Diversity and inclusion, culture for innovation

June 5, 2023

Achieving sustainable growth and value creation through innovation
driven by high expertise and diversity

The environment surrounding human capital strategies is changing significantly, both in and out of the company, and the Kirin Group’s human capital strategy is also undergoing a major transition. Coupled with the changing living environment and the diversifying individual values, the labor market environment, including working styles, is also changing dramatically. Furthermore, the kind of human capital our Group desires for the implementation of our management strategy is changing due to the transformation of our business portfolio. The need to transform businesses and challenge new domains is true for not only the Health Science domain, which is our growth driver, but also for the existing businesses in the Food & Beverage and Pharmaceutical domains. It is also necessary for all Group members to become agents of change toward ambidextrous management. Once again, by placing importance on human capital as the source of value creation and our competitive advantage and maximizing their value, our Group will strengthen our businesses and realize the Long-Term Management Vision, Kirin Group Vision 2027 (KV2027); our Group’s sustainable growth; and value creation.

  • Junko Tsuboi Senior Executive Officer, Human Resources & General Affairs Kirin Holdings Company, Limited

    Junko Tsuboi
    Senior Executive Officer, Human Resources & General Affairs
    Kirin Holdings Company, Limited

    Junko Tsuboi took the position of General Manager in the Corporate Communication Dept. of Kirin Beverage in 2005. From 2010 through 2012, she managed Yokohama Akarenga as the President and CEO. From 2014 she assumed position as General Manager at the Strategic Branding Dept., CSV Division of Kirin Company Ltd.. Since 2019 she has been a Senior Executive Officer and General Manager of the Strategic Branding Dept. of Kirin Holdings. In April 2022, she became in charge of Human Resources & General Affairs of the Kirin Group. (She has also been an Outside Director of FANCL Corporation from 2020 (concurring)).

Kirin Group’s Basic Philosophy on Human Capital Management

At the foundation of the Kirin Group’s human capital strategy, is our Basic Philosophy on Human Capital Management. While the human capital strategy is undergoing a significant transformation, our Basic Philosophy on Human Capital Management, “Respect for Humanity,” will remain the same. Our belief in valuing the infinite possibilities of humans also aligns with Kirin Brewery Company, Limited’s brewing philosophy, “Reverence for Life.” With boundless potential, each employee can grow through work by challenging themselves to create new value and actively working, and we can provide a continuously expanding environment.

  • Figure: Basic Philosophy on Human Capital Management = Respect for Humanity Respect the efforts and individuality (humanity) of each and every employee who continues to achieve personal growth and development based on boundless potential, and proactively create a place where employees can make the most of their abilities.

  • Figure: Basic Philosophy on Human Capital Management = Respect for Humanity Respect the efforts and individuality (humanity) of each and every employee who continues to achieve personal growth and development based on boundless potential, and proactively create a place where employees can make the most of their abilities.

The goal of the Kirin Group’s unique human capital strategy: "a company where human capital grows and wins through human capital"

By placing importance on human capital as the source of value creation and our competitive advantage and investing in them, we aim to become a company where human capital grows and wins through human capital.

At the Kirin Group, we believe that our management strategies define the direction we take in terms of our human capital strategies. At the same time, we also believe that our human capital capabilities constitute an important element when it comes to the formulation of management strategies and serve to expand the potential of our management strategies. As a source of competitive advantage, we will go about developing human capital that are characterized by diversity and expertise while at the same time having said talent accumulate a diverse array of business experience through our unique business portfolio (which spans from the Food & Beverages domain to the Health Science domain and Pharmaceuticals domain) and help them improve their expertise when it comes to marketing, R&D, and ICT.

Furthermore, we will go about creating an environment which fosters an organizational culture that embraces diversity and supports the nurturing of people who are motivated to grow. Efforts to that end will include hiring external human resources and people with disabilities and promoting the active participation of women in the workplace. By doing this, we will increase the motivation of each individual when it comes to taking on challenges and subsequently increase opportunities to spur innovation.

This is how the emergence of innovation through the combination of human capital and the development of human capital in the context of a diverse business portfolio, is something which can be described as a human capital strategy that is unique to the Kirin Group. By improving the value of human capital, we will better our organizational capabilities, strengthen our businesses, and realize our business plan and the sustainable growth and value creation of the Group.

  • Figure

  • Figure

Recognizing human capital strategy issues from the perspective of Group management issues

The short-term goals of the human capital strategy are to strengthen organizational capabilities and improve the effectiveness of strategy execution in line with the transformation of the business portfolio. In the medium-term, we will improve future corporate value by producing specialized and diverse human resources. At this time, we are focused on the five following issues:

  1. Strengthen organizational capabilities in line with the business portfolio transformation (Health Sciences, New Businesses, etc.)
  2. Human capital management focused on expertise and diversity is required when looking ahead in times of an uncertain future
  3. Create a culture that supports and strengthens human capital who can accomplish and innovate = capability to execute the strategy to achieve the advanced strategies
  4. Create job satisfaction in response to changes in the labor market and individual values
  5. Strategic evolution through communication with the stakeholders, with an opportunity on attention on human capital

Expertise and diversity are the keys to accelerating initiatives to realize sustainable growth and improved value from both the aspects of human capital and the organization

The keys to implementing the human capital strategy are expertise and diversity. In the VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity) generation, it is necessary to better the expertise and diversity of both human capital and the organization to accelerate innovation. In doing this, it is important to look at everyone’s motivation to grow and the collaboration and co-creation of diverse human capital.

Regarding human capital, by sympathizing with the Group Corporate Philosophy and Purpose, which are important to the Kirin Group, and promoting Will-driven self-reliant growth, which will lead to their own growth and contribute to the Group, they will invoke their motivation to grow through self-reliant learning and challenging and will raise their expertise. Additionally, by refining diverse perspectives and values through cross-business secondments based on expertise, opportunities to challenge advanced and wide-spread issues, etc., we will enhance our ability to strengthen our human capital as an organization.

Furthermore, we will take advantage of our unique business portfolio, which is expanding globally in a wide range of domains from the Food & Beverages domain to the Health Science and Pharmaceuticals domains, to raise the mobility of diverse human capital with cross-business expertise. We will also provide more opportunities for collaboration and co-creation among diverse human capital to enhance expertise and diversity as an organization that is more than just its individuals and teams. By doing all of the above, we aim to acquire the organizational capabilities and to foster an organizational culture that allows us to continue innovating.

In this way, the story that connects the enhancement of the motivation of individuals, who continue to autonomously learn and challenge themselves, as well as the collaboration and co-creation of diverse human resources to innovation, will be reflected in our future efforts to create challenges unique to the Kirin Group.

  • Figure: Overview of the Kirin Group’s human capital strategy

  • Figure: Overview of the Kirin Group’s human capital strategy

  • Figure: Important points of the human capital strategy

  • Figure: Important points of the human capital strategy

Examples of our Initiatives:

Invoke motivation to grow and provide opportunities to co-create with diverse human capital

We are creating opportunities for employees to talk with top management to invoke everyone’s motivation to grow in aim of becoming a company where human capital grows and wins through human capital. Additionally, we are making efforts to provide opportunities for our Group’s diverse human capital to co-create.

Dialogue to promote the Group Corporate Philosophy

We are promoting communication among employees and executives through sharing messages from the executives and roundtable meetings so Group employees and top management can come together and work as one to realize our Group’s vision.

As part of this initiative, we are hosting “Conversations with the Kirin Group’s Top Leaders,” an online event in which Kirin Holdings Company, Limited’s executives discuss and communicate with the employees. By doing this, we have created a place to exchange ideas on Group values, the meaning of diversity in business, CSV management, and more, and these events are attended by numerous employees from various portfolio companies and overseas, with the help of simultaneous interpretation.

On the day of the event, directly answering questions and comments received on zoom in addition to the pre-gathered questions brought the participants closer together. We have also received comments saying they feel closer to management and that the events have sparked something inside of and motivated them. We will continue to host such events to discuss about what our Group believes is important and our vision.

  • The event was held three times in FY2022. Each event is restricted to 1,000 employees and pre-registration is required.

Achieving diversity of the organization and self through cross-boundary learning

We aim to develop individuals’ self-reliant careers and diversity of the organization and individual through cross-boundary learning. Without limiting ourselves to the experiences and values of only our company, we will gain new perspectives and values through connections with the community. Furthermore, by bringing in human capital with differing values, our organization will become more diverse.

Specifically, in 2019 we started the Work-abroad program, and in 2020 we lifted the ban on side jobs and started to accept people to work side jobs with us (105 employees currently hold side jobs).*

In 2022 and 2023, we have been participating in the Consortium for Career Ownership and the Future of Work, a mutual side job initiative between companies. Additionally, we are participating in the Consortium for Human Capital Management, established in August 2022, and, with the support of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, promoting the sustainable value creation of Japanese companies.

  • The number of approved side jobs between July 2020 and December 2022 (includes employees from Kirin Holdings; Kirin Brewery; Kirin Beverage Company, Limited; and Mercian Corporation)

“Conversations with the Kirin Group’s Top Leaders”
An event aimed to provide a place to communicate with Group employees

An online event in where the Kirin Group’s executives discuss the Group’s vision

The Work-abroad program,
a cross-boundary learning initiative

Providing early training of human capital to support CSV management by dispatching young employees who volunteered themselves to non-profit organizations, etc., for first-hand experience in tackling social issues

Human capital disclosure index

  • Figure: Human capital disclosure index

  • Figure: Human capital disclosure index

IndicatorSupplementary information
Uniqueness

Development of human capital with both expertise and diversity

  1. Talent management on a function basis(Building a human capital development system)
  2. Number of participants in the exchanges between the Food & Beverages, Health Science, and Pharmaceuticals domains
  1. Organize the desired human resource requirements by function and the training process in aim of improving expertise
  2. Appoint human resources so specialized human resources can gain diverse experiences within the Kirin Group
Discover and foster group management human capital Create a database (talent pool) of future Group management human resources to grasp the sufficiency of human resources
Create challenges unique to the Kirin Group *Starting soon Set indicators for understanding and attachment toward the Group’s Corporate Philosophy and Purpose and each and every individual’s motivation to continue to grow through autonomous learning and challenging
Number of individuals taking part in cross-boundary learning Set the number of people who can have side jobs and be full-time workers as well as the number of participants allowed to partake in cross-industry training to enhance the organization’s and individuals’ expertise and diversity
Indicators of the embodiment of the corporate philosophy and purpose The number of Kirin Group Award applicants is set as the number of people who embody the Kirin Group’s vision
Indicator 2022 results Scope and supplementation
Comparability Employee engagement score (%) 70% The Kirin Group
Female management ratio (%) 10.6% Kirin Holding’s original hires
Percentage of mid-career hires (%) 27.3% Kirin Holding’s original hires
Gender wage difference (%)
  1. All employees     70.5%
  2. Full-time employees  71.2%
  3. Non-regular workers 44.9%
Kirin Holding’s original hires
Percentage of male employees taking paternity leave (%) 73% Kirin Holding’s original hires
Reinstatement rate after maternity/ childcare leave (%) 93.3% The Kirin Group
Average length of service (years/employee) 16.2 Domestic Group companies
Turnover rate (%) 10.6% Domestic Group companies
Lost time injury rate (LTIR) (number/million hours) 1.00 The Kirin Group
Average number of actual hours worked per year Confirming The Kirin Group
Employee fatalities due to accidents at work (people) 0 The Kirin Group
Number of complaints resolved around Labor Practices and Human Rights*1 98 The Kirin Group
Attendance rate of human rights training(%) 89.5% The Kirin Group
Percentage of employees covered by collective bargaining agreements (%) 53.1% The Kirin Group
  1. Referred to as the “Number of grievances about labor practices or human rights impacts filed, addressed, and resolved through formal grievance mechanisms” in the ESG data

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