Securing & Developing Human Resources

Basic Policy

Securing Human Resources

Outline of Recruiting Activities

“Believing in people” embodies our approach to human resources development, one the company has valued since its founding. We support ambitions to venture into new fields, prioritizing above all else confidence in the future and the determination to think, learn and act on one’s own initiative. To recruit human resources, we carry out the following types of activities, hoping to encounter diverse talent.

New Graduate Recruitment (Management Track/General Track)

New graduate recruitment targets students expected to graduate from high school, colleges of technology, university or graduate school. We hire new graduates as global management track employees and non-transfer general track employees.

Mid-Career Recruitment

Mid-career recruitment targets people already in work with business experience. Whenever the company ventures into a new business domain, expertise needs to be brought in from outside. We actively hire people with experience in new domains.

Recruitment of Foreign Personnel (International Associates Program)

The International Associates Program (IAP) is one way we promote hiring of foreign personnel. Under the program, recently graduated foreign nationals come to work in an office in Japan for two years. Dating back more than three decades, the IAP has seen nearly 100 participants hired to date from countries all over the world. Many participants stay on to work for the Alps Alpine Group even after completion of the program. Three people joined the program in fiscal 2023.

Recruitment of People with Disabilities

We also conduct activities with a view to recruiting people with disabilities. We have formed a project team to bolster recruitment of people with disabilities, for example by expanding employment opportunities, accepting applicants for work experience and collaborating with outside support organizations.

Securing Human Resources for Business Growth

Hiring Women as Engineers

From a perspective of securing human resources for the medium to long term and finding diverse human resources, we are strengthening our efforts to recruit recently graduated women as engineers. One initiative has been the holding of career workshops for female science students. At these workshops, we explained our in-house efforts to support work-life balance and held a roundtable discussion with women engineers.

Securing Key Production Engineering Personnel

Production engineering personnel help maintain a stable manufacturing framework through the development of production equipment and other facilities. Jobseekers, however, say it is hard to envisage what a production engineer does. To raise the fulfillment rate for production engineering positions, we are working to familiarize students wanting to be engineers with the job by making information sessions more substantial, including with workplace visits.

Internal Job Posting System Expansion

Alps Alpine places importance on eliciting the best from employees in terms of both motivation and ability. For that reason, we have introduced an internal job posting system to promote the creation of workplaces allowing employees to take on new challenges and the movement of human resources across organizational boundaries into positions best suited to them.
This system is used particularly for new projects, such as the project that organized an event for students as a way of promoting hiring of women engineers. In fiscal 2023, 15 employees were selected for projects or moved to new workplaces through the job posting system.
In fiscal 2024, we also commenced job posting directed at rehired employees and employees with managerial experience. We will continue to expand opportunities for employees from diverse backgrounds to test their potential and achieve further growth.

Retention and Development of Human Resources

Training and assistance is provided at different stages to support the growth and development of new employees.

Retention and Development of New and Junior Employees

New Employee Training

New employee training imparts knowledge essential to everyone joining the company. The training covers the transition from student to working life, basic company training, and the different job types and operations, and is delivered through lectures and group exercises.
With the aim of enhancing development of software-related human resources, we incorporate e-learning-based software training. Participants have an opportunity to demonstrate what they learn in the second half of the training period.

Pulse Surveys

Simple employee attitude surveys (pulse surveys) are conducted once a month to aid the retention of new employees. By ascertaining levels of job satisfaction and mental health on a regular basis and quickly following up to address the issues of each person, we help to prevent mental health problems and early job departure.

Manufacturing Training

As a company that manufactures products, new employees undergo one month of manufacturing training in an actual manufacturing operation. The objective is to have new employees think for themselves, looking out for wastefulness in frontline operations and considering ways to produce more efficiently, before applying that experience and know-how in their respective roles.

Third-Year Training

This is training for employees reaching the end of their initial phase of employment in their third year. Employees learn what is expected of them after having reached their third year and they review their own weaknesses and strengths based on a questionnaire completed in advance by colleagues. It gets them thinking about how to proceed going forward, including their career options.
During the training, participants prepare an action plan that they will consciously seek to implement back in the workplace. Drawing on not only their own ideas, but also conversations with one another, the plan takes participants a step closer to achieving expected improvements in role behavior.

Developing Human Resources Through Training

Alps Alpine provides a variety of training programs to assist employees along their envisioned career paths.
We strive to foster a corporate culture where employees keep growing through learning – each person augmenting their skills and expanding their knowledge. In addition to essential level-specific training adapted to the individual’s career stage, teaching them business and management skills, we offer elective training for those with an interest in a particular area, and engineer training for the purpose of raising the basic engineering capability of engineers.

Education and Training Framework（Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.）

Development of Management Personnel

Practicing and Promoting Dialogue-Based Management

Dialogue and mutual understanding among senior executives, managers and employees are vital for bringing out the strengths of diverse and autonomous individuals, allowing us to achieve the best possible results as an organization along with sustainable corporate growth. New manager and new senior manager training is provided to employees taking up additional managerial responsibility to strengthen their understanding of the role and their management abilities. Newly appointed managers also get to better acquaint themselves with the philosophy of founder Katsutaro Kataoka and Alps Alpine culture through a visit to the Alps Alpine Culture Museum “Shoshikan” housed inside the founder’s former private residence.
In fiscal 2023, training for the purpose of communicating roles and expectations was extended to assistant managers, who are leaders in the workplace and represent the company’s core. Our aim is to have management personnel interact closely with each employee and push them to challenge themselves.

Expansion of Human Resources for New Business Creation

Initiatives to Expand Horizons and Raise Awareness of Career-related Issues

Human Resources Development by Functional Headquarters

Engineering Headquarters

A diverse range of courses covering introductory, basic, applied and specialized content are provided to match the skill level of the engineer. In fiscal 2023, a total 3,040 employees sat 208 courses. With a view to developing highly specialized human resources in the software domain, a variety of educational opportunities are provided through open innovation. They include an artificial intelligence and data science course run in collaboration with Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo)and the acquisition of advanced development methods, such as model-based development.

Production Headquarters

Training relevant to career development is provided mainly to employees in their fifth year of service with the company currently working in a manufacturing setting. Helping junior employees feel invigorated in their jobs, with the ability to perceive their own progress, leads to higher employee engagement. For assistant managers and supervisors in manufacturing operations, we run self-development programs intended to enhance leadership and management skills.

Sales & Marketing Headquarters

“Sales University” seminars are regularly held to improve employees’ sales skills and knowledge of products. Additional training is provided for individuals identified as the next generation of managers and is intended to deepen their marketing knowledge and give them the advanced skills and mindset essential for business promotion. This training combines theory-based learning with on-the-job practice. Executive officers participate as mentors.

Initiatives to Build a Global Human Capital Utilization Infrastructure

To respond quickly to the unique business environment and customer demands in each region of the world, we are transitioning to a regional headquarters system in which management authority and discretion are transferred to regional headquarters and local subsidiaries. Since it is essential for such a management system to continuously secure and develop human resources to lead the regional control companies and local subsidiaries, we are checking the list of candidate executive personnel and their training status at each local subsidiary. We are also promoting the visualization of global human capital information, creating opportunities for human capital development, and assigning duties and roles across countries and local subsidiaries.

• Securing & Developing Human Resources
• Promotion of Job Satisfaction
• Workplace Environment, Health & Safety
• Respect for Human Rights
• Diversity & Inclusion