Human Resource Development
Human Resource Policies and Basic Approach to Human Resources
The ID&E Group considers its human resources as its greatest management asset and the source of value creation. The Group provides a full range of training and seminar programs designed so each employee is fully aware of their role as a professional, feels their own growth, freely demonstrates their abilities, and feels a sense of purpose in their work. In addition, the personnel structure and training systems are formulated to support continuing skill development.
Training, Programs, and Systems for Human Resource and Skill Development
| Training and Seminars |
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|---|---|
| Programs |
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| Systems |
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- *1Technical Development: A Nippon Koei training program for employees to define their career vision to serve as a guide for developing technical expertise to achieve their vision.
- *2Abbreviation of Multi Seed Program, which is a system of personnel exchange that assign employees to a different department than the originating department for a set duration to develop engineers
Increase recruitment of new graduates
In order to respond to Japan’s national resilience plan and the global demand for infrastructure, we are increasing the number of our employees. Specifically, we established a plan to significantly increase the number of new graduates who will be responsible for the future of the Group from 2019 to hire more than 150 employees every year. The Nippon Koei Group continues to recruit on this scale and is expanding its post-entry training programs.
Increase the number of certified professional engineers
Construction consulting services in Japan are required to be performed by certified professional engineers. Therefore, in order to bid on a large number of projects, it is necessary to secure certified professional engineers. The Nippon Koei Group has 1,743 professional engineers in its construction, comprehensive engineering supervision, applied science, and water supply and sewerage departments, boasting the highest number of certified professional engineers in the industry. We support individuals seeking to become certified professional engineers by offering annual preparation seminars for the certification examination.
Hybrid human resource development
We call human resources engaged in both domestic and overseas operations “hybrid human resources” and plan to increase the ratio of this human resource type. In addition to aiming for global expansion throughout the organization, we are efficiently allocating personnel resources from the perspective of risk hedging to realize operations that minimize the impact of risks. From the perspective of work-life balance, we aim to be a corporate group that can work in a variety of ways according to life stages.
On the other hand, since the way business is conducted in Japan and overseas differs greatly, it is expected that issues specific to hybrid human resources will arise. Therefore, we are promoting the development of labor and personnel evaluation, etc., by understanding actual conditions through questionnaires. We are also strengthening training in language, project management (PM), safety management, and other areas necessary for overseas operations.
Human Resource Development Policy
We believe that it is very important for human resources development to work on their own initiative to improve their skills.
Therefore, we support this initiative through a variety of support systems and systematise training according to growth stages and at milestones in the development of employees as their roles change. We hope that the training will help them to become more aware of their roles and change their mind-set.
Specialist technical skills alone are not sufficient for people to achieve their full potential. They need to acquire knowledge of the common business skills of logical and strategic thinking, financial accounting and corporate legal affairs, as well as the management skills required to run an organisation or project and work together with members to achieve goals. We believe that only by acquiring these various knowledge and skills, and by comprehensively demonstrating our abilities, can we do "good work".
It is also important to have knowledge about mental health and harassment prevention, which is necessary to create a working environment where people can concentrate on their work with peace of mind, and to act consciously, and to have knowledge about life planning, which is important for personal life planning.
Themes and objectives are set from these various perspectives and training is provided to enable employees to play a more active role.
Training is not only an opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills, but also to exchange opinions and information with employees in departments with which they have little contact in the course of their work. Through such exchanges, employees are stimulated in various ways and new networks are developed, which can then be utilised in their work.
In addition, we are actively promoting online training courses in order to provide more opportunities to attend. In fact, it is commonplace for employees to participate in training courses from their overseas locations. Training courses that are mainly aimed at acquiring knowledge are available as e-learning courses or recorded content (archived), and we have a full line-up of courses that can be repeated at a convenient time.
In addition to training, the company also offers a wide range of support systems for self-development, such as a 'qualification acquisition incentive system' and a 'distance learning support system'.
Specific initiatives
NK Academy
The development of young engineers and the passing on of skills to the next generation is an important issue for our company. To address this issue, the NK Academy, an in-house training programme for young technical employees of the Nippon Koei Group, was established in June 2020.
The Human Resource Planning Department and individual departments plan the themes, in-house lecturers conduct the courses, and videos are archived after the courses are completed to promote repetitive learning. In the six months since its launch, 19 courses have been held in the technical field and six in the business skills field. In addition, courses in 13 specialised fields, including river and water engineering, erosion control, coastal engineering, transport, electricity and electronics, and the built environment, have been established to deepen knowledge in each specialised field.
In the future, we will work to further expand the courses and develop global versions to provide high-quality technical services that contribute to the development of society.
ID&E Global Academy
In order to expand the NK Academy initiative to the entire Group, we aim to establish the ID&E Global Academy. It will consolidate training programmes within the Group, collaborate with academic institutions, expand learning content through multilingual support and share knowledge to raise the level of competence and skills of all employees. The academy is currently being developed in stages with the aim of being established in FY2024, with a view to opening it to other companies in 2030 as a place where not only the Group but also people from all over the world can gather and learn.
Training in the third year of employment
[Target group] Employees in their third year with the company (same age group)
[Objectives and main programme]
- 1.to acquire problem-solving skills at a level that can be used in practice, based on basic logical thinking concepts
- 2.to acquire the common basic knowledge in daily work necessary for young employees
- 3.acquire knowledge on mental health (self-care)
- 4.to meet with colleagues who have joined the company in the same year and to stimulate each other's growth.
[Comments from participants (example)]
- I was able to reflect on my own behaviour and gain many insights into how to carry out my work, which I had learnt in the new employee training, by learning it again through practical experience.
- It was good to learn logical thinking, which I had not been able to do before. I want to make use of it in my work.
- It was good that the group work was based on concrete examples, so it was practical.
FDM training
[Target group] Chief of Section after one year in office.
[Objectives and main programme]
To provide opportunities for mutual development and to improve the management skills of organisations and operations.
- 1.the realistic environment managers will face in the future
- 2.case studies on team management (group work, plenary discussion)
- 3.creating member consensus and practice where the limits of rationality are exceeded
- 4.building the foundations of teamwork
[Comments from participants (example)]
- In building a relationship of trust, I felt that I should concretise and share the direction and the future image to aim for.
- I realised that the same 'change in subordinates' can be seen as good or bad, depending on one's perspective and mindset. I want to ensure that my 'theme' is consistent.・It was good that the group work was based on concrete examples, so it was practical.
