Human Resource Development

HITOWA Holdings was recognized as a 2024 Certified Health & Productivity Management Outstanding Organization (SME category) under the Certified Health & Productivity Management Outstanding Organizations Recognition Program for the fourth consecutive year. The HITOWA Group is continuously working to improve its workplace environments to ensure that every employee is able to enjoy both physical and mental health, and feel excited and motivated in their work.

In the HITOWA Group, it is important that our employees respect and make the best use of each other's diversity as we provide comprehensive lifestyle support to meet the diverse needs of our customers. Based on this concept, we are accelerating our efforts to promote diversity through measures such as providing support for the promotion of female employee (with 37.3% of our management positions held by women in fiscal year 2022) and formulating regulations regarding addressing LGBTQ issues.

The HITOWA Group is promoting flexible work styles through measures such as our work-from-home system and flex time system, primarily for our head office departments. By doing so, we are striving to enable each of our employees to achieve work-life balance and to create comfortable working environments.

The HITOWA Group aims to provide "high levels of satisfaction and moving experiences" to customers under our corporate philosophy. Each employee adheres our principles and puts them into practice every day. We present awards and hold contests, with the aim of promoting and recognizing actions and initiatives that serve as best practices for other employees.

HITOWA Group

• Photo Story Contest

We solicit photographs and stories that embody our corporate philosophy and principles, from all employees. The winners are selected by a team of judges that consists of senior executives and employee representatives. On HITOWA Day, the winning works are announced, providing an opportunity to deepen mutual understanding between Group companies and to think about the Group's future.

• HITOWA STORIES

Sharing the stories of employees that embody HITOWA's principles, both inside and outside the Group
https://www.hitowa.com/stories/

HITOWA Life Partner

Once each year, HTIOWA Life Partner, a group company in the HITOWA Group, holds a General Meeting of Employees, where awards are presented such as the Long Service Award, the Newcomer's Award, and the Department Excellence Award. In addition, they also present unique awards such as the Thank You Award.

HITOWA Care Service

Once each year, at Irise, a nationwide chain of nursing care facilities run by HITOWA Care Service, a group company in the HITOWA Group, they hold "IRISE PRIDE," a General Meeting of Employees where best practices at nursing care sites are shared and commended. In the past, they have also held H1 Grand Prix contests among Irise facilities nationwide.

HITOWA Food Service

Once each year, HITOWA Food Service, a group company in the HITOWA Group, holds a General Meeting of Chiefs, which is attended by chiefs from business sites nationwide. Awards are presented to outstanding business sites, and there are also Outstanding AP Awards for part-time employees.
They also hold irregularly scheduled contests within the company, such as a recipe contest and a "make customers smile contest," where employees submit ideas to delight customers beyond food services.

We understand that thorough compliance with laws and regulations regarding labor and information management is vital to our ability to continue living up to the promises we have made to our customers. We conduct compliance education for all of our Group employees, distribute awareness-raising cards, and have formulated compliance guidelines. Furthermore, we use a compliance hotline to prevent problems from occurring and to help solve problems that do occur.

In fiscal year 2022, the ratio of men to women in our new hires was roughly 1:3, and the percentage of women that we hire is rising year by year. We are also actively hiring foreign national employees. As of September 2022, foreign national employees account for 1.3% of all employees.

In conjunction with the rapid growth of our business, we are hiring people from various industries and businesses with the ability to perform specialized work in each of our businesses. Mid-career hires accounted for 91% of all of our hires in fiscal year 2022.

We are carrying out the following measures to enable our mid-career hires to become rapidly assimilated into our organization and achieve high levels of performance (individual measures vary by Group company).

Initial orientation

Through this day-long orientation session, new hires learn about our operational infrastructure, processes, and other information they will need to work in the HITOWA Group.

90 day plan

New hires and their supervisors set goals for one, two, and three months after their hire, develop plans for achieving these goals, and put these plans into practice. HR department also tracks their progress toward these goals.

The HITOWA Campus program provides unique learning opportunities with the concept of providing all employees with learning opportunities. Through regularly-held online seminars as well as e-learning that can be viewed at any time, all employees are able to proactively acquire the skills and develop the abilities that are necessary for their work.

HITOWA Care Service is dedicated to developing employees so that it can provide an even higher level of nursing care service（https://career.hitowa.com/kaigo/about/training(in Japanese only)）。he most notable feature is their support system, which enables employees to acquire certifications while working. After joining the company, employees can undergo Nursing Care Practitioner Training for Junior Staff at HITOWA Academy, our in-house training organization, while deepening their understanding of work at nursing care facilities through their dairy duties. Through their ongoing studies and three years of field experience, they can aim to receive national Certified Care Worker certification. In fiscal year 2022, our internal workshop for certification preparation course achieved a pass rate of 88.5% (compared to the general pass rate of 72.3%).
There is also an expense subsidy for the cost of training when care support specialists renew their certifications. This type of financial assistance ensures employees working with peace of mind and maintaining their continuous employment.
In 2023, in collaboration with Social Welfare Corporation Zenkoukai and the Zenkou Research Institute, we launched HITOWA CARE-REVO ACADEMY to develop the next generation of nursing care human capital. This academy has started developing Smart Caregivers, which demonstrates their dedication to nursing care DX.

HITOWA Kids Life has created a career development foundation by which employees gain knowledge and experience through their daily operations, as well as Off-JT training, advancing from general staff to childcare leaders, chiefs, and finally nursery school directors.

In order to fulfill its responsibility to provide customers with safe and secure meals, HITOWA Food Service not only provides level-specific training, but also thoroughly educates employees through training regarding for hygiene control and technical skills. It has created an environment in which each and every employee can grow as a food professional.
HITOWA Food Service has also introduced a cloud-based procedural manual creation tool, enabling employees to study at any time. This tool makes it possible for staff to view the information they need at their work sites in a clear and understandable manner, using photographs and video. Through this tool for realizing the sharing of knowledge, they are striving to improve and standardize operations.

HITOWA Care Service recruits not only from outside the company but also through active internal recruitment. It accepted applications for 22 positions in fiscal year 2022 and transferred 10 employees.

HITOWA Kids Life provides opportunities for employee to take on the challenges of upper level positions based on their individual potential and drive before officially promoting them. This system provides employees with opportunities to realize diverse career paths and achieve their full potential, further motivating them to grow while systematically developing the people who are necessary for business operations.

Every year, we conduct management training, primarily for newly appointed managers . In this program, participants learn the mind set and communication skills that are necessary to support their team members, such as coaching skills that allow them to enhance their subordinates' abilities and motivation, as well as facilitation skills that integrate diverse opinions of their team members to produce improved performance. We have established a learning process that encompasses a cycle of studying theory through e-learning, engaging in exercises during classroom training, applying the knowledge in the workplaces, and reflecting on the experience.

The Irise Arch app is a communication tool for employees not only to receive messages from the company, but also to mutually share information and comment on facility recreational activities, service ideas, relationship-building with residents, and other activities conducted at facilities.

Under this system, objectives are first defined based on the roles of individual employees. During the course of the plan period, employees share information regarding their progress toward these objectives with their supervisors at mid-term meetings, while making adjustments to the objectives or plans to achieve them, if necessary. This performance review process, which includes feedback meetings, supports employees in acquiring the knowledge and skills that are necessary for their operations, and fosters mutual understanding and acceptance of the results of the evaluations.

In order to ensure comprehensive feedback and assess the degree to which employees understand and accept the results of the evaluations, which may differ based on managerial evaluation skills, a satisfaction study is performed for all employees after they have received feedback.

We keep our doors open wide to former employees who have a desire to return to the Group after resigning due to personal circumstances such as childcare or relocation.

We conduct exit interviews with resigning employees, determining what led them to choose to resign. When we find a need for improvements within the Group, we promptly address these issues and strive to maintain and improve our working environments.