Sustainability | SocietyDiversity & Inclusion
- Our Approach
- Structure
- Fiscal 2022 Goals, Achievements and Future Activities
- Initiatives
- Diverse Work Styles and Work-Life Balance
- Frameworks and Human Resource Systems to Maximize the Potential of Each Employee (TDK Corporation)
Our Approach
The TDK Group comprises numerous Group companies operating globally. We believe that we can continue generating innovative creativity by establishing an environment in which employees with diverse backgrounds can display their skills. This is crucial for realizing corporate growth. In April 2020 the TDK Diversity & Inclusion Policy was established.
TDK – Diversity & Inclusion Policy
At TDK, we must have a diverse workforce to achieve our mission to contribute to industry and culture through creativity. Our broad range of products and solutions in electronics, energy, materials, and sensors are complex, pervasive and help make our daily lives better across the world that we share.
TDK's people imagine, design, develop, manufacture, and bring these products and solutions to life. We can achieve our mission because we welcome a global pool of cultures, disciplines, perspectives, languages, ideas, skills, and experiences.
Target of TDK Diversity & Inclusion Policy is to create as much value as possible for the company and the society out of such a unique global pool of human resources. We foster the talent of the people in the TDK Group by strengthening the links between them and by supporting a vivid exchange of thoughts and experiences.
As stated in our TDK Code of Conduct, we are committed to respect each employee’s individuality and shall establish reasonable and fair systems for human affairs and treatment of employees. The diversity of our employees - their cultures, nationalities, ages, genders, backgrounds, religions, beliefs, races, sexual orientations, disabilities, and characteristics - are a major driving force for our success.
To date:
- TDK was founded in Japan and its headquarters are located in Tokyo, Japan, yet a big majority of our employees are situated outside of Japan.
- TDK unites people from many different cultural origins, located in many countries.
- TDK has employees in all age groups.
- Woman represent a very important part of our workforce.
- Continually support programs to improve our ability to communicate and collaborate.
Diverse teams help embrace different ideas and opinions, listen to each other, encourage development and lead to quality products and solutions that we all enjoy. We are strongly committed to building diverse teams that include all people.
As of April 2020
Structure
TDK is promoting activities according to the situation of each site or legal entity under the support of the Human Resources Function.
Launched the Diversity Promotion Department
In October 2020, TDK established the Diversity Promotion Department within the Human Resources HQ.
In order for TDK to be a company that society needs and continues to have high hopes for, we will continue to strive to foster a culture in which employees worldwide respect one another and feel free to exchange opinions, regardless of gender, age, nationality or ethnicity.
Our first step in embracing diversity will be a renewed and serious effort to empower the women of Japan. To date, we have put in place a number of programs designed to make it easier for women to work. The remaining issue is to shift from merely facilitating work to offering women an active role. As a company, we will draw out the capabilities, values , and potential of our female employees, incorporate those assets in our business, and tie them to the growth of TDK.
In addition, as a milestone, we have decided to carry out activities by setting the percentage of women in managerial position by 2035, which is the 100th anniversary of our founding, as follows :
Goal:
Percentage of women in managerial positions 15% by 2035
Fiscal 2022 Goals, Achievements and Future Activities
| Fiscal 2022 Goals | Achievements |
|---|---|
| Implement educational activities for managers in Japan to boost awareness of the significance of promoting diversity | Held 193 workshops to share the significance of activities with managers at TDK Corporation; 98% of targeted managers attended. |
| Implement measures to prevent harassment | Held communication seminars on the prevention of harassment, beginning in the Akita region; 98% of targeted personnel attended. |
| Implement career development education for female employees | Held career development education for female assistant managers ; dispatch to outside NPO, implementation of mentor system, implementation of career development seminars for female assistant managers |
Future Activities
| Fiscal 2023 Goals |
|---|
| Hold company-wide communication seminars on the prevention of harassment for managers; implement e-learning for ordinary employees |
| As in fiscal 2022, dispatch female assistant managers to NPO, implement mentor system, and hold career development seminars; also hold career development seminars for ordinary female employees |
Initiatives
Voices of staff working with diverse backgrounds
Capitalizing on Unique Career in Joint Work with Germany
My career is a bit unusual. After graduating from university, I wanted to work in a job where gender does not matter, so, as a civil servant, I became an immigration inspector at Narita Airport. After four years, I went to study abroad in Costa Rica. I met my husband in South America, and after our marriage we returned to Japan.
I spent the next six years as a full-time housewife engaged in childbirth and parenting. When child raising eased, since there was no work in which I could use my language skills in Toyama Prefecture, where we were living at the time, I found a job in quality management at a manufacturing company there. Despite the fact that I had no background in engineering, I received almost no instruction about my work! [Laughs] But I am naturally the kind of person who hates to lose, so I asked for some guidance and went on to acquire quality management skills.
After reaching the age of 40, I began to worry about the fact that it was difficult for women to gain promotion or broaden their careers in that company. Then I learned that TDK had a vacancy in quality assurance in Akita Prefecture, which was where I was from. My husband, a broad-minded Chilean, and my three children supported me, so our whole family moved to Akita. I get asked if I had any concerns, but the principles behind quality assurance were the same, and fortunately I like change, so I took the plunge.
I did struggle for a few years after joining the company, but then I shifted my way of thinking to one of “I’m a newcomer, so I can ask anything!” Repeatedly cornering people on the site to learn from them, I gradually became accustomed to the factory. Currently I am engaged at the Nikaho Plant South Site in the development and sale of manufacturing devices exported to a Group company in Germany. I like people, and I like change, so I find this work very attractive. Now that my children have grown up, I can go on long business trips to Germany too. Exporting devices that we have developed is just like sending off a daughter to be married! [Laughs]
I have been able to follow this path because TDK, including my current boss, has evaluated me fairly by my performance. This approach of looking at abilities regardless of gender has been a great motivation for me. Another attraction is that TDK is involved in business globally, so even in Akita, it is possible to work with people overseas. Recently I accompanied the delivery of a manufacturing device that we had developed to the Group company in Germany. For a few years now I have been studying German, because I realize that having better communication with the German employees not only would improve my performance at work but, most importantly, would be fun as well.
My dream is to broaden my potential more. TDK has given me the chance, so I want to try hard and seen how far I can go.
TDK Corporation
Production Engineering HQ
Production Engineering Center Equipment Insourcing Promotion Department
Youko Shiraki
Diverse Work Styles and Work-Life Balance
We believe that establishing an environment in which employees with diverse backgrounds can display their skills is crucial to continue generating innovative creativity and realizing corporate growth. One such effort is to support employees' work-life balance by creating an environment and systems that enable them to choose diverse and flexible work styles.
Examples of programs supporting diverse work styles and work-life balance (TDK Corporation)
Working-from-home system and super-flex time system
Systems that enable employees to have flexibility in where and when they work and to achieve diverse and flexible work styles. Super-flex is a system that allows employees to freely decide their working hours according to their individual needs without core hours.
Maternity and childcare support programs
We have systems to support balancing work with housework and childcare, such as "Maternity Leave," "Childcare Leave," and "Part-time Working Options." In principle, childcare leave is available until the day before the child's first birthday, but if both parents take childcare leave, the leave may be taken until the child reaches the age of one year and two months. (The maximum period of leave for each parent is one year.) "Part-time Working Options" are available in principle until the child reaches the end of the third grade of elementary school, and multiple working hour options are available. In addition, financial supports for childcare and nursing care related services are available.
Nursing care leave
This system is for employees who have been with the company for at least one year and are willing to continue working are eligible to take three leave periods (up to one year in total) for each family member who is in need of constant nursing care for a spouse, child, parent, grandparent, sibling, grandchild, or spouse's parent.
Rehiring system
The existing TDK Rehiring System, which rehires retirees, was revised and began operating as a new second career system in April 2017. The purpose of this system is to make more effective use of the knowledge and experience possessed by retirees and to fulfill our social responsibility as a company to comply with the revision of the Law Concerning Stabilization of Employment of Older Persons. Similar systems have also been introduced at subsidiaries in Japan. Furthermore, in October 2017, we introduced the "Welcome Back System" to rehire employees who left the company due to unavoidable circumstances such as childbirth, childcare, or nursing care.
Workstyle Options to Accommodate Spousal Relocation
In October 2017, we introduced two new systems: a relocation system for employees whose spouses have been relocated in Japan and a leave system for employees whose spouses have been relocated overseas. With these systems in place, even if it becomes difficult to continue working in one’s current workplace due to the relocation of one’s spouse, employees can now choose to relocate or take a leave to be with their spouse. The workstyle options provided by TDK are designed to allow employees to balance work with various events in their lives, a policy that aims to make TDK a company where people feel safe working at for a long time.
Efforts to Respect Human Rights and Equal Opportunity―Diversity Promotion Action Plan
TDK includes provisions regarding respect for human rights and prohibiting discrimination into the TDK Code of Conduct.
We implement specific initiatives on respecting human rights, equal opportunity, etc., including awareness-raising education for employees, and special counseling services including a telephone "help line." We have also established an array of systems designed to facilitate childcare and nursing care (childcare leave system, nursing care leave system, short-time work system, etc.).
As a result of creating environments that facilitate work and promote workstyles that maintain a good work-life balance, TDK was certified by the director of the Tokyo Labor Bureau as a Compliance General Business Operator pursuant to the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children and acquired the next-generation certification mark (commonly known as the Kurumin mark) in fiscal 2015.
Our plan is to continue to develop systems that are useful to our employees in their course of growth, and to implement new systems that are tailored to developing social trends as well as to the needs of our employees.
Frameworks and Human Resource Systems to Maximize the Potential of Each Employee (TDK Corporation)
TDK has a number of systems in place which are geared to helping each and every employee member discover and develop their true potential.
In-house Recruiting System
In 2000, we introduced an active in-house hiring system under which employees can apply for new positions posted on the internal recruitment board directly with the Human Resources Department, without going through their superiors. This system aims at promoting the principle of "the right person for the right job" throughout the TDK Group, to respond in a timely manner to changes in the organizational makeup and staffing requirements of the organization. The system provides opportunities for career development to employees who have the desire and ability to try and shape their careers on their own initiative. As of March 2021, 226 applicants had fulfilled the relevant requirements and taken on new positions.
Career Option System
In addition to the in-house hiring system, TDK introduced the career option system in January 2006, giving employees the opportunity to apply for transfer to a desired department or position. This system is designed to provide incentives for further self-growth and for making a positive contribution to the development of TDK. It also aims at stimulating employees to reassess their career plans from various perspectives.
Self-Determined Reporting System
A self-determined reporting system has been introduced for the purpose of supporting efforts by individual employees to develop their own careers and abilities, as well as to help ensure the best possible match between each job and the person performing it. Once a year, employees can report directly to the Human Resources Department, indicating which positions they want and which business sites they would like to work at, as well as the extent to which they are satisfied with their current positions. Employees desiring an interview have the opportunity to directly explain their choices during a session at the Human Resources Department.
The opportunity to have a dialog with the Human Resources Department on a regular basis encourages employees to think seriously about their own careers, and also supports efforts such as transfer and participation in education and training for new positions. In this way, it helps employees shape their own career.
Business Creation and Proposal Framework
TDK was born as a type of venture company with the aim of commercializing the ferrite material that had been developed at the Electrical Department of the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
Right from the outset, the concept of creating an enterprise through new products and ideas realized by challenging difficult tasks, and thereby contributing to culture and industry was central to TDK, and we believe that we continue in this vein. The Business Creation and Proposal Framework was created in April 2015 as a means to support the spirit of challenge. The idea is to provide the necessary resources for new business areas with the potential to enhance the corporate value of TDK, thereby helping to launch in-house ventures. In addition, the New Business Creation Training Program for supporting the devising of business plans also was established with similar aims.
