CSR Activity Report (CSR Guideline Activity Reports) - Human Rights Promotion and Human Resources Development

Securing and Developing Human Resources to Create New Value

Employing a Diverse Workforce

Toray Group employs talented human resources with high aspirations who can play an active role in global business, inclusive of gender and whether employees were hired out of university or mid-career.
Since 1998, Toray Industries, Inc. has been expanding its efforts to recruit a diverse human resource population and has hired 113 non-Japanese as regular employees as of fiscal 2022. The Company actively recruits non-Japanese students who are studying in Japan, and Japanese students who graduate from universities abroad. Then, it seeks to build a work environment where all employees are able to fully demonstrate their individual abilities and perform to their utmost potential. In addition, Toray is actively pursuing mid-career hiring, while providing follow-up support for these hires, including additional training after joining the company.

Number of Employees Hired in Fiscal 2018-2022 (Toray Industries, Inc.)

Result 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
New graduates Men 224 244 176 123 110
Women 41 44 36 38 20
Total 265 288 212 161 130
Mid-career hires Men 55 37 9 13 53
Women 17 8 2 6 7
Total 72 45 11 19 60

Systematic and Effective Training

Toray Industries develops well-designed training programs and systematically executes diverse training programs to enhance management, sales, production technology, and specialized skills, and to better equip employees to address globalization. These programs cover all levels of employees and fields, aiming to develop future management candidates while expanding and educating the base of core staff ready to employ their strong capabilities to lead on the front lines.
In recent years, Toray Industries has focused on reorganizing its training system to further enhance the Company's human resource development. Management Training for Executive Candidates was created as a new program with the aim of developing senior management successors. Two other new programs, Management Training for General Managers and Management Training for Managers, were established in order to enhance organizational management capabilities. At the same time, the Company has launched multiple programs to train personnel involved in digital transformation (DX) initiatives, as part of specialized field-specific training for technology and sales personnel. In fiscal 2022, practical skills training and discussion-based training sessions were held in-person, while lecture-based training was held online. For all in-person sessions, thorough measures were taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Training expenditures per employee at Toray Industries stood at 65,017 yen in fiscal 2022, compared to 58,899 yen in the previous fiscal year.
Moreover, to allow everyone regardless of age to regularly update their abilities and skills, Toray is working to enhance its professional development programs for employees, including the creation of new Challenge Courses (subscription-based e-learning). In addition to training, the Group is adopting various personnel programs to develop an organization in which human resources who are ready for new challenges can play a greater and more active part in the Company.

Fiscal 2022 Training Programs at Toray Industries
Fiscal 2022 Training Programs at Toray Industries

Company-Wide Training Course Enrollment in Fiscal 2022 (Toray Industries, Inc.)

Training category Persons enrolled Time dedicated to training per employee (hour)1
Men Women Total
Management 699 59 758 44.8
Technical 620 84 704 29.0
Sales, marketing, and administration 262 74 336 20.2
Global 74 12 86 50.2
Total 1,655 229 1,884 34.7
  • 1 Time dedicated to group training at the Toray Human Resources Development Center. It does not include time for correspondence learning or study abroad, etc.

Toray School of Technology and Business Administration Develops Leaders to Improve Frontline Capabilities Across the Toray Group

Toray Industries is dedicated to improving the capabilities of frontline employees across Toray Group. It opened the Toray School of Technology and Business Administration in September 1994 as a training facility for young group employees in Japan. The aim is to develop human resources who can think and act without being micromanaged. As of the 28th session in 2022, the school has produced 815 graduates.
Classes include general subjects such as mathematics and English, along with specialized subjects including polymer chemistry, engineering basics, and robotics, as well as more practical group problem-solving exercises and chemical experiments. By having employees participate in hands-on learning experiences, they get a deeper understanding of the theory taught in class. During the one-year period of enrollment, each student aims to develop the skills to become a frontline leader who can think and act without being micromanaged, by utilizing every opportunity for their own professional development.
In October 2022, the Toray School of Technology and Business Administration opened a new Frontline Skills Enhancement School to develop unit manager candidates. Students learn soft skills such as leadership, team building, followership, and motivation by solving problems in their own departments. The curriculum features a new method that involves having students form teams and share a vision, before carrying out activities. They are taught to consider even activities that do not bring the desired results to have achieved something positive and to see this as a valuable process. Toray Group is developing frontline leaders who have acquired the basic skills needed by working members of society in order to succeed in a changing world.

Personnel System (Toray Industries, Inc.)

Management-by-objectives system2 Each employee establishes annual objectives. At the end of the fiscal year, employees and their supervisors meet to review accomplishments and the extent to which they were able to meet their objectives.
Personnel appraisal system2 Designed to facilitate a fair appraisal of employee contributions in terms of duties, responsibilities, capabilities, and performance3.
Individual meeting system2 Employees meet with their supervisors twice a year in a one-on-one setting. Supervisors provide consultation on employee performance and new objectives.
Self-assessment system for managers, occupational specialists, and G-Course employees Employees are surveyed annually on topics concerning work experience and desires for interdepartmental transfer. Surveys can then be linked to individual personnel transfers and placement.
Career assessment system for G-Course employees Employees participate in a regular review consisting of presentations of daily operations and personnel interviews in order to focus on the direction of their future growth.
Job opening system Employees are given an opportunity to apply for jobs inside the Company and proactively develop their career, while ensuring optimal staff assignment.
  • 2 Applies to 100% of managers, occupational specialists, and employees pursuing G-Course and S-Course career paths.
    G-Course: A career path for Toray Group executive or upper-level professional candidates
    S-Course: A career path for manager, supervisor, or specialist candidates
  • 3 Including CSR initiatives

Career development of core staff using the new personnel information system (% of staff using a career path worksheet)

■Reporting scope
Toray Industries, Inc.
■Target in fiscal 2022
100%

Result in fiscal 2022

100%

Toray Industries has introduced career path worksheets as a human resource development tool designed to promote employee growth. These worksheets encourage employees to reflect on their past work experience and the level of skill required in their field, as well as facilitate career-related discussions through interviews with supervisors and subordinates.
The career path worksheets were first introduced in fiscal 2020 for employees pursuing G-Course career paths in sales and corporate administration. In fiscal 2021, their use was extended to technical G-course employees and, as of March 2022, has been expanded to all G-Course employees.

Development of Future Management Candidates for Toray Group

Toray Group implements training in order to systematically develop future management candidates. Numerous employees who have undergone the training are already active in management positions. In fiscal 2021, Management Training for Executive Candidates was created as a new program with the aim of developing senior management successors. In fiscal 2022, as well, the Group continued to hold various training sessions, while taking the necessary measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Strategies for Developing Future Management Candidates

Program Participants Purpose Year started Total participants through FY2022
Management Training for Executive Candidates Department managers of Toray Industries Develop management leaders at Toray Industries and group companies 2021 22
Toray Management School Section managers of Toray Industries Develop future management candidates at Toray Industries and group companies 1991 600
Toray Group Management School Department managers of group companies in Japan Develop management candidates focusing on group companies in Japan 2006 328
Toray Group Executive Seminar Board members/officers of group companies outside Japan Develop core staff at group companies outside Japan 2004 98
Number of employees who participated in programs to develop future management candidates (cumulative total)
1,048

The Toray Global HR Management (“G-HRM”) Fundamental Policy was established through a resolution of the Board of Directors. The goal of the policy is to manage human resources from a common perspective shared by the entire Group, thereby surmounting differences between countries, regions, cultures, customs, and individual companies.

Toray Global HR Management (“G-HRM”) Fundamental PolicyRevised December 2021

True to its corporate philosophy, “Contributing to society through the creation of new value with innovative ideas, technologies and products” and its embodiment through “Innovation,” and in order to continue being a highly valuable corporate group for every stakeholder, Toray Group focuses on recruiting, retaining, and developing employees with high aspirations, with the understanding that “Human Resources” are the most important asset in management.

As Toray Group continues to promote further business growth and expansion globally, we set the following four principles as the Toray G-HRM Fundamental Policy, despite all differences between countries, regions, cultures, customs, and companies in order to facilitate HR management with a common basis for all Toray Group companies around the world.

Step by step, each company is encouraged to implement and maintain a concrete HR management system in line with the following Toray G-HRM Fundamental Policy. However, at the same time, it is essential to value the merits of local HR management in each company based on the individual circumstances of country, region, culture, custom and company. Thus, it is necessary to promote the policy while integrating both approaches properly.

  1. Consistently recruit and retain core staff and promote long-term HR development programs
    1. (1) Consistently recruit core staff based on mid/long-term HR management views.
    2. (2) Sustain long-term HR development through emphasizing individual career development, promoting career interviews on development progress between supervisors and staff, and carrying out on-the-job training (OJT), together with training programs (Off-JT) and self-development.
    3. (3) Promote HR development by following up on each individual through MBO (Management by Objectives) and performance appraisal systems.
  2. Select and develop core staff who can win a place in the global competition
    1. (1) Recruit, retain and develop diverse and capable staff globally who understand and support the Toray Philosophy.
    2. (2) Provide selected staff with opportunities for sophisticated high-level training and global careers.
    3. (3) Promote staff, who have skills to assume management responsibility for Toray Group companies, to top management positions of each company, and also give them opportunities for selection to executive positions as well as core positions of Toray Industries, Inc.
  3. Pursue a "placing the right people to the right jobs" policy while enhancing fairness, understanding (by employees) through convincing explanations, and transparency
    1. (1) Make the best assignment for each employee and assigned organization by focusing on his/her ability and performance.
    2. (2) Place importance on fairness, understanding (by employees) through convincing explanations, and transparency when determining individual compensation, such as salary and bonus, by appropriately taking account all of the roles and responsibilities of the position, the employee's ability, as well as performance appraisal results based on the MBO (Management by Objectives).
    3. (3) Enhance the HR development system and the compensation system to value challenges as well as contributions to the team.
  4. Continue various management methods to further strengthen the company's business structure
    1. (1) Conduct and continue head-count management and labor cost management as an entire company in a well-balanced way appropriate for business environments.
    2. (2) Always sustain a flat, effective organizational structure and control the appropriate proportion of managerial staff.
    3. (3) Build a resilient organization through the appropriate management of diverse work styles.

Systematically Securing, Developing, and Promoting Core Staff Outside Japan at Group Companies

Toray Group regards the development of core staff at its group companies outside Japan as one of its priority management objectives. The Group makes active efforts to promote employees locally hired at these companies (national staff) to executive management positions, as well as to key posts and management positions at Toray Industries' head office. In fiscal 2022, a total of eight core staff outside Japan help manage Toray Group, with two serving as vice presidents of Toray Industries and six serving as director (riji), a position that is equivalent in scope and level of responsibility to senior management.
In terms of human resource development and promotions, Toray Group has been working on a succession plan and personnel development plan based on a medium- and long-term perspective and drawing up its Medium-Term Human Resources Plan with the goal of implementing systematic personnel assignments to ensure that core staff can tackle important business issues. The Group implements human resources strategies designed to support business strategies by verifying the availability of successor candidates for core positions and developing individualized development plans for future management candidates, including for core staff outside Japan. In addition, the Group is systematically fostering human resources by offering career development opportunities such as domestic and international job rotations.
Human resource development is systematically implemented using both on-the-job and off-the-job training. Off-the-job training consists of training implemented by each group company outside Japan. This is combined with grade-specific training programs held in Japan to ensure understanding of management principles and policies. These are linked with personalized long-term development plans. Toray Group, with direct involvement from the head office, is developing and regularly providing management training courses outside Japan specially designed for the particular circumstances and needs of group companies in each respective country.

FY2022 Training Courses Held for Core Staff Outside Japan

Japan-based courses

Training program Managerial category Participants
Toray Group Senior Management Seminar Department managers 18
Toray Trainee Program Section managers 15
Total participants 33

Courses held outside Japan

Training program Managerial category Participants
Toray Group U.S. Management Training Section managers 17
Toray Group Malaysia Management Seminar Department managers / section managers 15
Toray Group East and North China Management Seminar Department managers / section managers 25
Toray Group South China Management Seminar Department managers / section managers 29
Total participants 86

Toray Group Senior Management Seminar (Toray Industries)

The Toray Group Senior Management Seminar was established to develop executive human resources (mainly general managers) working at Toray Group companies outside Japan. It allows participants to improve their understanding of Toray management policies and strategies and Toray-style management, as well as to demonstrate leadership as a driving force for overseas companies. Since its inception in 1996, more than 300 employees hired outside Japan have taken the course.
In 2023, in-person training was held at the Toray Human Resources Development Center in Japan, the first such event since the COVID-19 travel restrictions were lifted, and thorough infection control measures were taken. The 2022 Toray Group Senior Management Seminar was held for five days, from March 6 to 10. The participants included 18 employees from 14 group companies located in 9 countries, namely, the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Malaysia.
During the seminar, the participants deepened their understanding of Toray and Toray-style management (the Toray Philosophy and management strategies, as well as compliance and quality assurance activities, etc.). In sessions provided by external lecturers, the participants learned about developing their own management style, how to approach specific regional cultures, and how to recognize their own cultural biases. In addition to learning how to demonstrate effective leadership in various situations, as well as deepening their understanding of Toray's corporate culture, each participant created an action plan to strengthen their own group company in a way that is consistent with Toray's corporate culture. As the 2022 seminar was conducted in person, it also provided an opportunity for dynamic interaction between the participants and became a meaningful way for them to enhance their personal networks.

Toray Group U.S. Management Training
[Toray Industries (America), Inc.]

Management SeminarManagement Seminar

With the cooperation of Toray Composite Materials America (CMA), Toray Industries America (TAM) held the 14th US Management Training at CMA’s Tacoma Plant from January 31 to February 2, 2023. The participants included 17 employees from six Toray Group companies in the United States, namely, Toray Resin (TREC), Toray Plastics (America) (TPA), CMA, Zoltek Companies (ZOLTEK), Toray Advanced Composites USA (TACUS), and Performance Materials (PMC).
The seminar was a three-day training course for section managers and unit chiefs. The first aim was for participants to gain an understanding of Toray-style management (safety management, corporate ethics and legal compliance, cost management, and personnel and labor management), while the second aim was for them to improve their human resources and organizational management skills. In addition to lectures, there were group discussions and presentations by internal instructors from various fields, along with a leadership lecture and a tour of the Tacoma factory. It was also a great opportunity for participants to enhance their personal networks.

Click here for the main initiatives for CSR Guideline 8, “Human Rights Promotion and Human Resources Development” in CSR Roadmap 2022.