Human Resource Development and Fair Evaluation

The following introduces Shiseido talent development and career development support measures, as well as activities for fair evaluation.

Shiseido actively invests in talent development based on its PEOPLE FIRST concept. We believe that all human resource’s value creation and business activities start with the individual and that strong individuals create a strong company. To create “strong individuals,” we focus on strategic talent management, performance management, and autonomous career development support, founded on a job-based personnel system. In 2020, Shiseido formulated the TRUST 8 Competencies, which describes a Company-wide image of human resources, with the aim of effectively implementing global human resource management. The TRUST 8 Competencies serves as the basis of our globally standardized selection/evaluation and human resource development programs, allowing each employee with ranging expertise to grow in work areas where they can maximize their respective strengths. Shiseido encourages employees’ self-driven efforts to grow and provides support for individualized autonomous career development.

In 2021, Shiseido introduced a job-based personnel system in Japan for management and general corporate positions (excluding those in beauty and production) with the aim of becoming a globally competitive organization by strengthening the expertise of employees. The four items below are the adjusted approach to assessing employees from individual “ability” to “job,” thereby enabling objective personnel ratings and treatment according to global standards. By clarifying job responsibilities and required specialized abilities in each department, this system is aimed at promoting career autonomy for each employee.

1. Define areas of expertise that employees should aim for in each Job Family (JF).

2. Clarify Functional Competency (FC) expertise and skills required for each Job Family.

3. Introduce Job Grades (JG) in all positions, including both managers and staff.

4. Clarify the Job Description (JD) based on determined Job Grades (to respond to organizational changes or assignment changes in accordance with Japanese labor practices).

We strive to ensure placement of the right people in the right positions throughout the Shiseido Group for strategic talent development. Every year, talent reviews are conducted at the global, regional, and functional levels, and plans for appointment and training of successors are prepared for key positions. For training of successors, training plans are formulated for each individual based on their strengths and development issues, including assignments to Stretch goals, global transfer opportunities, and leadership development programs, and are implemented with the approval and support of the CEO.

We are strengthening performance management for the sustainable growth of both our business and employees. In 2021, we introduced a global standardized process in which the performance management program was revised to evaluate both the degree of achievement of performance targets and the degree of actions taken in line with the TRUST 8 Competencies. This is aimed at promoting the improvement of medium-to-long-term business performance and the growth of our employees.

All our employees set a personal performance goal through interviews with their supervisors at the beginning of each term. The goal setting is designed by cascading the group team into the employees’ goals so that the goals can link to the achievement of the team’s goals. Moreover, a Career Development Plan (CDP) is formulated to specify each employee’s career goal and competence development needed for achieving that goal.

In addition to more than one evaluation interview per year, during each term, employees review their progress on a regular basis through daily agile dialogues with and feedback from their supervisors and review goals as needed. At the end of each term, employees confirm their final achievement level through interviews with their supervisors. Moreover, supervisors can ask other employees to give their subordinates some feedback, which enables a multifaceted evaluation of employees, not limited to an evaluation by immediate supervisors.

To eliminate gaps in evaluation, an evaluation calibration meeting is held, and a formal evaluation is set. Also, at the beginning of each term, whether goals are set in line with the expected performance level is checked (calibration of goals) so that each employee can take on challenging work assignments to stretch their goals to strengthen their expertise.

The Shiseido Group has established rules and guidelines regarding evaluation and treatment under its Shiseido Global Human Resources Policy.

• Ensure fairness of treatment both inside and outside the Company, and pursue satisfaction of employees in system operations.
• Strive to ensure high transparency in evaluation based on objective facts without prejudice.
• Conduct evaluation according to target management (performance) and the TRUST 8 Competencies (exercise of action).
• Disclose criteria for evaluation and promotion to employees, and provide feedback to employees following evaluation.
• Provide support and training through annual evaluation interviews and daily dialogue.

The Shiseido Group in Japan has established a fair and widely approved system to appropriately evaluate the results and processes of work. To maintain the fairness of evaluation, leaders (Job Appointment Managers with subordinates) are provided with enhanced training in management skills. New manager courses, evaluator training, and manager training are part of the opportunities through which leaders are encouraged to improve their management skills. Twice a year, personnel system seminars are held for managers of the Shiseido Group in Japan as opportunities to deepen their understanding of the system and its operation.

Since 2020 when we introduced the job-based personnel system, we have organized career workshops and e-learning (as of 2023, 4770 employees have taken the courses) for all employees of the Shiseido Group in Japan to strengthen their career ownership and expertise. In addition, employees are encouraged to provide a career development plan (CDP) to envision medium-to-long-term career goals and is incorporated into performance management. Employees may share with their supervisors an action plan to achieve their medium-to-long-term career goals, which supervisors refer to for effective work assignment and human resource development. Shiseido offers a broad range of training programs to enhance business skills and improve expertise in each Job Family, which are used by employees for self-driven career development.

Aiming to develop strategic talent, at Shiseido Future University, we encourage management candidates in every region of the Shiseido Group to develop their abilities and build networks that span national borders. At Shiseido Future University, a select group of next-generation leaders are offered programs in collaboration with external business schools so that they can learn leadership and management skills. Shiseido also focuses efforts on developing women leaders, and has held the "NEXT LEADERSHIP SESSION for WOMEN" every year since 2017 to enable and promote talented women free from unconscious bias toward themselves or any circumstance.

Voluntary programs are offered to motivate employees to help them demonstrate high performance and autonomously develop their careers. Voluntary programs offered in Japan include business skill training for all job types and the dispatch of young ambitious employees for MBA programs, as well as the sales academy and the marketing academy to further enhance expertise in their respective Job Family or specialized field.

We conduct the Shiseido Group engagement survey for all Shiseido Group employees to ensure that each individual employee feels that they do fulfilling and meaningful work in an open workplace. We conduct a regular survey once a year to grasp the health of the organization. The survey asks questions about engagement, inclusion, well-being, psychological safety, strategy penetration, trust in management and supervisors, opportunities for growth, authority and discretion, and corporate ethics to grasp the current situation. Shiseido employees are expected to take on many challenges during management reform, and are required to constantly improve their awareness and behavior. Since differences in awareness and initiatives among employees may influence the speed of reform, this survey enables management to hear directly from employees and to clarify current issues. Employees may also look at the survey results and come up with specific plans of action to improve the company. Shiseido believes that it is possible to achieve true change through bi-directional communication between managers and employees.
In addition, consultation and reporting centers have been set up inside and outside the Company to provide employees (regardless of employment type) with consultation on their working environment and relationships in the workplace, and are positioned to respond to whistleblowing on matters such as violation of the Rules of Employment or other law.