Human Capital

Our people

Basic policy

In order to continue to contribute to society through our business activities, we believe it is extremely important to hire, train, and properly assign a diverse range of personnel so that we and our employees can mutually develop. The growth of individual employees leads to the growth of the company, and the growth of the company leads to further growth opportunities for individual employees, making it possible for us to grow sustainably while increasing the total amount of contribution to society. Based on this belief, we are working on developing a human resource development system that encourages the growth of individual employees and a work environment where all employees can work with a sense of fulfillment.

Human resource principle

"The pursuit of PROFESSIONALISM with PASSION and INTEGRITY" is our human resource principle. In hiring new personnel, we believe that by hiring people who fit this principle, both the company and individuals can grow continuously while responding autonomously to the rapidly changing business environment.

Policy on human capital development, including ensuring diversity

The growth of SMS Group leads to social contribution through solving social issues. In order for organizations to continue to grow over a long period of time, it is essential to secure employees who have the capabilities necessary for our growth. SMS Group operates a diverse range of businesses, including the Career Business for medical care and elderly care professionals, the Management Support Platform Business for elderly care operators, the Health and Productivity Management Support Platform Business, the Problem-Solving Platform Business, the Medical Platform Business (overseas) and the Global Career Business (overseas) . Therefore, the employees involved in these operations are also required to be diverse. As a premise for realizing diversity, we are working to foster a corporate culture in which each individual, regardless of age, gender, nationality, race, ethnicity, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, employment status, or lifestyle, etc. is respected and recognized without discrimination, and grows together. In addition, we believe that it is possible to expand the scale of organization with diversity by hiring a large number of talented people with diverse backgrounds, both new graduates and mid-career, supporting the further growth of employees, and developing an environment in which individuals can work with high productivity and motivation while leveraging their abilities.

We also believe that, for the development and growth of an organization, it is essential that each employee grows and the motivation of employees is linked to our Philosophy and Mission. In order to realize our Management Philosophy of "continual growth and contribution to society as an everlasting corporate group," we have established two Management Principles: "mutual development of organizations and individuals" and "horizontal and vertical linkage of the management processes.” In order to realize our Management Philosophy, it is necessary to sustainably develop human capital over the medium to long term, and Management Principles are the foundation of human capital development. The mindset of "mutual development of organizations and individuals" and "horizontal and vertical linkage of the management processes" promotes the growth of employees and the penetration of Philosophy, and the power of each individual is correctly converted into the power of organization, leading to the development and growth of organization.

- Mutual development of organizations and individuals

We have continued to increase both sales and profits since our establishment and realize continual growth and contribution to society. In order for organizations to continue to grow over a long period of time, the growth of each individual employee is essential. We promote the growth of individuals by providing them with new opportunities created by the growth of organizations. As individuals grow, the value created by them increases. By linking our Mission to individual goals through each organization, the value created by individuals leads to organizational growth and social contribution. The growth of employees through opportunities leads to the growth of organizations, which in turn leads to the creation of new growth opportunities. By continuing this cycle of growth and contribution, we will continue to realize mutual development of organizations and individuals over the medium to long term.

- Horizontal and vertical linkage of the management processes

The phrase management process refers to thinking about and executing on three necessary elements of management and operation: strategies, human capital, and operations. In an environment that is highly complex and constantly changing over a long period of time, we believe it is essential for all employees to execute the management process independently. For this reason, we require employees in all roles, not just executives and business managers, to take the lead in executing the management process to create greater value. The phrase management process refers to thinking about and executing on strategies (strategic process), human capital (people process), and operations (OPS process) in an integrated manner. We are not only executing the management process at the Group, Strategic Unit (SU), Business Unit (BU), and individual levels, but also linking the management process vertically to the level of the individual throughout the entire Group. With this vertical link, we can align the value created at each level, and link the contributions created at each level with the contributions of the entire Group with the goal of realizing our Mission (vertical linkage of the management process). Furthermore, by horizontally linking the management process between adjacent organizations and individuals, we can generate synergies and make greater contributions that could not be made alone (horizontal linkage of the management process). By linking the management process vertically and horizontally in this way, we aim to achieve mutual development of organizations and individuals, and to realize our Mission unitedly. In addition, we aim to lead to greater growth that cannot be achieved alone and continue to increase the sum total of our contributions to society, by sharing the knowledge and capabilities accumulated through continuous growth among organizations and employees.

Policy on development of work environment

In order to continue to create value with high productivity by expanding the scale of organization while recruiting and training diverse employees, it is essential to develop work environment that is comfortable and rewarding for employees in diverse situations including differences in backgrounds and changes in life stages such as childcare and elderly care. We also work to maintain and improve the health of employees so that each individual can work in good mental and physical health, and implement initiatives to enable proactive career development by providing support for achieving individual growth and work-life balance.

Our initiatives

- Development of comfortable and rewarding work environment

• Limitation of work hours
  In order to encourage employees to work productively within the time limit and self-improvement after work, we set 19:30 as the time for leaving work completely in principle.
  *The time is set within two hours after the end of regular work hours and may vary depending on the employee's department or job title.


• Anniversary day-off 　　
  Employees can take a paid day off per year as an anniversary leave.


• Support for childcare and elderly care
  We support our employees in balancing work with childcare and elderly care through institutional measures such as childcare leave, elderly care leave, shorter working hours available until their children enter junior high school, and allowances for nursery schools and babysitters. In addition, we offer our employees assistance through the establishment of an internal portal site containing information on childcare and elderly care, as well as internal use of the consultation service for elderly care in our Senior Life Business.


• Employee stock ownership plan
  In order to enhance employee benefits and motivate employees to pursue business growth, we have established an employee stock ownership plan, which is open to all employees regardless of position and provides a 10% financial incentive.


• Stock option
  We grant paid stock options to officers and managers above a certain grade to increase their morale and motivation to contribute to the growth of the company.


• Health and productivity management
  We established the health promotion office, which reports directly to the CEO, is engaged in a variety of initiatives to promote employee health and increase productivity.
  Health and Productivity Management
　

• Employment of people with disabilities and placement according to individual characteristics and abilities 　
  As the number of employees continues to increase, the number of employees with disabilities is also increasing year by year. While giving consideration to the characteristics of disabilities, we have developed a rewarding work environment in which all employees, regardless of whether with or without disabilities, can collaboratively play an active and meaningful role through placement according to individual characteristics, abilities, and wishes.
　 　

• Career survey
  In order to achieve mutual development of organizations and individuals, we conduct a career survey once every six months to grasp each employee's thoughts and wishes regarding their career, and to obtain important input for realizing their career in line with their wishes and creating a more comfortable and rewarding work environment for employees.
　

• DEI&B (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) promotion project
  We have started the "DEI&B Promotion Project" with the aim of creating an environment in which diverse employees can work more comfortably and independently in their careers from the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025. We plan to assess the situation, analyze the factors, and implement measures to promote women's active engagement in our company, with a specific focus on initiatives from a gender perspective within DEI&B in the fiscal year ending March 2025.

• ▸Acquisition of "Eruboshi Certification"
  We have acquired the "Eruboshi Certification," a program that the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare certifies excellent companies for their actions to promote female participation and advancement based on the Act on Promotion of Female Participation and Advancement in the Workplace.

- Support for growth

• One-on-one meeting
  At regular one-on-one discussions, superiors and subordinates work together to set goals based on the management processes, and discuss the careers these subordinates want to achieve at SMS and the issues and specific approaches to achieve them. Through these processes, we aim for penetration of the Philosophy and steady human capital development.


• Support for qualification acquisition
  We pay for examination fees and learning materials for employees who acquire work-related qualifications.


• Training and education 　
  We offer a variety of training programs to improve business skills, language skills, and management skills.


• Support for book purchase 　
  We pay for books necessary for employees to autonomously develop their skills or perform their duties.


• Allowance for skill development 　　
  An allowance of 150,000 yen is provided once a year to support employees' skill development and career advancement.


• Job posting system 　　
  With the growth of each business, various roles are created and expanded in each organization on a daily basis. We conduct internal recruiting several times a year to create synergy between organizations by leveraging the skills and experience of each employee, and to provide career development opportunities for employees who are willing to take on many opportunities that exist within the company.

Indicators related to human capital

In order to continue to increase our corporate value over the long term and total contribution to society, it is necessary to continuously expand the number of employees, who are the source of that value, along with diversity. For continuous expansion of a workforce, it is essential not only to hire diverse and talented people, but also to maintain and improve employees' work engagement by developing a comfortable and rewarding work environment, while penetrating our Management Philosophy of "continual growth and contribution to society as an everlasting corporate group." In the process, we believe that we can secure and retain talented people by promoting initiatives that lead to correct social inequalities, such as gender gap.

Based on this approach, SMS Group considers the following to be important indicators and has set targets.

*1 SMS Co., Ltd. and its subsidiaries
*2 SMS Co., Ltd.

Respect for human rights

SMS Group has established four foundamental values to realize our Management Philosophy of "continual growth and contribution to society as an everlasting corporate group," one of which is "continually perceiving and responding to the demands of society." In response to the fact companies are expected to fulfill their responsibility to respect human rights in all aspects of their business activities, we established the "SMS Human Rights Policy" to express our approach to respect human rights in March 2023. The Policy was submitted to and approved by the Sustainability Committee. We periodically reviews and revises the Policy to respond to ever-changing demands of society regarding respect for human rights.

◆SMS Human Rights Policy

Established in March 2023

Recognizing that respect for human rights is a social responsibility, SMS and its consolidated subsidiaries (hereinafter the "SMS") have established the SMS Human Rights Policy (hereinafter the "Policy") in order to realize our Management Philosophy of "continual growth and contribution to society as an everlasting corporate group," and promote initiatives to respect human rights in accordance with the Policy.

Our basic approach to human rights

SMS supports and respects the International Bill of Human Rights of the United Nations (the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic Social, and Cultural Rights, which are the main treaties that shape the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) and the principles on fundamental rights under the 10 core conventions listed in the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work of the International Labour Organization as internationally recognized principles and standards to be observed at a minimum in relation to human rights.

Scope

The Policy applies to all officers and employees of SMS. In addition, we encourages SMS's business partners to support the Policy and work together to respect human rights. If the business partners' efforts to respect human rights are inadequate, we request them to take appropriate actions.

System to promote respect for human rights

The Sustainability Committee, which is chaired by the CEO, deliberates, formulates and confirms progress of initiatives related to respect for human rights.

Human rights due diligence

SMS establishes a human rights due diligence system in line with the UN's Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. After assessing the negative impacts on human rights caused or contributed to by our business activities, we incorporate efforts to prevent or mitigate any identified negative impacts into relevant internal processes and take appropriate measures. We continuously monitor the effectiveness of these measures and strive to improve them. We also encourage relevant business partners to respect the Policy in the event that our business relationships result in negative impacts on human rights involving SMS services.

In addition, we will provide education and training to all officers and employees to deepen their understanding of the Policy and respect for human rights, and strive to promote understanding of the Policy among our business partners.

We will appropriately disclose the progress and results of our efforts to respect human rights on this website.

Human rights issues of particular importance to SMS are specified at the end of the Policy.

Correction and remediation

In the event that SMS's corporate activities clearly cause or contribute to negative impacts on human rights, we will take appropriate procedures to address them.

Specifically, we have introduced a whistle-blowing hotline where all officers and employees can report and consult on violations of laws, regulations, and internal rules as well as harassment in the workplace. We also have an external hotline managed by outside lawyers in case a whistle-blower feels uncomfortable about reporting to the internal hotline.
The whistle-blowing hotlines allow officers and employees to choose freely whether to report anonymously or not. We ensure the confidentiality of information related to whistle-blowing. We also ensure that whistle-blowers will not suffer any disadvantages, including retaliatory personnel action, due to the content of the report. In the external hotline, whistle-blowers can access a female contact person.
MIMS has established procedures for internal reporting and ensures that employees are free to choose whether to report anonymously or not, and that they will not suffer any disadvantages by the reporting.

Dialogue with stakeholders

In implementing the Policy, we recognize the importance of the perspective of stakeholders who may be subject to human rights violations. Therefore, we strive to promote initiatives to respect human rights by constantly engaging in close dialogue with stakeholders and utilizing external expertise on human rights.

Human rights issues of particular importance

Prohibition of discrimination and harassment

Prohibit all discrimination based on race, gender, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, sexual orientation, gender identity, health condition, or disability.
Prohibit power harassment, sexual harassment, and all other forms of harassment, whether mental or physical.
Strive to provide services that can be used in safety by all people regardless of age, gender, location, or disability, and give maximum consideration to provide services without causing or contributing to discrimination or harassment.

Prohibition of forced labor and child labor

Prohibit all forms of forced labor and child labor, including slavery and trafficking, and also require business partners to comply with this provision.

Respect for privacy and protection of personal information

Respect privacy at all times and strive to appropriately protect and manage personal information of all customers, service users, officers and employees, and other stakeholders.

Information Security