Message from the Head of Human Resources and General Affairs

At the Joshin Group, we regard people as the source of our corporate value. That is why we refer to people as “human resources.” We believe that the success of our human resources is what drives sustainable growth, and we are working to establish a foundation where all employees can thrive.

Kiminori Nishio

Executive Officer in Charge of Human Resources and General Affairs

Human resource developmen

The Joshin Group’s strength lies in its ability to propose lifestyle-enhancing solutions that meet customer needs. To develop professional expertise, we encourage employees to obtain recommended certifications. We also provide DX training for all employees to cultivate a business transformation mindset and offer a systematic program to nurture advanced expertise among those working in our growth businesses such as mobile communications and home renovation. Furthermore, we introduced a performance-linked stock incentive system to encourage each and every employee to participate in management and strive to create economic value from the same perspective as the Company. This helps to enhance employees’ sense of belonging and desire to participate in management, fostering a medium- to long-term perspective and boosting corporate value. Moving forward, we will continue to create an environment where diverse human resources can succeed and provide support to maximize each individual’s potential. By enhancing employee engagement and growth, we aim to generate new customer satisfaction and increase corporate value, thereby realizing our management philosophy of “Connecting people and society to the future with a smile.”

The labor union represents the workers and works to improve working conditions and economic positions. It also develops a relationship of trust with the Company that is the foundation for improving employee engagement. The Company and the labor union regularly hold labor-management council meetings. From the Company’s side, detailed information is shared about the changing management environment, management policies, business plans and their progress, financial results, and other items. From the labor union, issues are raised related to the work environment of employees and suggestions are made to management, making this a valuable forum for information sharing between labor and management. Labor-management council meetings are attended by the Company’s executive officers, as well as the union’s full-time officers and executives from each region. This facilitates the sharing of management’s visions and policies, and other details, with frontline union members. The council, as well as driving the business forward, plays a leading role in establishing a management system in which labor and management are united. (Collective agreement coverage: 93.0%)

Aiming to create “new customer satisfaction,” the Group is now engaged in securing and training a diverse range of human resources with D&I as the pillar of our strategy. The universal value of respect for human rights is the foundation of D&I that aims to ensure diversity. As well, initiatives for health and productivity management maximize organizational performance by fully harnessing the potential of diverse employees.

The Group’s human resources strategy includes creating a work environment where diverse people can perform at their best and play an active role, in this way creating an upward spiral that increases ease of work, leading to job satisfaction, then to employee ownership, and finally to improved engagement.

Although the indicators for capital-related profitability including ROE, ROA, and ROIC fell below the plan targets in fiscal 2023, the first year of the JT-2025 Management Plan, as a result of our pursuit of expertise in human resources we were able to increase the gross profit margin from 25.4% in the previous year to 26.0% this year. Starting from 20.2% in fiscal 2013, we have achieved a 5.8-point improvement over the last 10 years. Regarding “Human capital RoI” in the graph on the following page, although no immediate benefits from investment are visible, continual investment in human resources for training concierges leads to high value-added product sales based on lifestyle proposals, and has raised the profit base.

In May 2024, the Group introduced a performance-linked stock-based compensation system for employees. The purpose is to engender a sense of belonging and desire to participate in management among employees, and improve the awareness of increasing business performance and stock price, in order to improve the medium- to long-term corporate value of the Group.Granting stock of the Company and sharing economic value as a result of improved business performance creates a feeling of unity among Joshin employees, and leads to sharing of interests with stakeholders. Aiming for partnership management where the Company and its employees share the same perspectives in creating economic value, we hope that this will serve as a trigger for a positive cycle of increasing corporate value starting from employee engagement.

The goal of our human resources strategy is for the Company and employees to share a management vision and values, have every employee feel a bond with the Joshin brand and actively demonstrate their abilities, and to motivate them to contribute to the creation of new social value. We intend to connect “new customer satisfaction” to improved corporate value through the active participation of employees in management, and to realize our management philosophy of “Connecting people and society to the future with a smile.”

Recognizing roles of the team and oneself and having a sense of ownership will lead to improved personal and organizational performance. As an opportunity to learn and grow on one’s own, we provide our workforce with training programs according to their job levels.

When employees feel a sense of empathy towards the Company's reason for existence and vision, the trust relationship between the employees and the Company will deepen, and a greater employee engagement will be achieved. The Joshin Group is committed to creating new customer satisfaction through improved employee engagement, and thereby achieving sustainable growth and increased corporate value.

Human Resources Linked with the Business Stage

At present, we are making upfront investments to maximize the potential of our human resources and create value for the future. Going forward, we will continue investment to produce future leaders.

1. Customer satisfaction (%) = very satisfied + satisfied in our online questionnaire 2. Human capital RoI: ISO 30414 indicator [Sales - {Sales, general, and administrative expenses - (Wages and allowances + Bonuses + Legally required and other welfare expenses)}] ÷ (Wages and allowances + Bonuses + Legally required and other welfare expenses) - 1 3. In fiscal 2019 we carried out large-scale investment in electronic pricing.

Internal Environmental Improvement Policy

The Group believes that the active participation of diverse human resources is the source of our organizational strength to seize new business values, and to achieve sustainable growth. To improve the Group’s corporate value by contributing to society as an infrastructure hub for a better life, it is necessary to create new value by understanding the issues and needs of society. For that reason, the Group will create an internal environment where everyone is given a fair opportunity and can thrive in good mental and physical health while achieving job satisfaction. We will then turn the ideas coming from the freethinking of diverse employees into new businesses as well as make sustainability management a reality.

Human Capital KPI for Realization of Our Management Philosophy