Human Capital Management

The Group works to strengthen our acquisition of human resources, defining the following human resources as those creating new and added value.

1. 1.Human resources who lead innovation by understanding diversity, accepting diversity, and working in collaboration with stakeholders of various circumstances
2. 2.Human resources who take a sense of ownership, think, act, and embrace on their own
3. 3.Human resources who envision an ideal future in response to changes in the environment, and who are eager to act in achieving that vision

Recruitment Results (JX Advanced Metals Corporation)

We hire a wide range of outstanding human resources by strengthening the organization in charge of recruitment in the Human Resources Department and diversifying recruitment channels. We recruit technical candidates among new graduates, including technical college students, as well as globally oriented candidates from Japan and overseas who have experience studying abroad. We also recruit mid-career professionals that bring new and diverse knowledge and experience, achieving a 50/50 ratio of new graduates to mid-career professionals for the past three years. We diversify our recruitment channels to expand mid-career recruitment. Such channels include referral recruitment, in which employees are introduced by their friends and acquaintances, and come-back recruitment, in which employees who have previously left rejoin the company. Using various channels, including those for university graduates, technical school graduates, and mid-career professionals, allows us to ensure the quality, quantity, and diversity of the human resources we hire. These channels also enable us to develop an open-minded corporate culture that actively seeks to share new knowledge, skills, and ideas.

We hire technical candidates actively to strengthen our techno-logical development and production site capabilities, which represent the roots of our competitiveness. Pursuing these human resources measures is helping us transform into a technology-based company.

[Recruiting New Graduates]

• We hire people with interests and abilities across a wide range of college majors, not limited to those who majored in metals at university (graduate school)
• We are extending recruitment activities to all applicants, not limiting ourselves strictly to applicants recommended by the schools
• We are expanding the employment of technical school students

[Recruiting Mid-Career Professionals]

• We hire for technical expertise in positions such as new business planning, technology development, and others in which we lack expertise
• We hire for key positions above managerial staff levels
• We recruit from diverse industries (automotive, electric, chemical, university, etc.)
• We hire employees who match with our company through referral and come-back hires

VOICE
Comments From A Referral and Come-Backmployee

I left JX Advanced Metals and rejoined in January 2024 after gaining two years of experience at another company. I ran into a senior colleague from JX Advanced Metals at an exhibition, and I realized that applying what I learned from my job away from the company at JX Advanced Metals would lead to my personal growth. When I rejoined JX Advanced Metals, I was nervous about whether I would fit in well at work and how to balance family life, especially childcare. But the various support I received from senior and junior colleagues and the Human Resources Department helped me feel better prepared. After returning, I heard countless employees express they were glad I was back, and I feel the warmth of the people at the company. I am currently in charge of the main customers of the division, gaining a lot of experience implementing structural reform measures. I hope to leverage my perspectives gained outside the company in my current work and share my knowledge and experience with others to contribute to the further growth of JX Advanced Metals.

The Company develops various measures and support policies based on the following human resource development policy.

We revised our training system in fiscal 2023 to be more flexible and proactive in response to the greater diversity in career paths, including earlier promotion to manager positions and transfers across job categories.
In our education for young employees by job level, we aim to expand our younger workforce and manager-track training and encourage autonomous development by introducing selective trainings and supporting self-development. We also aim to provide such employees with opportunities for practical education outside the company and systematically train management candidates, global personnel to oversee overseas business development, specialists to lead the Company with their specialized knowledge, and personnel to improve the competitiveness of the workplace.
We also provide other training to foster a shared awareness of financial knowledge, quality communication, and problem-solving skills.

We have a variety of training programs that are tailored to the abilities and disposition of each employee.

With a view to early promotion to managerial positions, we are speeding up the pace of focusing on training through year three of employment. Our aim here is to instill the Company’s DNA while fostering the basic skills and mindset to act independently and take on challenges. In this context, we provide follow-up training six months after an employee joins the Company, providing an opportunity for reflection, raising awareness of their current situation and expected roles, and following up to foster a positive toward taking on challenges through the acquisition of organizational skills. We also provide training for leaders to develop the ability to solve problems for which there are no clear answers and to foster thinking from a company-wide perspective at stages before managerial levels.

In conjunction with the revised human resources system for managers, we improved management training to instill a management mindset and build management skills. Newly promoted manager training includes panel discussions with vice presidents, allowing managers to learn about the ideas and specific background experiences of other managers. Our intent here is to teach an understanding of management attitudes and thinking from a company-wide perspective.

us today, we provide training for senior chiefs and chiefs —key personnel at production sites— to develop the skills and acquire the knowledge necessary for on-site management. While deepening an understanding of the Company’s current management situation and issues, we also foster leadership skills to face challenges as a team, as well as personal skills and mindsets for developing and following up with subordinates.

We strive for autonomous and voluntary employee growth in addition to conventional rank-specific education. To this end, we introduced selective programs that allow each employee to learn according to their personal job expectations, capacities, and aspirations. Participants select the knowledge and skills they wish to strengthen from several options, including logical thinking, business quantitative analysis, and DX skills and strategies.

We provide overseas training for younger employees. Our objective is to not only develop language skills, cross-cultural understanding, relationship building, and global business awareness, but also develop the toughness and confidence to dive into different environments and cultivate various skills, knowledge, and mindsets.

We select eligible individuals to study abroad at graduate schools to obtain degrees or at business schools to obtain MBA degrees, strengthening their expertise and management skills.

As part of our efforts to develop human resources for global business, we adopted goFLUENT, a comprehensive language online learning system, in fiscal 2023. The system combines e-learning in English, Chinese, German, and other languages, online global conversation classes, and ability assessment tests to provide practical language learning for use in daily work duties.

We offer age-specific career education as an opportunity for employees to think independently about their future life plans and careers. Considerations include what the individual wants to accomplish at the Company, their future roles, and what skills they should acquire. Lectures by career counselors and in-house systems for balancing life events and work help employees build independent careers while alleviating concerns about the future.

Under our Self-Innovation Support program, employees may apply to any eligible external training program. On completing the program, half of the expenses will be subsidized (up to 500,000 yen per program). To create an environment that further facilitates learning, we began offering Udemy Business, in fiscal 2023. Udemy Business is an online video learning service for study without restrictions on location or time. With access to a variety of courses and educational materials, employees have more opportunities to acquire diverse knowledge and skills.

We began revising our personnel system in stages in fiscal 2021. Our aim is to transform into a technology-based company by creating an environment where each employee is aware of his or her role, respects and encourages each other, and takes on more challenging tasks in a spirit of friendly competition.

We introduced a structure that aims to select and develop out-standing employees, regardless of job type, department, or rank. These employees will manage our businesses from a long-term, company-wide perspective and play a central role in management. Specifically, we clarified the classification of line managers with subordinates as management personnel. We also implement consistent compensation based on the scope of responsibilities and endeavor to promote individuals to managerial positions earlier in their careers.

We implemented the following measures to strengthen the on-site competitiveness through the appropriate evaluation and compensation of employees who support production sites, secure and develop human resources to support business expansion, and allow diverse human resources, including seniors, to play active roles, etc.

(1) Clarified course classifications between career-track and general staff positions
After clarifying the roles of each course, we designed the system to provide appropriate evaluations and compensation accordingly. We also established a means for employees to switch from general staff to career-track or regional career-track, depending on their willingness to take on new challenges. In this way, we support an independent career development and foster a corporate culture of embracing the challenge of change.

(3) Raised retirement age to 65
We raised the retirement age from 60 to 65 for more stable operations at production sites and the passing on of learned skills. Salary levels will remain at that of employees aged 60. At the same time, we introduced a manager retirement program at a maximum age of 60 to provide management opportunities to young and experienced workers, as well as to revitalize our organization.

VOICE
Comments From a Regional Career-Track Employee

I moved to Ibaraki, my husband's hometown, and joined the Hitachi Works as a mid-career employee through prior connections. As I gained abundant work experience, I began wanting to advance my career and job from a broader perspective. It was then that I decided to take on the challenge of the course switch system. Although I was also interested in pursuing a career-track position, I decided to switch to the regional career-track position that would allow me to be even more active here in Ibaraki, considering childcare and family living arrangements.
I switched to a regional career track position in April 2023, and currently play a small role in the start-up of the Hitachinaka New Plant. I find my current work load rewarding and am learning a lot. Although every day is busy, I strive to balance my work and family life. To this end, I am doing my best to help strengthen business in Ibaraki Prefecture in cooperation with my colleagues and family.