We at the JCU Group believe that making effective use of the individual abilities of employees is a major pillar of our management, and are working to develop human resources and create comfortable working environments.

Comfortable Working Environment

Achieving Employee Retention

Average years of employment (non-consolidated)

JCU carries out initiatives to ensure employee retention. We encourage employees to make use of opportunities to discover and develop their own abilities such as by taking self-development seminars, visiting trade shows that can potentially help grow our business, and taking language training courses. We also ask all individuals to use a goal management sheet to set their personal goals. The goal management sheet is designed to help individuals express their individual goals with more clarity, and check whether they are able to perform work that is a step above and is more rewarding for themselves. In addition, we are also enhancing our employee benefit programs as a way of creating a comfortable working environment.

As a measure of whether these initiatives contribute to employee retention, JCU calculates the new employee retention rate, average number of years of employment, and turnover rate.

The retention rate for new employees who joined the company in the past three years (from the FY ending March 2022 to FY ending March 2024) has remained high at 92.9%. The average length of service for both men and women combined was 16.2 years, an improvement from the previous fiscal year. Compared to industry averages of years of employment (in manufacturing: 16.0 years for men and 11.6 years for women, for a total of 14.8 years *¹), our numbers were higher for both men and women. The average number of years of employment has been trending gradually higher for both men and women since the FY ending March 2018.

The turnover rate for the fiscal year ending March 2024 was 4.6% (for reference, the average turnover rate in the manufacturing industry for the first half of the fiscal year ending March 2024 was 5.1%*²). A breakdown of the turnover rate shows that 3.8% left for personal reasons, 0% for company reasons, and 0.8% for retirement or other reasons.

*1: Excerpted from the "Basic Survey on Wage Structure—Results and Overview" from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare
*2: Excerpted from the "2021 Survey on Employment Trends—Results and Overview" from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare

Harassment Countermeasures

As a measure to counter harassment, the JCU Group provides a permanent sexual and power harassment consultation section in-house. One male and female are assigned at all offices as contact persons in charge, and this is communicated to all employees on the intranet to create an environment where people feel comfortable seeking consultation. In addition, we have formulated a harassment prevention policy for all employees, and make every effort to prevent various types of harassment, resolve issues, and protect privacy.

In addition, we have also established a consultation desk outside the company (EAP/Employee Assistance Program) for addressing mental health and various harassment issues so that we are able to quickly act on stress and anxiety issues that employees may have. We provide mental health care training headed by EAP lecturers, distribute pamphlets and cards, and publish information on the intranet four times a year as part of our efforts to create an environment where all employees, including managers, are able to work comfortably.

Status of employee training on mental health and harassment (non-consolidated)

Diversity and Equal Opportunity

The JCU Group respects diversity and strives to realize equal opportunity.
There are no gender differences in our terms of employment.

Number of employeses
(non-consolidated)

Percentage of full-time employees
(non-consolidated)

Percentage of female managers
(non-consolidated)

Number of people with disabilities
(non-consolidated) / foreign national
employees (non-consolidated) employed

Childcare and Nursing Care

In order so that employees are able to make the most of diversity in performing their work, JCU provides a childcare leave program that allows employees to take more days off than the statutory days stipulated by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and a shortened working hours program for childcare that is used by male employees as well. We also provide a similar nursing care leave program.

Number of employees who took childcare leave (non-consolidated)

*Employees who took maternity leave subsequently took childcare leave, and 100% of them have returned to work.

Overview of Maternity Leave, Childcare Leave, and Nursing Care Leave Programs

Human Resource Development

In our Medium-term Management Plan announced in May 2024, the JCU Group has set "Effectively utilize human resources" as one of the basic policies and materialities. Among these, we believe that human resource development is an essential issue for realizing the vision we uphold for our company. For this reason, JCU is working hard to improve its human resource development programs along with various other initiatives.

New employees undergo training in various departments for approximately two months after joining the company, including technical training in which they learn the principles of surface treatment through experiments, factory training in which they learn the chemical manufacturing process from raw material input to shipment, and sales training in which they accompany their seniors to customers’ production sites where our chemicals are being used. This allows employees to experience the strengths of the JCU Group in the field, and acquire the basic knowledge that they will need to provide better products and services. In addition, we also conduct regular information security and compliance training to prevent information leaks and ensure compliance with laws and regulations.

As an example of our human resource development efforts at each of our business locations, the Niigata Plant Production Department conducts training programs to strengthen our capability to detect near misses and other problems. The R&D Center has adopted a skills matrix to provide employees with an objective view of their individual abilities and to raise their awareness of their own capabilities. And the Sales Office has created a "Sales Capability Development Activity Plan Progress Management Sheet" to help employees acquire the necessary skills. Our overseas offices also held a variety of training sessions, including technical workshops and study sessions on laws and regulations to improve the skills of local employees.

Furthermore, JCU offers the following training programs to help employees grow in ways that are consistent with the globalization of our organization.

The JCU Group will continue to implement a variety of measures for the development of its employees.

Human resources that the JCU Group seeks

Training programs for human resource development

Feedback from Participants of the Overseas Training Program

Feedback from Participants of the Overseas Training Program

JCU has adopted an overseas training program as part of our human resource development. This program is now in its third year, and we spoke to Mr. Okabe, the first trainee, about his experiences and the changes he experienced before and after the training.

Technical Manager,
Technical Assurance Department
JCU Surface Technology Hubei Co., Ltd. Kyohei Okabe

Q1.Before the training, what was your impression about working abroad?

I had a vague image of it being very demanding. In terms of work, there’s the language barrier and my responsibilities where I’m only one of the few Japanese people around. And then in terms of daily life, there’s food and medical care.
At the time, I worked in a department that was in charge of responding to and providing technical support on problems that customers were having, so I had experience traveling abroad for work. But I had the impression that actually living and working abroad would be something completely different.

Q2.What did you do during the training? Also, how did your interactions with the local staff go?

I underwent training at a local subsidiary in Thailand, and that included observing manufacturing and quality inspections, visiting customers, and analyzing defects at the laboratory. In addition, in Thailand at the time, they didn’t have many opportunities to handle Via Filling plating, one of our main products, so I also set up study sessions.
On my days off, I would go to tourist spots like Pattaya, and since I've always been active, I would go to the gym and even tried Muay Thai for the first time. By the second half of the training period, I had become completely accustomed to the local environment and even went out for walks around the city alone.
At first, it was a bit difficult at times to communicate with the local staff, partly because I was the first trainee in the program, but they were very cheerful and kind, and we eventually ended up going out for lunch and other activities together. One thing that left a lasting impression on me was when, by chance, I was invited to the wedding of a local staff member. That’s a great memory.

Q3.After the training, has your opinion about working and living abroad changed?

As you might expect, once my image of what working and living abroad would be like became more grounded in reality, that lifted any vague anxieties that I previously had. The language barrier, which I was particularly concerned about at first, wasn't as bad as I thought it might be once I got there. There were many business situations in Thailand where I could get by in English. I also realized that sometimes you can get your point across just by showing your actions, and I was reminded of the importance of taking initiative and acting.

Q4.Could you have anything else to say as we end this interview?

This training program gave me my first long-term experience of living abroad and was a very valuable one. I would be very happy if my experience could be of some help to those who will be taking the training in the future. If you have even the slightest interest in working overseas, by all means, give it a try.