Human Resources Development
Policies on human resources development
As needs of customer and demands of the society are changing and these changes have been dramatically accelerated, the company must respond to various changes by itself and continue to contribute to society. Human resource development is one of the most important management themes in order to realize the happiness of the employees who drive them and the sustainable growth of the company.
Under the vision of “Create an environment where each of employees learns and grows independently, lead them to resources (Kenkijin) who can create new values, challenge revolutions and contribute to society.”, aiming for 2030, we will continue to contribute to society by creating comfortable living space as “close and reliable partner anywhere on the earth best solutions through Kenkijin Spirit”, requirements provide Reliable solutions all over the world.
Training structure
Under the Company-wide Education Promotion Committee, which is chaired by the CEO, the Education Committee is an organization established in each department and is divided into” management”, “technology/skills”, “sales” and “services”. It promotes measures related to human resource development. In addition, it will also support the promotion of human resource development education for Group companies through their respective divisions.
We execute various education for future top leader programs for Hitachi Construction Machinery group employees all over the world to get the strong leadership in an era of reform through workshops and discussions.
Training system
Our educational system includes hierarchal and functional education courses as well as selective and optional training courses. (figure: Hierarchical education system)
Hierarchical education is to master the capabilities and mindset required for each job level from newly hired employees to management. The Career Development Div. provides this training to all employees requiring this training. For especially young employees, we provide various trainings to acquire core abilities for business person. (figure: Basic business training program)
Functional education is for mastering the functional capabilities required for development, production, sales, and service respectively.As for service specialist training, we have MSSP (Marketing Sales Support Program) as a program to strengthen sales agents, and for service technology, we have Hi-TEP (Hitachi Construction Machinery Technical Education Program), a certification program equipped with a training and certification system.
The various training programs are conducted at various facilities, including the Kasumigaura Institute and the Technical Training Center (under the Career Development Div.). The Kasumigaura Institute and Technical Training Center (under Service Education Dept.) are equipped with classrooms, practice areas and machineries for skills training and accommodation facilities (Kasumigaura Institute only). An extensive range of training from skills training for new employees to management training for executives is offered. Trainees from overseas are also accepted.
We have introduced e-learning because it makes it possible to acquire knowledge needed for group training and review curriculum after training. Starting from the middle of fiscal 2015, Hitachi Construction Machinery began employing Learning Management System (LMS). We are now gradually making this system available to group companies in Japan (started from 2018) and abroad. Independent agencies started using the service in 2019, and we are expanding the number of companies using it as needed.
Currently, LMS system is used not only for e-Learning but also for the management of courses, such as attending group training courses and providing guidance on holding such courses.
The system allows the head of a department to design a training plan for their subordinates and consider which programs the employee should take. This will enable more individualized training which focuses on key areas. We believe this will improve the motivation of each employee and facilitate the execution of a more accurate training program.
We are going to foster our employees who will act with the same values as Kenkijin. We hope that these Kenkijin over the world will contribute to the customers around the world as reliable partners by providing proposals and services one step ahead based on their outstanding technological capabilities.
＜Training example＞
Group Global Workshop-Ability to Execute Essentials Program
With the purpose of "creating an organizational culture to survive the era of change," we have implemented the Ability to Execute Essentials Program for all Group employees worldwide, a workshop for all Group global employees to create a common culture that serves as the foundation for improving business performance and organizational health.
This workshop is an overview of the basic strengths of businesses shared by HCM Group and aims to acquire the skills and mindset to overcome goals. The workshop consists of five programs (16 topics) to provide the basic necessary skills for business execution
Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. held 105 sessions (including 39 on-line sessions) from April 2019 to June 2021 for Assistant Manager, and above, including executives. The rate of attendance at these sessions was 96.4%.
Hitachi Construction Machinery has expanded this program to younger employees, domestic group companies, and overseas group companies. By the end of March 2024, 5,990 Assistant Manager and above employees (including 1,610 from overseas Group companies) had taken part this program. Currently, we are developing the session and focus on overseas group companies.
Digital human resource development
To respond to rapid technological innovation and implement management strategies, we are working for develop digital human resources and improve literacy.
In Japan, from FY2022 to the end of FY2023 was a period to strengthen digital human resource development, and in addition to conducting training on digital literacy, we also implemented a program to develop digital promotion leaders through practice by forming teams in the business and DX departments, bringing the total number of participants to 1,152.
In addition to these programs, in fiscal 2024 we launched a program to train Project managers and data scientists to promote the development of digital-skilled human resources that are required across all divisions.
Sales and service training program
In the area of Sales training, Marketing Sales Support Program (MSSP) was launched in 2013 for sales dealers in various regions as a training program to strengthen sales dealers, who are responsible for sales at the forefront.
In the area of service technology, we are developing Hi-TEP (Hitachi Construction Machinery Technical Education Program) for dealers in various regions, as well as training for service staff with the purpose of improving the technical capabilities of mechanics and achieving a uniform level of service quality. As of the end of March 2024, 2,336 employees from 63 dealers in 30 countries around the world have been certified under this system and are providing daily services. (1571 service Technicians, 629 Repair Technicians, 4 Pro-technicians, and 132 Instructors)
Business contest
In fiscal 2022, we launched KENKI β USINESS CHALLENGE (KβC), a business contest for domestic HCM Group. And in fiscal 2023, we launched the second in order to cultivate a culture in which employees seek to discover a broad range of "business seeds" and "human resources who are willing to promote commercialization" and cultivate a culture in which challenges can be appreciated by incorporating new challenges.
The KβC and KβC-development programs are held extensively for approximately 9,000 employees (including direct employees) of HCM Group in Japan.
In fiscal 2023, 5,904 employees (including 2,811 from group companies) participated the HCM Group training program, 2,000 more than the previous year.
Referring to the questionnaire from the previous year, we had the same new value creation workshops same as in the previous year, we also held new workshops to create new business ideas from scratch.
The results of the questionnaire for the participants were very highly evaluated, with overall training: full score of 7.3/10, new value creation workshop: full score of 8.6/10, workshop to create ideas from scratch: full score of 7.6/10.
After entry, you can brush up your business proposal while learning business development skills under the guidance of workshops and mentoring by commercialization professionals.
Nine teams passed the first business contest spent half a year verifying issues by allocating part of their work time and budgets to realize the business proposal. Among them, five teams that passed further screening are dedicated and are currently working to commercialize their ideas.
Through this business contest, we were able to increase the number of human resources who can autonomously promote new businesses and new things throughout the company. In addition, through exchanges during the brush-up period, we created networking opportunities among employees who are highly motivated to take on challenges beyond the boundaries of their companies and departments, leading to the revitalization of human resources, including those at Group companies.
In fiscal 2024, approximately 20 teams will take on the challenge of the final screening to be held in July, and new challengers will aim to launch new businesses that will support the HCM Group in the future.
Data on human resource development
Average hours of training per employee, amount invested in training
※1 Excluding labor cost.
※2 E-learning has been actively utilized since FY2019.
