Human Resources Strategy

Through the practice of human capital management, our Group believes that fostering an organizational culture that works to resolve various societal issues, boost economic value as well as environmental and social value, and developing a diverse and motivated workforce, will lead to ”Prosperous human development.” This is also positioned as a key measure of ESG management in the Medium-term Management Plan ”DRIVE NTN100” Final, focusing on two pillars: ”securing and developing human resources” and ”fostering organizational culture.”

Securing and developing human resources through two-way communication

Our main measures for securing and developing human resource are ”achieving independent growth and career autonomy” and ”enhancing the technical capabilities required to achieve the management strategy.”
Each employee identifies their own abilities and experience and proactively envisions their future. At the same time, the company clearly defines the human resources required by each business and team and through continuous two-way communication, accurately understands the intentions of employees and provides opportunities and resources that can encourage challenge and autonomy while maximizing their individuality and personal strengths. Employees will harness these opportunities to grow further. We believe this cycle is vital.
For example, the personnel system for managers has been changed from a conventional system based on ”human” criteria to one based on ”work” criteria. We have also introduced expert courses to improve specialized capabilities and programs that empower employees to vie for positions such as Director and Manager, which promotes proactive behavior from employees, increases motivation, and promotes organizational vibrancy. While we have received positive feedback from employees, we will continue to flexibly incorporate a range of views to encourage challenge and autonomy.
In graduate recruitment, we are promoting measures such as enriching opportunities to interact with students through internships and work experience, and partially introducing a scheme that conduct matching and guaranteeing of initial assignment job categories at the time of hiring selection. In recent years, there has been a trend through the media of students showing high interest in corporate human resources systems and studying this area deeply. Based on this premise, our recruitment staff continue their sincere and careful work while remaining open to a range of views. Listening to our new hires and prospective employees many have clear reasons for choosing our company, and we believe it is most important to continue to carefully engage with those who have knocked on our door.

Toward an organizational culture that sees challenges through and transforms mindsets

Our specific measures for ”fostering organizational culture” are ”transformation to a workplace of daring and mission” and ”mindset transformation based on the NTN SPIRIT.”
While having a foundation that encourages initiative and the presence of colleagues who boldly take on challenges is one of our company’s strong suits, we believe that an attitude of following through any challenges to the end and mindset transformation based on the NTN SPIRIT are further required.
For example, under the personnel system for managers, we are increasing the dialogue between managers and their team members regarding the setting of challenge goals, progress toward goals, and evaluation, while establishing a system that links company performance with individual performance evaluation and a remuneration system linked to company performance.
We also utilize the results of employee engagement surveys to conduct voluntary improvement activities at each workplace and share successful examples. Through these steady daily efforts, we strive to improve engagement.

Aiming to be a corporate group where diverse employees can ”grow” and ”work enthusiastically” through our business activities

NTN Group has established in its long-term vision toward FY2035 of ”enhancing our corporate value by working together with all stakeholders to increase our economic, environmental, and social value, aiming to be a company that is trusted and needed.”
For this purpose, we believe it is important that diverse employees can ”grow” and ”work enthusiastically” through our business activities, inspiring those around them in their own way and triggering positive chemical reactions. We will continue to accelerate our efforts to achieve our vision as soon as possible.

NTN Group has established “Prosperous human development” as an ESG issue. We will cultivate a corporate culture that enables our employees to “grow” and “work enthusiastically” through our business activities, and we will sustainably increase our corporate value by developing our personnel systems and working environments to maximize and grow the value of our human capital. This is the practice of “human capital management,” through which we intend to achieve “Prosperous human development” by fostering an organizational culture that works to resolve various societal issues and improve our economic, environmental and social value, as well as by nurturing a diverse workforce that is motivated and satisfied by their work.
The strategy for achieving “Prosperous human development” consists of five pillars: “Securing human resources who will lead the next generation to take on the challenge of transformation,” “Creating a rewarding environment that respects the diversity of employees,” “Fostering a culture of learning and development in the workplace,” “Realizing a workplace where employees can work safely and healthily in an environment enabling innovative thinking” and “Respect for human rights.”
As specific actions, we will support the change as intended by the “accelerated transformation to the business structure” policy under the Medium-term Management Plan. In order to achieve the optimal vision of the Group, the priorities of the human resources strategy have been developed from either the perspective of “Securing and developing human resources” or “Fostering organizational culture.” The priorities are “Enhancing the technical capabilities required to achieve the management strategy,” “Developing management talent to lead the Group,” “Achieving independent growth and career autonomy,” “Diversity, equity and inclusion,” “Transformation to a workplace of daring and mission” and “Mindset transformation based on the NTN SPIRIT,” and we are progressing work on each priority.

Enhancing the technical capabilities required to achieve the management strategy

To transform our business structure (business portfolio transformation), drastic and proactive initiatives are vital, as are bold moves into new markets, so the organizational capabilities and human resources required to achieve the strategy are also changing. If we are to fulfill the Medium-term Management Plan policy of transforming the business structure and the strategy to achieve this, it is important to secure the necessary organizational capabilities. This is ongoing, with capacity building, assigning the right people to the right posts, and strengthening the recruiting structure, combined with securing more diverse external personnel.

Expert course

In April 2024, we revised the personnel system for managers and introduced a course classification system according to position, specialization, and working style. As one of these, we established an expert course (specialized course) to enable employees who develop expertise in specific fields and areas to excel individually, and currently 8 employees belong to this course. Course changes to the expert course incorporate a voluntary application system, drawing out proactive actions and willingness to challenge new areas for employees to acquire advanced expertise.

Job-specific hiring (Initial Assignment Placement Guaranteed Hiring)

Expansion of mid-career recruitment

We implement a new graduate hiring scheme as a means of regular talent acquisition to secure diverse personnel who will support future business foundations in a stable manner, aiming for ”Prosperous human development” toward realizing a ”NAMERAKA Society.”
On the other hand, amid increasing mobility of personnel, we are also actively conducting acquisition of external personnel through mid-career recruitment. Mid-career recruitment not only serves to secure immediately effective personnel but also contributes to organizational culture vitalization and innovation creation, and we believe it significantly contributes to sustainable corporate growth and promotion of diversity within the organization.
In addition to strategic personnel placement for business expansion and strengthening departments, we are advancing the securing and promotion of highly specialized personnel who possess incredibly difficult qualifications and technical skills. By recruiting individuals with advanced knowledge and practical experience from various industries and job categories, we expect to bring new perspectives and values, which go beyond the conventional frameworks for our organization. These efforts are expected to further enhance and evolve our business operations. Additionally, we have adopted diverse hiring approaches—such as alumni recruitment (^※) and employee referrals—to broaden our talent acquisition channels.
(※) NTN refers to alumni hiring as “welcome back hiring.”

Development of DX human resources

To develop business personnel capable of utilizing digital technologies at NTN, we have launched AI and data literacy courses to enhance the digital skills of all employees. We are expanding the base of employees who can utilize digital literacy such as AI literacy and data analysis, and improving their skill levels. Additionally, to develop digital experts who can drive efficiency through digital technologies and advanced digital experts who can lead transformation using cutting-edge digital technologies, we are conducting specialized education in various departments such as the ICT Strategy Department, Production Engineering HQ, and CAE R&D Center. We are promoting digital literacy improvement for employees at all levels throughout the company to support digital transformation.

Developing management talent to lead the Group

In order to achieve our management plan in such uncertain times, it is vital that NTN Group methodically develop managers who can lead us forward. In addition to forming a talent pool of leadership candidates who can achieve results, with the top executive and the Personnel Department joining forces to develop these leaders, we are pursuing manager development from a long-term perspective by running a managerial development program for managers, including young business leaders.

NTN’s human resource development system

To foster a culture of learning and development in the workplace, our programs develop personnel who ”can think and act by themselves” among all ranks. To achieve growth in our businesses for the next 100 years, it is vital for us to train staff who can work successfully not only in Japan but also overseas. To develop global professionals, NTN provides training conducted entirely in English (Global Business Skill Training) for young employees, runs overseas exchange programs as well as a scholarship system. We also strive to increase the awareness, knowledge, and competence of all employees by providing enriching corporate and technical seminars through in-house e-learning. We have also introduced a program for improving business skills in which younger employees can voluntarily take part. In terms of systems, we have established an in-house recruitment system to promote employee career autonomy and have been engaged in capacity building according to the skills and career plans of individual employees. For management-level employees, we implement not only programs for newly appointed managers, but also evaluator training aimed at improving evaluation capabilities and leadership skills for subordinates, targeting managers with a certain number of years of experience or more, as well as training (NTN Next Leader Program) aimed at identifying and developing the next generation of managers.

■Training system

Development of business leaders

In addition to our existing training for managers, we offer the NTN Next Leader Program (basic course/intermediate course) for young managers with the aim of broadening the field of candidates for next-generation management, able to make decisions on management issues from a long-term perspective.
The curriculum is designed to impart the thinking and knowledge required for management in a systematic way, with a focus in the basic course, which is only available to selected personnel, on “reinterpreting from the managerial viewpoint and taking a wider view.” The intermediate course is focused on “developing the capacity for strategic planning and organizational reform in the long term.”
Harnessing everything learned since the start of the basic course, issues are identified from all departments, change proposals summarized and opportunities provided for course participants to present these to management. We have also introduced a succession plan through selection of executive officer candidates. These measures enable us to find management candidates at an early stage and develop them in a planned manner.

Achieving independent growth and career autonomy

Through growth based on independent career plans and career development, and by supporting employees to fulfill their career plans, we can achieve sustained growth of both our employees and the organization.

Career support system

NTN Group is developing and constructing a career development and support system to provide opportunities for employees to independently evaluate their careers over the medium- to long-term, based on current economic and social conditions. ”Career Plan (CP) training” is for employees to consider their own careers and is provided to staff of all ages across a broad range of age groups. By promoting increased staff engagement and motivation, the organization is revitalized, turnover reduced, and performance enhanced, leading to sustainable growth of the company. In addition, career counseling is provided to support career plan training, and career support training is also being implemented for both employees and managers, improving relationships between staff and managers, and helping subordinates to better reconsider their current roles. Furthermore, a future-oriented JR (job rotation) program will be connected. In the future, a Group-wide career support system will be established to achieve the continuous growth of both employees and the company.

Post Challenge Program

From April 2024, we have been running the Post Challenge Program, which recruits employees who want to challenge themselves for positions such as section manager and department manager. This system aims to provide employees with opportunities to choose their desired career and workplace, increase employee motivation, and promote organizational revitalization. In fiscal year 2024, five employees utilized this system and took on new career challenges. In the future, we will enhance opportunities for employees to think about their careers and systems to realize their desired careers, which will lead to the growth of our employees and the organization.

Expansion of internships and work experience

NTN offers students practical internships and work experience.
Through this program, students can gain first-hand experience of working methods in the manufacturing industry by working in various departments, such as bearing design and development, and sales. In technical areas, students experience research and development for new products for automotive and industrial machinery, design development, quality assurance operations, and other activities. In administrative areas, students experience simulated sales negotiations for sales positions, marketing strategy formulation for sales planning positions, production schedule planning for production management, and other activities. They learn the importance of achieving targets by consolidating opinions as a team while receiving support from senior employees. We also implement practical experience programs in highly specialized business areas such as finance, accounting, and IT. Through these programs, students can experience how personnel with specialized knowledge can be active in Japanese global manufacturers. Feedback sessions with instructors and interaction with employees give students a taste of working at NTN and experiencing the workplace atmosphere.
By gaining direct experience of NTN’s business activities, students can acquire practical knowledge that cannot be obtained through classroom learning alone. Additionally, through feedback from instructors and self-analysis, students can identify their strengths and areas for improvement, and clarify their career vision, with this expected to lead to the cultivation of high professional consciousness and realization of career vision. As a company, we also aim to incorporate students’ new perspectives into our business activities and grow together through these initiatives.

■Internship scenes

Diversity, equity and inclusion

We are working toward ”Creating a rewarding environment that respects the diversity of employees” in which every individual can express their talents to the greatest extent possible. This is because our organization is made up of people with diverse specialties and experience and by turning those differences into a strength, taking on diverse perspectives and theories, we can realize innovation and new value creation on a daily basis.

Diversity, equity and inclusion

We are working toward “creating a rewarding environment that respects the diversity of employees” in which every individual can express their talents to the greatest extent possible. This is because our organization is made up people with diverse technical specialties and experience and by turning those differences into a strength, taking on diverse perspectives and theories, we can realize innovation and new value creation on a daily basis.
As a specific initiative, in order to recruit people with diverse technical specialties and experience, we are expanding our mid-career hiring. The ratio of mid-career hires was 6.7% in FY2021, growing to 21.3% in FY2023.
In future, mid-career recruitment will expand further. We will develop the conditions and the system for proactive hiring to responsible posts in Japan and abroad. We are working to create an environment where the characteristics and values of each employee are recognized and respected, where each employee can be adventurous and display the full extent of their talent.

Promote diverse work styles

Realize diverse work styles

We have introduced remote work systems and flextime systems to expand flexibility in working hours and locations, creating an environment where diverse employees can thrive. For example, to ensure that childcare and nursing care do not hinder career advancement, we have created handbooks that clearly explain childcare and nursing care leave systems, and inform employees about these systems. Furthermore, we have established a WLB (Work-Life Balance) course that allows even managers to apply for shortened working hours and flextime systems so they can balance their management duties with childcare and nursing care.
These efforts are not limited to current employees; we have also introduced the NTN Job Return system, which allows employees who have left their jobs due to marriage, childbirth, fertility treatment, nursing care, career advancement, or other reasons to return to work, creating an environment where they can utilize the experience, knowledge, and know-how they have developed during their tenure with the company or after leaving.
We will continue to create a workplace where employees can fully demonstrate their abilities and realize diverse work styles.

Support for balancing work and nursing care

With the expected increase in the number of employees caring for family members, we recognize that improving each employee’s nursing care literacy is important in advancing our goal of ”Creating a rewarding work environment that respects the diversity of employees.” At our company, we have conducted ”Nursing Care Literacy Improvement Seminars” for all managers who are in positions to support their subordinates as supervisors, and have published the ”Handbook for Supporting Employees in Balancing Work and Nursing Care,” which outlines the attitude toward nursing care and available systems, promoting activities to foster understanding of employees who provide care.

Support for balancing work and childcare

Our Company has been recognized for its high-level initiatives in supporting employees’ childcare and received a ”Platinum Kurumin” certification in October 2022.
For employees in childcare, irrespective of their gender, we distribute a maternity/childcare leave handbook that summarizes laws and in-house systems related to childcare, from detection of pregnancy to maternity leave, childcare leave, and reinstatement, to make those systems known within the company. As a program for managers, we distribute a childcare support book designed for managers to deepen their understanding of childbirth and childcare and maintain an environment in which employees facing childbirth and childcare can demonstrate their maximum performance. In addition, we provide a childcare boss handbook designed for managers to develop an environment in which diverse human resources, such as those in child and other family care, can work sufficiently successfully and raise awareness for helping subordinates balance work and private life.
Furthermore, to promote male employees’ uptake of childcare leave, we are advancing initiatives to deepen understanding of systems that support childcare throughout the workplace, including implementing e-learning on childcare leave systems and distributing ”Work-Childcare Balance Handbooks.”
Through these initiatives, the childcare leave uptake rate for male employees in fiscal year 2024 increased from 62.9% in the previous year to 73.0%.

Promote active participation of senior employees

To utilize the careers of experienced employees reaching retirement age, we have improved the working environment and reviewed their treatment to lead to their increased motivation.
We also hold career training for employees in their late 50s before retirement, leading to their self-selection and self-determination regarding their desired way of life and work.
After retirement, we comprehensively consider their past careers, skills, workplaces, and other factors to enable their continued employment at all domestic Group companies. Under this system, the re-employment rate after retirement was 85.8% of all those who reached retirement age in fiscal year 2024, maintaining a high re-employment rate for the second consecutive year.

Promote employment of people with disabilities

As part of our efforts to create a diverse organization in which everyone can thrive, we are actively promoting the employment of persons with disabilities. They collaborate at various manufacturing sites and indirect divisions to make the most of their unique talents. In addition, ”Yume Kobo (Dream factory),” dedicated workplaces in Kuwana, Iwata, and Okayama have been established as places where people with disabilities can play a leading role. Yume Kobo (Dream factory) is working to create a safe and comfortable working environment for persons with disabilities by promoting them with barrier-free access. The employment rate of persons with disabilities reached 2.50% (as of fiscal year 2024) through active recruitment and retention measures.

Promotion of global personnel activities

International student hiring

NTN seeks individuals who ”think and act by themselves.” We recognize that foreign personnel who have chosen to study and conduct research in Japan as international students possess the motivation and action capability to boldly enter new worlds and carve out their own paths, so we actively hire them. After joining the company, they are active domestically and internationally in a wide range of fields, utilizing their knowledge and expertise in mechanical, electrical and electronic, software, information, finance and accounting, and other areas. NTN implements Japanese language education and training for each assigned department so that foreign employees can grow sustainably, and we promote initiatives so that everyone can “work enthusiastically.”
By regularly recruiting foreign personnel with diverse backgrounds and supporting their activities, we contribute to NTN’s growth.

Transformation to a workplace of daring and mission

Under difficult conditions, maintaining or improving our competitive advantage requires the creation of even more unique value. Rather than resting on the laurels of past successes or relying on precedent, we believe it is vital to create a workplace culture that empowers a brave attitude informed by constant new ideas.

Fair evaluation and treatment

We have renewed the target management system for managers and set challenge targets with the purpose of improving willingness to challenge and drawing out proactive actions. We are also building systems that lead to fair evaluation and treatment based on each person’s actions and results, such as institutionalizing timely follow-up to understand goal achievement status and consider future action plans. In the future, we will become an organization that rewards daring and initiative to motivate employees by enriching measures that enable challenges and establishing new target management systems, evaluation systems, and mechanisms for managing company performance and performance evaluation.

NTN PROUD AWARD

In 2022, we established an internal award system called the ”NTN PROUD AWARD” that honors employees’ ESG activities for all global employees of our Group.
In this system, each team applies for activities that connect daily work with materiality, and from among those applications, two excellent cases—an Excellence Award and a Special Award—are selected in each of the six global regions (Americas, Europe, China, ASEAN, India, and Japan). The winning teams then make presentations at the global competition where the President’s Award is decided. The President’s Award-winning team is also invited to and recognized at the Global Management Conference where management executives from our Group worldwide gather.
Through this system, we encourage each employee’s ESG activities and promote challenges toward solving social issues.

QC Circle

NTN’s QC Circle activities are part of human resource development. To realize the ”NAMERAKA Society” that the entire company aims for, we conduct quality improvement and improvement activities by setting themes on a circle basis to achieve ”Prosperous human development” and ”Fostering a culture of learning and development in the workplace.” Through these activities, we connect individual and organizational growth to product quality improvement.
To support these activities, we promote participation in ”Instructor Qualification Acquisition Courses” and ”New Circle Leader Training.” Additionally, we hold a Global QC Circle Convention and a Domestic QC Circle Convention as opportunities to present daily activities to the entire company, supporting quality improvement, improvement activity promotion, and human resource development through Circle activities worldwide.

Mindset transformation based on the NTN SPIRIT

To achieve the long-term strategy, we have to lure exceptional talent, and for this, fostering a company culture of strong engagement is very important. By sharing “the NTN SPIRIT” with all employees that clearly states the mindset and actions to be pursued, the vision for the company, and what it exists for, employees can find more meaning in their work. This increases the number of employees thinking for themselves and taking initiative. Creating serious attempts for transformation in this way will not only lead to increased corporate value, but also the growth of employees, a sense of unity in the organization, and lead to increased engagement.

Workplace development for increasing employee engagement

Implementation of employee engagement survey

Since fiscal year 2021, we have conducted employee engagement surveys biennially to monitor the situation of employees and the workplace and identify any issues to promote activities that improve the workplace and personnel measures. After conducting surveys, we engage in workplace improvement activities where we conduct dialogue at each workplace based on survey results, formulate improvement actions, and implement them. We work on engagement improvement company-wide, including horizontal expansion of good examples of workplace improvement activities practiced at each workplace.

Town hall meetings

We continue to conduct town hall meetings with the purpose of deepening communication between employees and management. In fiscal year 2024, over 2,000 employees participated in domestic (26 sites) and overseas (33 sites) meetings respectively, where the President and Executive Officers explained the company’s desired direction and what to focus on, deepening communication. Through activities such as ongoing dialogue with employees in regular town hall meetings, we will continue to boost motivation and engagement by ensuring our corporate philosophy reaches all corners of the company so that employees feel proud to work for NTN.

The indicators and targets for priority initiatives toward realizing the Medium-term Management Plan are as follows.

■List of indicators and targets

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