In investing in human capital, we grow and strengthen our leadership and HR governance at the group level, which help us pursue our brand promise and Perfect and Unique Tagging in line with our medium-term management plan.
Appoint executives through our board's advisory committee
With the support of our board's Nomination & Remuneration Advisory Committee, we assess candidates based on a set of selection criteria to appoint internal directors and executive officers who demonstrate strong leadership in running our business sustainably and driving SATO Values.
Develop talent through a specialized committee
The HR Development Committee under our Nomination & Remuneration Advisory Committee helps the executive team review, monitor and make decisions on how we manage human capital, for example, in terms of training key personnel who can execute strategies and keep our business running. It looks into succession planning together with the Nomination & Remuneration Advisory Committee, while also working to reinforce HR action plans that foster key personnel and ensure their diversity through monthly meetings. Besides addressing priorities identified by the Nomination & Remuneration Advisory Committee and immediate areas of concerns, the committee will be expanding its scope to also cover talent selection, placement and development as well as strategic HR investments (for growing our talent portfolio and more) in its reviews and discussions.
Introduce a globally integrated HR framework
Quarterly global HR synergy meetups
Every quarter, we engage HR personnel from across our group companies in online meetings where we align our direction and communicate, promote and monitor shared initiatives, with the support of our Global HR Department in Japan.
Enhance HR governance across overseas subsidiaries
Salary benchmarking based on global grading
In FY 2021, we introduced a global grading system for managers at our overseas subsidiaries under the lead of our Global HR Department in Japan, while benchmarking compensation in each country. Starting FY 2022, we now collect data on salary standards in different countries, using it as a basis to revise compensation for locally hired managers heading our overseas subsidiaries and when hiring or setting compensation amounts for top-level management.
Training talent for key roles
We are advancing leadership development programs to systematically identify and cultivate future leaders across the organization. In FY 2022 we took the first step by conducting executive assessments of locally-hired managers leading our overseas subsidiaries to understand their strengths, areas of improvement and growth opportunities. A simplified version of these assessments has since been introduced to senior managers and above in Japan. Based on assessment results, we plan to align managers with targeted trainings, stretch assignments and midterm placements to accelerate their development. Recognizing that leadership requires a broad set of knowledge and skills, we expanded our standardized programs — originally for line managers — to overseas managers in FY 2023 and intend to extend coverage to senior managers in FY 2025. We remain committed to building on our leadership development efforts both in and outside Japan.
Conducting HR audits
In 2024, we sent members from our Global HR Department in Japan on site visits to deal with problems concerning human resource and labor relations at some overseas subsidiaries. We also took comprehensive action to review local HR regulations, improve how subsidiaries manage human resource and labor relations, optimize performance appraisal frameworks and update salary models.
We plan to conduct such HR audits primarily for subsidiaries in Southeast Asia to help them avoid the same problems. This will also strengthen HR functions at different subsidiaries and enhance overall governance for better human resource management at the global level.
