CSR activities in FY2017
Relationships with Employees
Careers and training
Basic Approach
Listed below are the traits that we wre looking for when hiring new employees. These traits are also what we emphasize when planning the wide range of educational programs we provide for employees at various levels.
Who we are looking for: Dynamic and influential people
- People with the drive and ambition to improve the world around them
- People with leadership skills that can be used worldwide
- People who can consistently extract the bigger-picture issues from the everyday facts, and start working on solutions right away
- People with solid communication skills
To produce the workforce needed to make NTN more competitive in the marketplace, we provide training designed to produce globally oriented employees who can work in countries and regions throughout the world. Since our “Monozukuri” (manufacturing workforce) is the prime driver of our value-creation activities, we make ongoing efforts to train this workforce to reliably replicate our original skills and technologies at manufacturing bases throughout the world.
Main Activities
Narrowing the gaps for New Hires
To ensure there are no gaps between our actual conditions and newly hired employees impression toward NTN, we plan and provide various programs designed to give prospective NTN employees a better picture of what working here is like and which traits we are looking for.
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One-day office/technology job internships |
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Three-day technology job internships |
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Panel discussion for pre-accepted candidates |
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Follow-up event for accepted candidates |
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Follow-up Activities for New Hires
The first 3 years of a new employee’s career at NTN is considered a discovery period. New employees take part in group training, on-the-job training, private interviews and self-directed learning programs. Each employee’s growth process is tracked in detail as we identify their aspirations and strengths, and they discover their own ambitions and abilities for their career at NTN. We respect employee individuality and autonomy, and aim to provide a comprehensive set of skill development initiatives.
Training to Produce Globally Oriented Employees
As a company with a growing presence overseas, we make an effort to provide training designed to produce employees with skills that can be used worldwide. Whether they work overseas or in Japan, we want each of our employees to be able to bring a global perspective to their work.
■Foreign language training
Along with English, we also provide courses in languages such as Chinese and French as needed.
■Overseas trainee program
Our overseas trainee program posts young employees to overseas bases for 1 year. Trainees receive on-the-job training for acquiring specialist work skills, along with foreign language training and experience adapting to a new culture.
■METI Global Internship Program
This program sponsored by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry lets young adults and students take part in 6-month internships in emerging nations. We have been participating in this program since FY 2013.
■Overseas challenge training
This training program sends young employees overseas early in their career as a way to help them develop the skills needed to thrive in a global environment. To help produce employees at home in a global setting, participants take part in a structured job rotation scheme after returning and are then posted overseas after 4 years in Japan.
Self-directed Learning Support, Overseas Study Programs
As part of our efforts to support self-directed learning, we have established a number of programs aimed at employees with a keen desire for learning and self-improvement. Examples include a program encouraging employees to take the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC), and a program encouraging employees to gain officially recognized professional skills certifications or become certified at higher levels.
We also provide overseas study programs in collaboration with domestic and overseas graduate schools, business schools and law schools. These programs are designed to produce employees with more advanced specialist skills and knowledge, and employees who can work in a global environment. They are open to every employee who wants to take part, regardless of department. Trainees return to work with improved specialist skills that let them pioneer new areas to work in.
"HITOZUKURI" behind our "MONOZUKURI"-Developing the Human Resources behind our Manufacturing-
To produce the workforce needed to make us more competitive in the marketplace, we provide training designed to produce globally oriented employees who can work in countries and regions throughout the world. Our Monozukuri workforce is the prime driver of our value-creation activities. This special feature looks at how we train this workforce to reliably replicate NTN’s original skills and technologies at manufacturing bases throughout the world.
Training our Monozukuri workforce
Global Human Resource Development Department
Our training policy is based on the concept of using local sites, local materials and local personnel. Based on this policy, in addition to promote our efforts to increase the overseas production ratio, we provide training designed to develop employees who can play an active role in different countries or regions.
Production Engineering R&D Center
Researches high-precision/higher efficiency production, and works on creating more advanced and intelligent NTN machine tools. Also works on training young production engineers.
Main production bases
Serve as venues for learning all the elements required for production activities, such as quality, safety, the environment, 5S/3D* and transparency. Provide skills training and teaching in a systematic and efficient manner.
*5S :A workplace methodology used in the Japanese manufacturing and service industries. An initialism for the words seiri, seiton, seiketsu, seiso and shitsuke (often translated as sorting, setting in order, shining, standardizing and sustaining/discipline). The words describe how to organize a work space for efficiency and effectiveness by identifying and storing the items used, maintaining the area and items, and sustaining the new order.
*3D :An extension of the 5S methodology. The three Ds are teichi,teihin and teiryo (define area, define product and determine quantities).
NTN Technical Skills Competition
Every year since 2014, the NTN Technical Skills Competition has given young technicians around the world an opportunity to pit their outstanding skills against each other and learn the importance and necessity of these skills. By spreading NTN’s original skills and technologies, the event helps make our technologies more advanced while raising their standard.
NTN production engineer training course
A program providing planned training schemes for employees in their first year at the company. The program is designed to produce production engineers and project leaders who can work throughout the world. Production technology specialists are trained by gaining experience at manufacturing sites and the Production Engineering R&D Center starting early in their career.
NTN technical workshop
A program that teaches bearing production knowledge and basic manufacturing skills to young engineers to prepare them for future roles as workplace leaders. The program started in 2012, and is currently offered at our Kuwana, Iwata and Okayama business sites.
Meister program
- Meisters with advanced special abilities are the key to pass on skills at NTN -
Our Meister program began in 2005 as a way to raise the standard of manufacturing skills and techniques and ensure they are passed on to the next generation of employees.
Worker skill has a direct effect on product quality for manufacturing processes such as heat treatment and forging, making ongoing worker skill training crucial for these processes. Meisters specialize in heat treatment, forging/pressing, facility maintenance and other skill areas that need to be taught to the next generation. Meisters for these areas are certified by the Meister Certification Committee that is held once per year to make the final selection from among candidates meeting a demanding set of requirements. Meister candidates are selected from among the high skill-level employees at each business sites by certifying Junior Meisters. There are 5 Meisters and 77 Junior Meisters working at our business sites as of April 2018.
Meisters leave their line work to train junior employees in the knowledge, skills and techniques they possess. They also work actively on solving technical issues facing manufacturing departments such as by advising on technical assistance for overseas business areas and on new product development.
■Meisters
Employees with extensive practical experience and advanced knowledge and skills recognized throughout the company. Their work ethic and the guidance they provide to subordinates make Meisters a model for other employees.
■Junior Meisters
Meister candidate employees recognized as having the capacity for acquiring advanced knowledge and skills.
Employees receiving guidance from a Meister
NTN’s strategies for human resources: A department head’s view
We are making business areas increasingly global, expanding manufacturing bases throughout the world. Because of this business expansion, it is becoming increasingly important to instill the NTN's mindset in Monozukuri to employees working all over the world and to build the system to pass on skills and technologies we have developed so far to the next generation. Moreover, in Japan, as the role of mother function of Monozukuri is more demanded, we are striving to strengthen the role through various activities such as NTN Technical Skills Competition, Global QC Circle Convention, etc.
We have hired a diverse range of employees, who differ by gender,race, nation and work style. We therefore believe it is necessary to foster a workplace environment where all our employees can deepen mutual understanding and fully demonstrate their abilities. In Japan, we also make efforts to build the system for child and elder's care as well as introduction of telecommuting.
We contribute to development of a smooth society by implementing various activities in collaboration among the entire NTN Group based on the recognition of "the human resources are the most important asset driving our business."
Tomoko Tanaka
Global Human Resource
Development Department Manager
Diversity
Basic Approach
We feel that a diverse workforce is a crucial requirement for remaining competitive and producing innovation, so promoting diversity* is one of our management strategies.
We aim to create a workplace environment that lets all employees reach their full potential while maintaining a good work-life balance. To do so, we implement a range of different policies and work to ensure a safe work environment that protects employees from health or other concerns.
* NTN’s diversity objectives:
To create a work environment that lets everyone reach their full potential, and to grow our organization by harnessing the personal growth achieved by our employees through job fulfillment. These objectives will be attained by understanding and recognizing the various differences among all our employees in attributes such as gender, age, career and work style.
Main Activities
Encouraging women in the workplace
Number of women in management positions
1 (FY2007)→32 (FY2017)
Number of intra-company child daycare centers
1 → 2
We make ongoing and proactive efforts to hire women. We are also active in awareness-raising to encourage women in the workplace such as holding seminars for executive and managerial-level positions. As shown below, the number of female managerial-level employees has been steadily increasing in recent years.
We are also working on expanding our Bear Kids Land intra-company child daycare centers to enable employees to balance their work and childcare needs. We opened the first one at our Iwata (Shizuoka Prefecture) business site in April 2009, and followed it with a second one at our Kuwana (Mie Prefecture) business site in April 2018.
■Rise in women in management positions at NTN *
*Includes three consolidated subsidiaries which were merged in October 2018: NTN KONGO CORP.,NTN MIKUMO COMPANY LTD.and NTN ENGINEERING PLASTICS CORP.(Currently KONGO WORKS,MIKUMO WORKS,ENGINEERING PLASTICS WORKS.)
Exterior of Bear Kids Land Kuwana
and some of the children in its care (inset)
Diversity Awareness-raising Activities
We have provided employees with a diversity handbook to help them better understand diversity. All the domestic department heads have also received training on the issue of unconscious biases. The aim of this training was to teach participants how to recognize and control the unconscious biases (preconceptions and prejudices) that are universally present, enabling appropriate decisions and responses under a variety of conditions. Trainees took part in a practical exercise demonstrating how human judgments are influenced by appearance, along with a discussion on how diversity can be used to help an organization. These activities gave participants the chance to consider their own biases as a way to look at diversity from a personal perspective.
Hiring persons with disabilities and seniors
Employment rate of persons with disabilities
2.06%
Post-retirement rehiring rate
62%
Regarding the employment of persons with disabilities, we have established three "Dream Workshops" at Kuwana, Iwata and Okayama Works. This initiative, implemented in cooperation with special needs schools, provides a work environment in which persons with intellectual disabilities can fill an important role. We have achieved an employment rate of persons with disabilities of 2.06% in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018.
To help experienced workers teach young employees their knowledge and skills, we actively encourage the rehiring of retired seniors, attaining a 62% rehiring rate in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018.
Employees with intellectual disabilities
in a Dream Workshop
Initiatives for a fulfilling working life
We provide a variety of programs to enable each employee to fulfill their potential while combining their routine job duties with the demands of their private life such as marriage, childcare or long-term care.
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Marriage
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- ●Period of leave
- Employee’s own marriage: 7 days
Marriage of a dependent: 1 day
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Birth
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- ●Time off for antenatal medical appointments
- Up to 23rd week:One appointment every 4 weeks
24th to 35th week:One appointment every 2 weeks
36th week to birth:One appointment per week - ● Maternity leave
- The employee can take leave starting 6 weeks before the due date, and extending until 8 weeks after the birth.
- ● Leave for partner’s childbirth
- The employee can take two days of paid leave to attend their partner’s childbirth.
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Childcare
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- ● Childcare leave system
- The employee can take leave until their child reaches the age of 2 years, 1 month.
- ●Shortened working hours for childcare
- The employee can shorten their work time by up to 2 hours per day until March 31 of their child’s 3rd year of elementary school.
- ●Child nursing care leave
- Each employee can take up to 10 days of leave per year to care for an injured or sick child, or for having their child receive vaccinations or health cheackups.
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Long-term care
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- ●Long-term care leave
- The employee can take a total of up to 365 days of long-term care leave.
- ●Shortened working hours for long-term care
- The employee can shorten their work time by up to 2 hours per day for a maximum of 3 years, either by starting work later or ending work earlier.
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- ●NTN Job Return scheme
- A rehiring system for employees who left their jobs due to life events. Covers employees who leave work for reasons of marriage, childbirth, childcare and even long-term care.
Creating a secure workplace environment
Start of New HR Systems
In April 2018, we started new systems that let regular employees choose from among multiple career tracks. The new systems are designed to enable the hiring and training of the core workforce that drives the group’s sustained growth, while accommodating more diverse employee work styles and the work style needs of employees of various ages.
The systems are designed to let employees plan their careers by choosing how they want to work in the future, and to accommodate work styles tailored to personal needs such as childcare and long-term care. The changes enable all employees to reach their full potential while achieving a good balance between their job and private life.
Respect for human rights
Supporting and respecting the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights, and ensuring non-complicity in human rights abuses are the two human rights principles contained in the United Nations Global Compact that we have endorsed since 2015. We provide group employees with training in these principles to improve their awareness of them. We also use reporting systems such as our Helpline (whistle-blower system) to check on human rights violations.
Pleasant Workplace Environment
Occupational Safety and Health
■Activities for acquiring occupational safety and health standard certification (ISO 45001)
We are working on reducing the number of workplace incidents to zero, and have acquired Occupational Safety and Health Management System (OSHMS) certification at 9 business sites. Activities at our 15 uncertified subsidiaries also conform with OSHMS. ISO 45001 is the international standard for occupational safety and health, and was acquired by the Kuwana Works in January 2018. We are working on establishing safety management systems that meet global standards, and will progressively increase the number of certified business sites in the years ahead.
■Safety inspection activities
We have used past workplace incidents at business sites to set fixed standards, and subjected business sites to two external audits by other sites in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018. These audits proved their effectiveness when workplace incidents causing lost work time decreased from 5 in 2016 (an incident rate of 0.41) to 1 in 2017 (an incident rate of 0.08).
■Law-related training provided by safety and health consultants
To enforce compliance and improve our level of safety, 8 sessions of safety education and law-related training were provided by safety and health consultants.
■Hazard simulation education
To improve danger sensitivity, 95 safety classes were provided at a number of manufacturing sites using 3D virtual hazard simulators (‘VR machines’). VR machine content was augmented in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018 to increase engagement.
Occupational safety and health also has been a priority for our overseas business sites also, where hazard simulation centers called "SAFETY DOJO" have been set up.
SAFETY DOJO at NTN DRIVESHAFT ANDERSON,INC.
3D virtual hazard simulator
■Global safety system
Industrial accidents are handled as global risks by the Risk Management Committee, and require appropriate measures for prevention and minimization. We have created a management system, and are working on ways to share and disseminate accident reports from domestic and overseas business sites.
We have also started working on worldwide efforts to spread awareness of the importance of occupational safety and health. For example, the NTN PROUD AWARD gave the employees of NTN DRIVESHAFT ANDERSN, INC.(NDA) an opportunity to voluntarily present their work on raising workplace safety awareness. Improving occupational safety and health awareness will continue to be a focus in the years ahead.
NDA employees who participated in
the NTN PROUD AWARD
Employee health
■ Designated health checks
We are working on improving danger sensitivity by providing ongoing safety education using 3D virtual hazard simulators and education from workplace safety consultants. We also succeeded in reducing the number of workplace incidents causing lost work time in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018 by using past workplace incidents at business sites to set fixed standards and subjecting them to external audits by other business sites.
■Designated health guidance
In partnership with NTN’s health insurance society, we provide a program of designated health guidance for employees that are 40 or older with at least the predetermined number of findings/observations in their regular health check medical record. 48% of employees eligible for the program take advantage of it.
■Mental health
We also provide a wide range of mental health accommodations at opportunities such as induction training for new employees or when promoting managerial-level employees. These accommodations include mental health training, and occupational medical referrals for high-stress individuals identified by stress checks.
A standard structured diagnostic psychiatric interview called MINI (Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview) is also provided during regular employee health checks to help improve the workplace environment through early detection and treatment of depression.