HR Strategy

Satoshi Kasai
Group CHRO
Managing Executive Officer

Group HR Strategy

In this era of VUCA, it is crucial to generate new ideas without getting caught up in past practices and to make rapid decisions in regard to the challenges we face.
Given such conditions, the most important human resource strategy for the Group is to ensure that its business management benefits from the expertise and experience of a diverse approximately 80,000-strong workforce, which consists of employees with different nationalities, genders, experience, and ages.
The human resource strategy that we have been implementing in earnest since 2015 is laterally unifying human resource management, which we used to conduct on a country or business basis. We will become a corporate group in which—regardless of nationality, gender, experience, or age—talented personnel can contribute in a range of fields on a Group-wide basis.
To benefit from the contributions of diverse personnel, we have built a human resource platform for the Group-wide management of a variety of human resource information and systems. This effort has made all of the key positions in the Group visible, established common evaluation criteria, and made human resource information accessible through a new human resource system. The Group will utilize this platform to find talented personnel who can perform across organizational boundaries within the Group. We will then encourage further growth by extending the scope of their work through appropriate and timely assignments to positions straddling countries or businesses. In this way, we will become a corporate group that empowers talented personnel.

Diversity

To become a group where diverse human resources with different nationalities, genders, types of experience, and ages can leverage their strengths, we are proactively promoting diversity in management, personnel exchange among Group companies, and the empowerment of female employees.
To promote diverse management, we have appointed two female outside directors and one Audit & Supervisory Board member. Moreover, we have assigned executives from outside of the Group, including a non-Japanese executive director who is an expert in law and has extensive experience of M&A in the insurance industry and an executive director who has expertise in the IT and digital fields. Further, in fiscal 2017 we decided to consolidate all overseas businesses under the leadership of John R. Charman, who is the Chairman and CEO of Sompo International Holdings Ltd. (formerly Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd.), a new member of the Group. These appointments are a testament to the Group’s approach of assigning important positions to the best personnel for its businesses regardless of nationality.
We are active not only in relocating personnel among domestic Group companies but also in promoting personnel exchange with overseas Group companies. Previously, we only dispatched employees in one direction—sending Japanese employees from Japan to overseas Group companies. Now, however, we assign personnel from overseas Group companies to various divisions in Japan through the Group Exchange Program, which we launched in fiscal 2014. Through the end of fiscal 2017, a total of 45 employees from overseas Group companies had worked in various divisions in Japan and contributed to the globalization of our headquarters in the country.
Further, we aim to have female employees account for 30% of management positions by the end of fiscal 2020. To this end, we have, among other initiatives, created a female manager development program, the Business Management School for Women, and also actively promote female employees to management positions. These initiatives have earned favorable recognition from various quarters: the Group has received the Prime Minister’s Award to Commend Leading Companies Where Women Shine and been designated as a Nadeshiko Brand. We are stepping up efforts to increase gender diversity. For example, in March 2018 we established an in-house day-care center for children, SOMPO KIDS PARK.

Development of Globally Competent Leaders

In order to develop human resources capable of leading our Group’s future management on a global basis, we provide training for selected employees in each rank.
We provide a training program for young employees: the Overseas Short-Term Training Program, MBA programs in Japan and overseas, and the in-house SOMPO Global University (SOMPO GU), which operates in partnership with the National University of Singapore Business School.
Established in October 2012, the aim of SOMPO GU is the acquisition of management knowledge and the facilitation of experience of collaborating with a variety of people. The program includes not only classroom training but also emphasizes practical training through the ALP (Action Learning Project), through which trainees propose solutions to challenges given by CEOs from around the world.
Since its establishment through fiscal 2018, a total of 140 people from 15 countries have participated in this program. On a Group-wide basis, we are fostering globally competent human resources who, regardless of nationality, have broadened their perspectives through discussions with diverse personnel and acquired fundamental business management knowledge. For middle-ranking employees, we established the Global Leadership Program in fiscal 2017. Aiming to cultivate broader viewpoints befitting future managers, the program includes discussions with the Group’s CEO. Moreover, we conduct all parts of the program that are focused on liberal arts and case studies in English. Further, we plan to establish the GEP (Global Executive Program) for senior employees during the current fiscal year.
Using the personnel that we have fostered, we will continue to allocate the right people to the right positions at the right time to enhance Group-wide competitiveness.

SOMPO Global University course held in 2018 ; Participants numbered 21, from 10 countries