Basic approach

Noritake considers employees to be a valuable asset. Centered around the Philosophy of “People thrive through inspiration, and perish through complacency,” we value and encourage a proactive attitude toward taking on creative challenges. We also believe that creating a company where employees can work with joy forms the foundation of our approach to improving the work environment and supporting employee career development.
Along with realizing a healthy work-life balance, we aim to enhance employee engagement through human resource measures that encourage autonomous growth while staying attuned to employees’ needs, thereby striving for sustainable growth through improved productivity.

Improving the physical and mental health of employees

Improving work-life balance

Noritake is committed to improving the work-life balance of our employees. In addition to encouraging the use of paid leave, we expanded our special paid leave system in April 2023, which can be used in unexpected situations, such as contracting an infectious disease, to create a more supportive environment for employees to take paid leave with peace of mind.
For life events such as childcare and caregiving, Noritake has not only established leave and absence systems but also implemented a system for taking annual leave in hourly unit and a flexible work system for childcare and caregiving (either part-time or full-time), which are utilized by our employees. Telecommuting continues to be offered as part of Noritake’s work-life balance initiatives, helping reduce the burden of commuting and enabling more efficient use of time.
In addition, we have introduced a medical treatment support work system to support employees who require repeated or ongoing treatment, and we support employees’ treatment needs through flexible work shift arrangements.

Ratio and average number of days of annual paid leave taken at Noritake

Promote health management

The Noritake Group regards employee vitality as the source of corporate vitality and has adopted a Health Management Declaration. With the President as the Chief Officer, the officer in charge of Corporate Services Division as the Promotion Manager, and the Labor and Personnel Office as the main promoter, we have established a system in collaboration with the health insurance association, labor union, and occupational physician, and are actively promoting health initiatives for employees and their families. As a result, we have been certified for three consecutive years as an “Outstanding Health and Productivity Management Organization^* 2025 (Large Enterprise Category)” jointly recognized by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and Nippon Kenko Kaigi.

* This is a program that recognizes corporations, including large enterprises and SMEs, that practice particularly outstanding health management based on initiatives addressing local health issues and health promotion efforts led by Nippon Kenko Kaigi.

System diagram

Health improvement initiatives

In fiscal 2024, Noritake’s regular health checkup participation rate was 100%, and the rate of findings was 61.3%. Considering the importance of early detection and early treatment of diseases, we have expanded the items in regular health checkups, increased the subsidy amount for comprehensive medical checkups, and fully subsidized gynecological cancer screenings. In addition, occupational physicians review the health checkup results, and public health nurses actively provide health guidance and encourage medical consultations. As a result of these initiatives, the comprehensive medical checkup rate reached 54.0% (FY2024), and the detailed examination rate reached 76.1% (FY2023). We will continue to strengthen our support to further improve the examination rate.
Furthermore, we have set seven key health items and launched the “Health Challenge,” in which employees proactively participate to promote improvement of lifestyle habits. To raise awareness of this initiative within the company, we have posted posters and are actively encouraging participation.

Statistics on employee health habits

While improvements have been seen in findings rates and smoking rates, these have not led to improvements in lifestyle habits, so we will work to improve health status through more concrete measures.
We are also conducting a health awareness survey. For the absenteeism indicator^*1, the average number of days absent due to illness or injury in one year was “4.3 days,” and for the presenteeism indicator^*2, which asked about job performance, the average was “86.2%.” In addition, for the questions related to vitality for the work engagement indicator^*3, 25.7% of responses were positive, and for the questions related to enthusiasm, 44.5% of responses were positive. We will continue to promote health management, enhance employee satisfaction, and strive to improve both individual and organizational performance.

*1 Absent due to health problems
*2 Decline in productivity at work due to health problems
*3 Refers to a positive and fulfilling psychological state characterized by vitality and enthusiasm toward work

Reduction in health risks

The Noritake Group works with the health insurance association to reduce health risks. In particular, we consider the prevention of lifestyle-related diseases that can interfere with work if they become more severe, and we are working to improve the rate of receiving specific health guidance.
In fiscal 2020, the health checkup participation rate dropped to 43.2% due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it improved for three consecutive years, reaching 67.5% in fiscal 2023.

Insurance benefit costs(per Noritake Group health insurance association member)

Specific health guidance implementation rate(all Noritake Group health insurance association members)

Mental healthcare

We work to improve mental health by conducting mental health education tailored to each employee seniority ranking level, from newly hired employees to managers. Workplace improvement and analysis are conducted in light of the results of organizational analysis, as we work to reduce our overall risk.

Stress check receiving rate and overall risk score (Noritake)

Create a workplace where employees can work in a lively manner

Personnel system

In April 2024, Noritake renewed its personnel system. As one of the initiatives to reform the organizational culture aimed at realizing the Long-term Vision, the new system was designed to foster a spirit of challenge and enhance employee engagement. The new system is built on three pillars: Fostering an organizational culture that encourages challenge, Encouraging the participation of diverse human resources, and Establishing a system that rewards contribution.
From the perspective of the Long-term Vision, we have drawn an image of our expected human resources with the keywords: diversity, growth, challenge, leadership, and new value creation. They are closely linked to personnel evaluation criteria. For managerial positions, the system is based on a role-grade structure that strengthens the link between work (role) and reward (compensation). The role-grade structure comprises two categories: “Management” for organizational managers, and “Professional” for those contributing with advanced expertise. This aims to accommodate diverse career perspectives by clearly defining career paths that go beyond promotion to organizational management, and to enhance organizational resilience.
Additionally, the minimum age for promotion to managerial positions has been lowered from 35 to 30, enabling early promotion of outstanding employees and motivating young staff to take on work and pursue personal growth. With the introduction of the new system, we have extended the retirement age. We plan to incrementally raise the retirement age to 65, in order to encourage a broader range of age groups to play an active role.

Human resource development

The Noritake Group is promoting human resource development centered on on-the-job training (OJT) at each workplace. To support OJT, we conduct “training by qualification” programs tailored to each employee grade. These programs focus on teaching the roles, work approaches, and problem-solving skills required for each level.
We also provide “training by purpose” and training for newly-appointed managers and selective training for the next generation of leaders as OFF-JT to help employees acquire specialized knowledge and skills, tailored to different job categories (sales, engineering, manufacturing) and foundational education (DX, safety, quality, intellectual property, compliance, export management, contract review).
Correspondence education courses are also provided for self- development, and there is a system that subsidizes full tuition fees for courses particularly recommended by the company. Many employees use this system to improve their language skills and acquire official qualifications.

Number of employees acquiring official qualifications and taking correspondence education (headcount)

Job rotation system and career path support

Since FY2022, Noritake has implemented a job rotation system aimed at developing individual skills and revitalizing the organization. Through multiple job experiences, we expect employees to develop skills and foster a spirit of challenge. In addition, we conduct career interviews to enable employees to share their strengths and future aspirations with their managers, supporting their growth.
In fiscal 2024, we strengthened initiatives to promote autonomous career development by holding career design workshops by age group and establishing a career consultation desk. Going forward, we will continue to promote these initiatives while monitoring the sense of achievement and satisfaction with career development.

Engagement survey

At Noritake, we have been conducting engagement surveys since FY2023, and the results analyzed at the workplace level are utilized for organizational improvement. Improving employee engagement is an important theme of our human resource strategy, and we will continue to improve it by monitoring the engagement score as an indicator.
In fiscal 2024, we increased the number of surveys to twice a year, enabling each department to check the effectiveness of their initiatives in a shorter span, and established opportunities for cross-departmental discussions to revitalize improvement activities.

Communication with employees

In order to provide Noritake Group employees with awareness regarding company policies as well as education, Noritake publishes the Noritake Group internal newsletter “SAKIGAKE” 12 times each year, and the global newsletter four times each year.
In addition, Noritake holds townhall meetings where employees can have direct dialogue with the President, in order to promote and establish organizational culture reform. In fiscal 2024, in addition to meetings with young employees in their 30s, the President visited workplaces at 13 locations nationwide.
With the aim of getting to know each other, more than 1,200 employees engaged in lively dialogue on a variety of topics, from pastimes and work to workplace improvement and thoughts about the company.
Such communication activities are also conducted in each business department and serve as a driving force for organizational culture reform.

Fostering a corporate culture that respects diversity

To adapt to changes in social needs driven by technological advancements and diversification of values, the Noritake Group believes that it is necessary to proactively incorporate diversity within its own organization. We strive to create a comfortable work environment where employees with diverse backgrounds can fully express their individuality, and actively promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I).

DE&I Declaration

We believe that promoting DE&I requires implementing initiatives such as education and placement after informing the entire company that it is a management strategy for sustainable growth, and in December 2024, we adopted the DE&I Declaration.

E&I Education

In fiscal 2024, we provided e-learning-based training for both managers and general employees. For managers, the training aimed to create an environment where both employees and the organization can grow through diversity management, and for general employees, the training aimed to create an organization where each person can demonstrate their abilities by understanding and respecting diversity. Over 90% of both groups participated.

Promote active participation by women

Promoting women’s participation is positioned as a priority issue in creating a culture that respects diversity. In accordance with the Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace, Noritake has established the following General Employers Action Plan and is actively promoting it:

Ratio of females in new graduate recruits (university or higher education)

Ratio of male employees taking childcare leave

Employment of persons with disabilities

When hiring people with disabilities, a pre-employment meeting is held with the school, family, supervisor of the assigned department, and the recruiter to make arrangements regarding onboarding education and workplace support systems. After assignment, the recruiter also visits the individual and the workplace supervisor for follow-up meetings to support retention.