For Our Employees

Basic Approach

As the fields of operation of the Kikkoman Group expand and become global, the employees working in the Kikkoman Group are also becoming more diversified. Recognizing our environment is experiencing numerous changes, we strive to create work environments that employees can work with peace of mind and a sense of job satisfaction and utilize diverse human resources with different backgrounds and values to develop a global human resource.

Respecting Human Rights

When doing business, the Kikkoman Group respects human rights. The Kikkoman Group Code of Conduct states, “We respect personalities and individualities, foster mutual understanding, and stamp out discriminations based on prejudices. We make fair evaluations in the treatment of employees.”

In 2001, Kikkoman announced our participation in the United Nations Global Compact(UNGC). The ten principles of the UNGC set forth in the Global Compact’s “Human Rights” and “Labor Standards” sections are fully compatible with those stipulated in our Labor Agreement, Working Regulations, and Labor-Management Joint Declaration.

Preventing harassments

Kikkoman regards sexual and power harassments as human rights violations and prohibits them in Kikkoman’s working regulations. Human resources departments are responsible for preventing and handling harassment issues, and we have opened counseling offices at major worksites. Furthermore, we continue to raise employee awareness of this issue through activities such as training programs for managers and supervisors.

Promoting fair human resource systems and enlarging career opportunities

Kikkoman’s human resources system employs an ability based evaluation process that comprises several subsystems, including human resources utilization, training and education, performance reviews, and compensation.

Each employee’s individual performance is reviewed under a goals-and-objectives system whereby supervisors conduct interviews with their staff. Prior to the interviews, all supervisors are required to receive assessor training in order to ensure the fairness of reviews. We strive to support employees’ individual career objectives through self-assessment, a Career Development Program (CDP), and a Career Challenge Program, all of which allow employees to develop their skills and make their own decisions when applying for new positions within Kikkoman. Moreover, to ensure fairness across the entire human resource management system, we have created a Human Resource Management Verification Committee comprising labor union and management representatives, and the Human Resources Department periodically conducts interviews of individual employees in offices and plants in Japan and overseas to monitor implementation of the system.

The Human Resource Management System (Kikkoman)

Nurturing Better Work Environment

In order to support and encourage employee efforts to achieve a healthy balance between rewarding work and fulfilling private lives, Kikkoman has implemented a set of Company-developed support programs designed to create an environment whereby employees can make the most of their abilities in a healthy and vital manner. We introduced childcare leave 10 years before its enactment in law and family care leave 20 years before its enactment in law.

In 2009, 2012, and 2014, Kikkoman received Kurumin certification from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, authorizing the company’s use of the Kurumin logo in accordance with the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-generation Children and recognizing it as a “company that actively works to support raising next-generation.”

Flexible work arrangements (Kikkoman)