Cultivating Human Resources
Group Policy
In the Citizen Group, individual operational companies are responsible for developing human resources capable of adapting to the business environment in accordance with their respective policies. We have a comprehensive environment for human resource development with two training options. One is tiered training organized by Citizen Holdings and the other is training organized by separate Group companies.
Human Resource Development Program
Our aim is to train human resources to suit their working environments, through basic human resource development at individual Citizen Group companies in combination with Groupwide tiered training organized by Citizen Holdings. Citizen Holdings organizes tiered training for new employees, new managers and new executives from a Groupwide perspective.
We also run the Citizen Business License scheme, which offers financial incentives to members of staff who have obtained national or public qualifications at Group companies such as Citizen Holdings and Citizen Watch, and are continually working to create a climate that is conducive to employee self-development.
TOPICS Double championships won in watch-making skills competition
The 23rd National Watch Making Skill Competition took place in October 2010. A total of 11 contenders from six companies in the Citizen Watch Group competed in the first and second categories. In the first category, Masamichi Nakano of Citizen Watch won first prize and Kenji Fuyama of Citizen Heiwa Watch won third, whereas in the second category Naomi Shibuya of Citizen Tohoku and Kunihiko Yamaguchi of Citizen Watch Miyota won first and third prizes respectively. Winning a total of four prizes, the Citizen Watch Group will continue its efforts to develop the skills of every single employee.
Voice
I will continue to test my strength and challenge myself in the future.
By nature, I love making things. I think that the appeal of watch-making lies in the sense of accomplishment I feel when I see a finished watch work after assembling every single part. I was really happy that my long history of trial and error gave me the confidence that enabled me to display my strength to the fullest extent in the competition and produced such a good outcome.
Naomi Shibuya
Assembly Department, Watch Division
Citizen Tohoku Co., Ltd.
Efforts at Group companies
Encouraging capacity development
Citizen Watch remains continuously involved in the watch school initiative, aimed at developing employees' skills and techniques in collaboration with other Group companies operating the watch business. As many staff members undertake skill tests and internal examinations each year, Citizen Watch was honored by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare as a business excelling in occupational skill development in 2009, in recognition of its contribution to the expansion and promotion of skill testing initiatives.
The Company will continue to work on this initiative, which that leads not only to sophisticated watch technologies but also to greater motivation among employees.
Emphasis on human relationships in the transfer of skills to the younger generation
Citizen Seimitsu places an emphasis on human relationships in its transfer of skills to younger workers and in human resource development. Long-serving employees with strong skills and techniques that need to be retained are acknowledged as instructors and Meister (masters). The relationship between an instructor and a young employee under his or her instruction is registered as "a relationship between master and apprentice." The development of apprentices is regularly monitored and the team of master and apprentice report their activities in company-wide meetings. This practice promotes the transfer of skills and techniques and stimulates human resource development.
Human Resource Development in the Watch Sector
As a part of our capacity development system, at Citizen Watch Co., Ltd. we have been providing basic education (CSR Basics, What are Financial Statements?, Environmental Basics, Basics of the Six S's, Watch Basics, etc.) for all employees since fiscal 2008. Three years on from the start of the program, we have largely managed to achieve our initial plan.
On another front, in a new initiative aimed at further business integration in the Watch Business Group, from fiscal 2010 we started to offer New Senior Position Training, Evaluator Training and Instructor Training on a joint basis across the Watch Business Group. So that we can exercise our group power as a comprehensive watch manufacturer, we will continue to challenge further "value creation" through enhancement of human resource capabilities and reforms to our corporate culture.
On-site Visits by the President
On-site visits by the president
In response to the president's hope to learn more about things on the ground, at Citizen Finetech Miyota Co., Ltd. we have instituted on-site visits by the president. The purpose of the visits is to listen to and see first-hand the things those working in the field have pride in, and to engage in on-site communication with them. Conducted monthly in two-hour blocks, the visits involve first listening to the details of the proud innovation and then receiving an explanation on-site. The explanations are conducted by on-site personnel who don't have the opportunity to speak with the president on a regular basis. The visits are wrapped up after hearing the president's impressions on what he saw. The on-site visits are conducted in an intentionally informal manner and are helping to improve communication between managers and employees.
Thank-you Campaign
Activities based on the Thank-you Campaign taking place
At Citizen Finetech Miyota Co., Ltd., we engage in activities with the aim of becoming a hundred-year company. There are seven requirements to becoming a hundred-year company, one of which is to establish the necessary structure as a group (company) of people. To achieve this, the following five requirements are laid out: (1) Establishing a strong, sustainable team possessing the same goals; (2) Reforms that preserve what makes us unique (Japanese culture and tradition); (3) Fostering gratitude to one's peers and feelings of compassion; (4) Individual employees are stars. The organization is the stage on which they play; and (5) the capacity to accept a creative nonconformist without demanding homogeneity. The Thank-you Campaign was started for the purpose of requirements (1) and (3). The initiative began on October 1, 2010, and its rules include the following: The "thank you" has to be presented in front of other people (the topic could be anything the speaker feels "thankful" for, such as a work matter, family matter, something to do with friends or something that just happened around them), all employees have to participate, groups are formed to express thanks to each other in words, all group members must announce their gratitude to at least one person for one thing each day, members must properly listen to other group members, and nothing negative should be spoken about the details presented.
Improvement Team Activities and Improvement Proposal System
At Citizen Seimitsu Co., Ltd, we engage in two kinds of activity to promote the resolution of business issues in a convincing manner. Improvement Team activities involve rolling out company policy and measures on a top-down basis, from divisions to departments to teams, and resolving issues via KT Teams. Since the efforts of individual teams are essential for the achieving the goals of the company overall, this structure is expected to lead to higher motivation and sense of participation on the part of individual employees. Under the system, KT Feedback Meetings are held periodically at each workplace in order to share the results of activities with the entire workplace. By sharing the details of successful activities, the entire workplace can benefit and achieve a higher level. In the other hand, the improvement proposal system enables individual employees who have identified and resolved issues themselves to submit reports on their improvement activities. Progress with activities is then reported via monthly companywide management meetings. Outstanding examples receive commendation from company directors, producing increased motivation among employees. Through two-way initiatives between the company and individuals, we will roll out activities that continue to raise our companywide problem-solving capacity.
Improvement Kiheitai
At Citizen Finetech Miyota Co., Ltd., we believe that improvement activities are essential in order to provide our customers with products that guarantee satisfaction. We refer to our improvement activities using the term "Kiheitai," referring to the military unit set up by Shinsaku Takasugi towards the end of the samurai era. Just as the Kiheitai combined the strengths of people from different walks of life, from warriors to farmers and townspeople, to get things done, we go about improvement activities based on a similar level of cooperation between all related departments. Operating on the basis of "work = improvement," employees who address priority improvements and produce results receive a financial reward. We implemented a total of 138 priority activities in fiscal 2010, twice the number compared with fiscal 2009, with completed priorities producing an impact equivalent to \232 million over the course of the year. Moreover, activities increased in back-office departments as well as the Production Division. We will continue to inspire our employees through Kiheitai-based improvement activities in the future.
