HR initiatives Human resource development

Staff training and development

Deriving our competitive advantage from genbaryoku, the SATO Group prizes human resources as the key to value creation and the most important assets we have. To practice genbaryoku and our corporate values that underlie it, we understand that we must bring out the best in our diverse workforce, tapping into different ideas, skills and experiences.

As the environment that surrounds our business changes at an ever-increasing speed, we also need employees who can reset legacy mindsets and approaches to think and act autonomously to initiate changes on their own.

To spur talent growth and strengthen human capital for sustainable value creation in line with our medium-term management plan, we have launched new systems and functions as follows.

Our global learning system: E.D.G.E

We rolled out our learning management system platform E.D.G.E (Engage. Develop. Grow. Evolve) in 2022, which aims to give employees an 'edge' by inspiring them to exceed customer expectations.
The system has helped standardize onboarding for over 400 employees worldwide,¹ cutting the average new employee onboarding time in half in certain countries, from nine months to four and half,² This enables new employees to generate value for the company sooner by learning about products and services without having to rely solely on managers.
It also streamlines managers' roles by allowing them to track training completion rates and guide employees interested in promotion toward the right courses to build the skills they need. The system helps build a stronger sense of unity worldwide by breaking down siloes and employees report feeling more connected to their colleagues across the world. In our engagement survey, over 60 percent reported in 2023 that the company provides ample educational opportunities and work-related training.

• 1.Global excluding Japan, from 2022 to 2023
• 2.Results in several countries

Succession planning for key global positions; grooming and promoting future leaders

Our actions to identify and develop potential future leaders (core talent) have already started outside Japan and will soon cover the entire SATO Group. We will be expanding these talent development programs to target all managers overseas.

Leadership development program overview

We offer leadership development programs designed to identify and nurture future leaders.

Executives heading our overseas subsidiaries took an assessment test in FY 2022 to understand their strengths, weaknesses and areas for development. A simplified version of the assessment was also conducted in Japan on all employees ranked senior manager or higher.

In 2023, we used the results of the assessments to provide coaching and online learning programs to locally-hired executives leading our offshore subsidiaries, and training to senior managers in Japan. We also conducted the same assessments on potential future leaders offshore.

SATO Campus (Japan)

To nurture talent, meet employees' professional development needs, and help them grow sustainably, we established SATO Campus in April 2021 with three missions.

1. (1)
   Train self-reliant and self-determining talent
2. (2)
   Develop understanding of corporate values and business value chain
3. (3)
   Create opportunities for employees to demonstrate strengths and take new challenges

With a central focus on realizing the career goals of our employees, SATO Campus offers not just training but also programs for job transfer or assignment and channels for fostering connections between employees and their workplace, and between workplaces. We will take a comprehensive approach to HR development through SATO Campus and further enrich its offerings to encourage employees to think creatively and act proactively.

Overview of SATO Campus

Value chain trainings

Value chain trainings in Japan aim to provide employees with a good understanding of our business and frontline operations. Through lectures and site visits, participants gain insights into SATO-specific keywords, business concepts and company operations. Going beyond their own jobs, they learn how every business activity connects us to our customers, and become more aware of how they can maximize the value of the customer experience we provide. This understanding fuels creativity and drives employees to think and take actions to improve their work. Value chain trainings also foster communication across departments and strengthen the fundamentals of company management. We plan to expand these trainings to cover the supply chains of our customers in different industries.

How value chain trainings work

Our in-house value chain

Value chain training statistics

Managerial training programs

In Japan, we started new training programs to teach managers to be self-reliant and self-determining, setting a good example for their team members to follow. We conduct training in an action learning format (as below) and provide a guidebook for participants to self-assess and improve their management styles and skills after the training. We have structured managerial training programs consistently to focus on senior managers in FY 2023 after training 226 managers in FY 2022.

Action learning process

Career guidance

Under SATO Campus, we are working to use the career ladder as an important HR development tool for employees to advance their careers following a clear skills and experience roadmap. In parallel, we conduct trainings to help employees in their third, fifth, tenth and twentieth year of service look back at their career paths and lives and plan ahead.

Japan is entering the 100-year life era. As our employees live longer lives, we want to keep them happy and healthy from learning new things and finding meaning in their work. In line with this, we are creating more opportunities for employees to rethink what motivates them in life and how they want to spend their silver years both in and outside of work.