ability to carry out their occupational duties in line with prescribed job requirements, with the aim of motivating them to develop their competencies while providing a basis for determining fair wages. The biannual evaluations for first-half and second-half achievements involve a six-month assessment of performance against a target management chart for each employee, and assessment results are reflected in the content of bonuses. In fiscal 2018, we updated items assessed via these biannual evaluations by incorporating “challenge targets.” By doing so, we strive to foster a corporate culture supportive of those who take on challenges. As we aim to ensure that employees are fully confident in their evaluation results, we notify them of said results through face-to-face interviews with each person. We have also clarified evaluation items and processes to enhance their transparency. Furthermore, we provide all managers and supervisors, including those newly appointed to these positions, with training on staff performance evaluation on an as-necessary basis to ensure they possess the required capabilities to conduct fair evaluations and meaningful interviews.

Appointment and Promotion

Once a year, the Sumitomo Rubber Group carries out the screening of candidates who could be appointed as managers or to other managerial positions and offer promotional examinations for those willing to be promoted to assistant managers. Candidates can apply for appointment or promotion upon obtaining recommendations from their supervisors.
We initiate these annual procedures by conducting preliminary assessments of each candidate. Taking into account the results of these assessments and referring to their past achievements as previously recorded in earlier evaluations, our officers, along with staff at the Human Resources Department, exercise fairness when screening recommended candidates. In this way, we determine appointment or promotion for these individuals.