Human Capital
Human Resources Systems and Operations
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Konica Minolta's Approach
Background and Issues
The role required of management has grown enormously to increase engagement and maximize the output of the group’s professional human resources. In other words, human resource development, which involves meeting each individual and helping them to advance their career, as well as organizational development are both required to enhance the quality of relationships among human resources. Furthermore, when looking at each individual, with the increasing orientation toward specialization, it is becoming increasingly difficult to treat career paths as one track of "aiming to reach the pinnacle of management.” To address these issues, we will contribute to the sustainable growth of the Company by introducing a system that is most suitable to Konica Minolta, instead of following in the footsteps of other companies. In addition, we will promote workstyle reforms so that each employee can maximize their potential.
Vision
Clearly perceiving the direction in which our organization and personnel should be heading, we encourage each individual to change their behavior and thinking through a system that enables the acquisition, development, and retention of human resources.
Key Measures
- Promote double-track system to support career aspirations
- Strengthen Empowerment Leaders
Double-Track System for Management Positions
To make the most of professional human resources, it is increasingly important to maximize the power of human resources and the organization in the workplace. In order to respond to the diverse careers of human resources, Konica Minolta, Inc. and its main sales subsidiary Konica Minolta Japan, Inc. are radically rethinking the management system based on conventional "workplace management" and have initiated efforts to strengthen it.
Introduction of Double-Track Personnel System
In order to clarify that the role that we expect future leaders to play is that of leaders of a group of professional human resources, from April 2022, we have decided to abolish the “management position” classification and name which connotes workplace management, and to revise the definition of “management position” to make the existing single-track management system a double-track system. There are three reasons for this change.
(1) Strengthen leaders who energize human resources and organizations, commit to results, and elevate their ability to execute
(2) Develop and retain experts who create innovation and lead with their expertise
(3) Support the diverse career aspirations of employees
The new definition divides the required leadership into two categories as follows. The first is the organizational leaders who energize human resources and the organization and elevate their ability to execute. We call these individuals "Empowerment Leaders" in the expectation that they will maximize the individual potential of human resources. The other is human resources who create innovation beyond existing boundaries and lead with their expertise. We call these individuals "Experts" in the expectation that they will increase their own expertise and contribute to the business by leveraging their expertise. We have decided to call these "Empowerment Leaders" and "Experts" collectively as "Exempt.”
Along with this change in definition, we have defined the required behaviors as "do you have a vision and can you chart your own course," "do you have the ability to produce results," "can you draw on diverse strengths," and "do you continue to develop yourself," and have made these the basis for evaluation.
Image of Double-track Career
Strengthen Empowerment Leaders
To maximize the power of the organization and team, the Empowerment Leader must be a "driver of change" who communicates in their own words the direction that the business should take to members with a wide range of experiences, expertise, and values, and leads them to new answers that they would not have thought of before through frank discussions. At the same time, the empowerment leader is also required to discuss the career aspirations of each and every team member and determine what they need to do to get closer to their career goals and to support them.
This is no easy task; Empowerment Leaders are in a sense “human resources with professional expertise" who empower people and organizations and require a high level of "'human resource empowerment skill' instead of workplace or human resource management.
Therefore, we have prepared and will continue to implement an approximately six-month long enhancement program for all group leaders who interact directly with general employees, starting in fiscal 2022. This includes 300 group leaders in fiscal 2022-2023 and 60 new group leaders in fiscal 2024. In addition, looking at the multifaceted biannual assessments conducted by supervisors, subordinates, and peers, we confirmed that the average improvement of participants in the program in fiscal 2022 and 2023 was about 10% in all requirements compared to those who did not take the program.
What to Do in Each Phase of the Empowerment Leader Enhancement Program
Assessment and Treatment System Encourages Career Autonomy and Taking on Challenges
Assessment and Treatment System
To create an organization that continues to provide customers with new value, Konica Minolta, Inc. expects each employee to possess superior knowledge, expertise, and unique skills befitting a true professional, and to act and think independently to solve problems. In order to accelerate employee development, the Company has revised its personnel assessment and treatment system for general employees, introducing a system that highly evaluates talented personnel who act in accordance with the Konica Minolta Philosophy and take on the challenge of pursuing ambitious goals without fear of failure. It also includes a system to evaluate employees who take on challenges, regardless of the outcome.
Please note that, since the merger, we have excluded seniority and instead fairly evaluate skills and results (such as the achievement of thematic goals and contributions to the organization), reflecting these in promotions, salary increases, and bonuses. Compensation resulting from promotions and salary increases is linked not only to the most recent salary but also to retirement benefits,* which are increased accordingly. This approach serves as an incentive for long-term improvement in ability and contribution to business performance. (*Retirement benefits are paid based on accumulated points at the time of retirement, accumulated each year based on an evaluation of job performance.)
In addition, to achieve the career vision of each individual, we regularly provide important opportunities for employees to take stock of their own careers. They discuss their skill development challenges and career development goals (direction and plan for skill development) with their superiors through their work. Supervisors also support the achievement of these goals by considering job and role assignments, providing feedback through daily work, and fostering interactive development through dialogue."
Expansion of System for Promoting Workstyle Reforms
Expanding the Remote Work System
Konica Minolta, Inc. is promoting workstyle reforms and achieving workstyles that are not tied to a single location. In April 2017, Konica Minolta, Inc. launched a remote work system for all employees. The remote work system is also being expanded at its sales companies in and outside of Japan.
As part of this expansion, Konica Minolta has taken steps to set up a work environment for employees, such as replacing computer workstations with PCs that can be taken home, introducing ways to save files in the cloud and access internal systems from outside company premises, and introducing Web-based meeting systems.
These preparations in the work environment enabled the company to respond smoothly to the need to rapidly expand remote work starting in spring 2020.
On the other hand, in-person communication is effective in building relationships with other departments and for gaining insight, learning, and creating new business ideas, and we are promoting the use of revised office layouts and collaboration spaces.
In addition, Konica Minolta is working to support work-life balance by revising its systems and creating an environment so that it can respond flexibly to the circumstances of individual employees.
In addition, Konica Minolta is working to support work-life balance by revising its systems and creating an environment so that it can respond flexibly to the circumstances of individual employees.
