Employment and human resource utilization | Employment and human resource utilization | Sustainability Report | Sustainability

Basic Concepts

"Contributing to society through the advancement of sporting goods and the promotion of sports" is Mizuno’s corporate philosophy. To uphold this philosophy, Mizuno continually puts strategic long-term effort into cultivating human resources and helping workers grow by providing various career development opportunities to all Mizuno Group employees regardless of nationality, race, gender, age, and other factors on a global scale.
To help employees find their work to be rewarding, Mizuno helps employees improve their skills and develop new skills so that they can apply such skills to their daily work.

Measures to help workers grow

To help employees develop new skills, Mizuno takes the following approaches based on the philosophy education program that requires employees to learn about Mizuno’s corporate DNA: 1) stratified training, which helps employees acquire the skills and ability needed at the stage of their careers they are currently at; 2) purpose-based training, which helps employees acquire specialized skills needed to resolve specific individual management issues; and 3) self-training support, which helps employees train themselves.

Human resources achieving Misuno’s growth

	Details	No. of participants
Philosophy education (Mizuno’s corporate DNA)	To help employees understand and share globally Mizuno’s corporate DNA, with others which is based on the founder’s philosophy, the management philosophy, and the three Fs	About 3，800 participants [*c]
Stratified training	To help employees acquire the basic ability and skills that all employees need at the point they are at in their careers. New employee training: 48 1st year sales employee training: 14 2nd year sales employee training: 11 3rd year employee training (including 3rd year sales employees): 42 Section chief training: 112	224 participants ＊ FY 2022 [*d]
Purpose-based training	To help employees acquire the ability and skills needed to resolve specific individual management issues. Business leader: 19 DX leader: 20 Project design: 27 Sales training: 395	About 354 participants ＊ FY 2022 [*d]
Self-training support	To actively support employees who are willing to undergo self-training.(English・Chinese communication / All-you-can-learn)	About 185 participants ＊ FY 2022 [*d]

Systems for helping employees take up challenges

Mizuno free agent system [*d]
Details	To help employees achieve self-realization, motivate employees to take up challenges, and enliven the workplace, Mizuno accepts the following types of free-agent applications: 1) job offer, 2) proposal, and 3) registration. Job offer: Different departments make job offers and employees apply for jobs that interest them. Proposal: Employees propose ways to change the way work is being conducted or make new business proposals as individuals or groups. Proposal: Employees propose ways to change the way work is being conducted or make new business proposals as individuals or groups.
Performance	FY 2022—job offer: none; proposal: none; registration: 6 employees
Technical job meister / craft system [*e]^＊1
Details	To help employees grow into talented craftsmen, activate employees performing technical jobs, help technical workers improve their skills, and pass on the great skills of technical workers to future generations, Mizuno awards the titles of "meister" and "craft" to employees who have great craftmanship and grant them an allowance.
Performance	FY 2022—Baseball: 5 employees; golf: 5 employees; apparel: 3 employees
Employee invention reward system [*b]^＊2
Details	The employee invention reward system aims to stimulate employees to continually come up with innovative and unique product development ideas. The system complies with patent law and aims to stimulate employees to actively put effort into coming up with inventions by properly evaluating work-related inventions made by employees (employee inventions) and granting rewards. There is no upper limit to the amount of reward that could be granted, and the amount is based on the level of contribution the inventor and invention makes to the Company’s sales.
Performance	FY 2022—rewarded inventions: 9 (16 inventors; excluding employees who have retired)
Overseas training and work system [*d]
Details	The overseas training and work system aims to help employees acquire specialized knowledge and skills relating to their job by working overseas, and simultaneously broaden the horizons of young employees, cultivating core personnel for overseas expansion. The provision of on-the-job training (OJT) and problem identification and resolution programs are carried out at overseas business locations throughout the dispatch period. The place of work is determined based on individual’s wishes, career, and personnel planning, among Mizuno’s overseas branches or subsidiaries, and employees will engage in work abroad for one year.
Performance	FY 2022, the dispatch has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
System for helping employees pursue an MBA (Master’s degree in business administration) at a graduate school in Japan as a working member of society [*d]
Details	The system aims to help employees acquire specialized knowledge of business in general, build networks, acquire logical thinking skills, and broaden their perspective. The Company will lend employees the money to pay their tuition, and employees who continue working at Mizuno for three years after obtaining their MBA will be exempt from paying back the money they were lent.
Performance	FY 2022—Employees newly pursuing an MBA: 1; number of employees who had already been pursuing an MBA since the year before: 2
System for helping employees attend external business schools [*d]
Details	The system aims to help employees acquire logical thinking skills, which Mizuno considers to be basic skills needed in business, and also aims to help employees build networks and broaden their perspective. In general, the Company will pay half of the tuition. However, if employees complete their business schools with outstanding grades, the Company will pay the total amount of their tuition.
Performance	In FY 2022 as well, Mizuno had to refrain from sending its employees to external business schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
System for helping employees receive online English communication lessons [*d]
Details	The system aims to help employees improve their English / Chinese communication skills through self-training. Employees will receive English communication lessons from native speakers of English online, and the Company will pay half of their tuition based on how often employees take English communication lessons.
Performance	FY 2022—number of employees who used this system: 111
System for helping employees take online video-based, business-related lessons [*d]
Details	The system aims to help employees improve their knowledge related to business and also create an environment that encourages willingly learning about business. Employees will be able create an environment that will allow them to view business-related videos wherever they are whenever they want to online, and to encourage employees to willingly learn about business, the Company will pay the fees needed to do so.
Performance	FY 2022—number of employees who used this system: 71

＊1 The data given above was gathered from Mizuno Corporation and Mizuno Technics.

＊2 The data given above was gathered from Mizuno Corporation and a number of Mizuno Group subsidiaries in Japan.

Award incentive

Creator of the Year (COY)

Mizuno calls its sales representatives, including wholesale, corporate sales, and sports facilities sales representatives, who institute various measures to help clients resolve their issues "creators." Creators who greatly help promote the sales activities of any given year are given a Creator of the Year (COY) award to encourage other creators to follow their example. In FY 2022, four creators were given the COY award.

Mizuno award system

To motivate employees to work harder and help them grow, employees who produce good results any given year and thereby contribute to the growth of the Company are given awards at the Founding Effort Commemorative Ceremony. In FY 2022, awards were given to 107 projects (364 employees).

System for evaluating employees fairly

Mizuno’s human resources evaluation system is not based on age or length of service. Instead, it is based on the following items: 1) ability demonstrated through daily efforts, 2) roles played, and 3) degree of contribution made to the Company’s performance. In addition, to evaluate the ability of each employee and analyze their aptitudes from multiple perspectives, in FY 2017, Mizuno introduced a human resources assessment system. In evaluating employees’ ability being demonstrated and performance, to ensure that they will be satisfied with their evaluation, employees are asked to meet with their supervisors before being evaluated. To ensure that evaluating employees will help them grow, Mizuno has employees meet with their supervisors after they receive their evaluations so that they can be provided with feedback.

Future issues to be addressed

Mizuno’s human resources development and training program is a combination of OJT (daily work execution, transfer experience) and OFF-JT (education / training) as well as a personnel system (personnel evaluation / treatment, etc.). Through this program, Mizuno develops employee skills and improves organizational capabilities.
For managers, based on the personnel system revised in FY 2019, Mizuno will bring out their ability to autonomously broaden their horizons and take on new challenges by effectively operating the system that appropriately evaluates and treats them according to the size of their role and the degree of performance.
For general employees, based on a newly started system from the FY 2022, we will emphasize contributions according to individual aptitude, focusing on nurturing the strength that will be the source of competitiveness to bear the future.

Development and Nurturing of Talent