Human Resources Initiatives
Human Resources Principle
We aim to realize our management strategies without being constrained by past experiences or preconceptions and based on the watchwords real source and "On site, Hands on, In touch." Accordingly, from the perspective of overall optimization, the Toyota Tsusho Group will employ, develop and advance employees who can cooperate and lead the way to an even better future.
As we conduct business on a global scale, we support respect for and ensuring human rights and freedoms as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, have expressly provided for respect for human rights in the Global Code of Conduct & Ethics (COCE), and place emphasis on consideration for human rights.Furthermore, we have completely agreed to the concept of ISO 26000 which encourages the maximized contribution for sustainable development in each region and country where we conduct business and projects. With local employment and local procurement, we endeavor to co-develop with every region through human resources and to invigorate regional society and economy. We have established rules prohibiting forced labor, child labor, and labor at improperly low wages and are endeavoring to eliminate improper employment and to pay wages exceeding minimum wages in compliance with the labor laws and regulations of each country.
The Toyota Tsusho Group promotes diversity, equity & inclusion as a management strategy. We are striving to create work environments that bring out the strengths of diverse personnel by undertaking reforms to implement more flexible and productive ways of working. We are also working to develop human resources that can create business on a global scale and that can achieve success in the global market while providing occupational training opportunities to local communities, and we actively developing human resources within and outside the company that are valuable to and contribute to society.
Point1: Build an environment that allows employees to work with vitality.
To enable a company and its employees to realize continuous growth, it is essential to create a workplace environment and systems that make employees' work rewarding and fulfilling. With this in mind, we are devising a number of measures to build such an environment and systems.
Point2: Create frameworks for promoting constant and autonomous reforms and kaizen.
We regard a company's responsibility as enabling employees to act with self-initiative, with an unceasing desire to pursue reforms and kaizen (continuous improvement). Toyota Tsusho is building systems and frameworks that promote such actions.
Point3: Develop human resources with curiosity and interest in the global management environment and capable of responding flexibly, quickly, and sincerely to changes in the environment.
The management environment is evolving at a breathtaking pace. Even so, we will work to strengthen our business functions and develop human resources capable of swiftly undertaking sincere business activities.
Point4: Promote teamwork with an eye toward overall optimization as an organization.
We are building organizations that enable overall optimization by respecting individuality and including diversity. To do so, we believe it is essential to have a corporate culture that fosters mutual respect and ensures sufficient vertical, horizontal and diagonal communication. We are currently creating a framework for such a corporate culture.
Human resource management
1. Basic stance
We make appraisals in a most fair manner based on performance of our staff, which corresponds with the employment position and remuneration structure, suitable to them most.
Toyota Tsusho's basic value is of "overall optimization" , taking all system relating human resource such as hire, education, performance-appraisal and rotation into account. This is based on strong belief that it is inevitable not only to increase individual performance but collaborate among organizations and personnel so as to provide stakeholders with greater added value.
Toyota Tsusho Corporation strives to perform fair employee evaluations based solely on performance and without bias to gender, age or nationality. When evaluating performance levels each year, we require interviews between the employee and the evaluator. We also hold modification meetings at various stages of the process of performing evaluations to ensure that employee performance is assessed fairly from multiple perspectives.
Furthermore, regarding level and remuneration system, both of which are of basis for human resource, personnel changes likewise, Toyota Tsusho strives to be as fair as it can be based on performance. Our new human resources initiative implemented in 2017 have eradicated the boundary between those with regular and comprehensive scope of work and those limited to general office work, which has gradually enabled their scope of work to be reassigned.
In addition, we unified the evaluation population and promotion population, promoted TOEIC as well as in-company testing for former limited to general office work, in an effort to individual ability throughout the company overall. (Almost half of limited to general office work scored at least 730 on the TOEIC)
From fiscal year 2019, we expanded our evaluator training and renewed the content to achieve clear goal setting agreements and improved the quality of feedback that contributes to growth. In addition, a questionnaire on evaluation feedback is sent to those who are evaluated each year and that feedback is reflected in evaluator training in order to improve communication between the evaluators and those evaluated.
In addition, we introduced a new talent management system in the fiscal year 2023, which enables us to set targets with an awareness of both career goals and single-year results. The operation of this system will provide company-wide support and opportunities for employees to achieve the careers they desire. In addition, by centrally managing this information, we will promote its use for employee human resource development and for transfers and assignments that promote autonomous growth.
2. Challenge Rotation
The purpose of this system is to promote personnel changes that respect the career direction and aspirations of each employee as much as possible.
The purpose of this system is to promote personnel transfers that respect the aspirations and autonomous growth of each employee as much as possible. Interviews are held with the preferred department for transfer and when the needs of both sides match, the employee can be preferentially assigned.
Toyota Tsusho has a Challenge Rotation system, arranged by the Human Resources Department, under which every effort is made to assign employees to their desired department. There is also a Challenge Post system, under which applicants are assigned to departments according to organizational needs.
In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, 18 applicants were actually transferred through this program out of a total of 64 applications.
3. Commendation systems
We present commendations to organizations and employees contributing to the realization of our corporate vision, judging their achievements from diverse perspectives.
From among those awards, organizations are further selected for the "Best Division Award," "Vice President's Award" and "President's Award."
At the awards presentations for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, the President's Award was awarded to the “initiative for an end-of-life vehicle (ELV) dismantling business joint venture with Maruti Suzuki India” to establish an ELV dismantling business and plant in India. The initiative was realized with minimal impact from COVID-19 while liaising with the Indian government and related organizations on the development of environmental systems and laws.
It was highly evaluated for being an initiative that embodies “Be the Right ONE” as a step toward solving social issues in India by connecting Japanese dismantling technology, Indian companies, and the Indian government.
Human resource development
1. Basic Approach
We develop human resources who can practice the Toyota Tsusho Group Way.
Toyota Tsusho practices the Toyota Tsusho Group Way, which adopts as its keywords "Shokon" (a passion for business), "Genchi, Genbutsu, Genjitsu" (on site, hands on, in touch), and "Team Power" (teamwork). We conduct various educational and training programs and strive to enhance employee skills so that they can independently and actively think and take action. We make use of diverse human resources who can respond flexibly to the company's changing business environment and look ahead to a better future, and we prioritize the development of human resources capable of creating global-scale business and able to interact with their counterparts at other leading global companies to continuously achieve active value creation with our global partners.
Average Rate of Overseas Experience* by the eighth year after being hired: 74.4% (Average for the most recent three years)
- *Overseas Experience: Overseas expatriate staff, interns, language interns, etc.
2. Education and Training
We devise training programs to develop global human resources along three axes.
Our employees are trained to manage business on a global scale and acquire the skills necessary to create new business. These competencies are developed along the three axes of "global," "business professional," and "Toyota Tsusho Group Way leadership." We have created rank-based training systems to ensure that employees can develop these competencies in stages over their careers.
To develop a global competency, employees first attain English-language skills and then receive cross-cultural communication and business management training to enhance their ability to work with people from different cultures. These training programs are provided as part of rank-based training and prior to overseas appointments.
To develop professional business skills, employees take part in various programs based on their individual needs, including Innovation Leader Incubation Institute ("I.I.I.") for launching new business, along with practical knowledge seminars, open-enrollment business skill classes, and e-learning courses.
To develop Toyota Tsusho Group Way leadership, all rank-based training is founded on the principles of the Toyota Tsusho Group Way. A corps of global trainers developed at sites around the world deliver this core curriculum. The training program also includes liberal arts courses on history, religion, philosophy and other topics designed to deepen employees' understanding of underlying issues and help shape them into well-grounded, thoughtful leaders.
We are continuing to focus efforts on global selective training (for Employees from Toyota Tsusho and from Group companies in Japan and overseas) aiming to develop global management staff.
In coordination with leading global business schools, and with management officers being mobilized to attend, selected employees are attending the Global Advanced Leadership Program (GALP) as our top global six-month management training program to "learn about the world, the Company and oneself." As action learning, we hear individual ambitions and offer advice on next-generation management strategies as a group to train employees to become global leaders who have high ambitions and can work actively amongst diverse cultures. We are also newly implementing "alumni activities" to former GALP students to establish an information-sharing opportunity based on innovation while also making every effort to ensure continuous global network building.
One step below GALP is the "Leadership Development Program (LDP)", a program that coordinates with overseas startups to offer innovative business strategy proposals. The LDP trains human resources to be full of entrepreneurial spirit and leadership to manage the group in the future.
As a trading company, Toyota Tsusho posts employees to overseas assignments on a frequent basis. To further develop human resources who can handle such postings, we have put in place an Overseas Foreign Language Study system for young personnel in charge of specific tasks. Following about six months of language study at an overseas university or language education institution, employees taking advantage of this system undergo approximately one year of practical training under the guidance of an expatriate stationed at an overseas branch or trading subsidiary. This system therefore functions as a program that offers language study opportunities as well as enables participants to experience local customs and cultures, while helping to vitalize career development and the practice of job rotation.
Overseas language intern program: training destinations and number of trainees (Toyota Tsusho)
Study destinations (2018): France 1, Russia 1, Jordan 1 (total 3)
Study destinations (2019): France 1 (total 1)
Study destinations (2020): France 1 (total 1)
Study destinations (2021): France 3 (total 3)
Study destinations (2022): France 1 (total 1)
Study destinations (2023): France 2, Brazil 1 (total 3)
| Total time(H) | No. of participants | Ave. time per persone(H/Y) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of training hours related to human resources development | 91,698 H | 3,454 person | 27.7 H/Y |
*Refer to the URL below for details of training held by the Global Human Resources Department.