*The department names, titles, and job descriptions of the employees listed here are as of the time of the interview.

Basic Philosophy

Because it is people who will carry out our management strategy, we believe that our human resources are the source of our growth as a company. We have established a Group Human Resources Policy that covers our aims and organization for the human resources issues we must address to achieve the Nichirei Group’s long-term management goals N-FIT2035 and our targets for material matters (materiality). To address these issues, we have defined a human resources strategy and set five themes to steadily advance this strategy. We will continue working to ensure that each of our personnel measures is designed and implemented to increase corporate value.

Our Philosophy on Human Resources

• They are key to helping us support good eating habits and health, which will lead to a more sustainable society
• Through diversity and motivation, they boost the Group’s development
• Their strategies, linked to those of management, underpin the social value of our human resources and promote behavioral change

Group Human Resources Policy
(The Kind of Human Resources We Need and the Organization That We Aim to Be)

Human Resources Strategy

Each Group company promotes efforts adapted for its individual businesses, however, the Group has also established the Group-wide Group Human Resources Committee and Diversity Promotion Conference and shares information about and confirms the progress with each company’s measures to continually enhance workplaces through these two councils.
At the Group Human Resources Committee, we share and report on measures to improve work satisfaction being promoted by each company and confirm progress.

① Human Resources that Lead the Nichirei Group

Securing and developing human resources for the Group management

In order to achieve sustainable growth in corporate value, it is essential to develop next-generation management personnel who can gain a deep understanding of the value of the Group’s various tangible and intangible assets, enhance their value, and link them to future earnings.
The Group operates a diverse range of businesses. In order to achieve the growth of the entire Group, it is important for each business unit not only to achieve its own growth, but also to explore how business units can spark chemistry among them and create new products.

Introduction of a Group-wide personnel evaluation system (new competencies)

In order to develop human resources who will lead the Nichirei Group in the future, we will "visualize" human resource requirements and build a system that enables cross-group human resource development and promotion. This is to identify and visualize what is required for Nichirei Group management (values, work attitudes, behavior, etc.) as new competencies common to the entire Group.
The new competencies will be applied not only to evaluation but also to hiring, human resource development, promotion, and other areas to promote employees’ autonomous career development.

• * GL=Group Leader

Securing and developing human resources for overseas operations

In line with our long-term management goal N-FIT 2035, we need to accelerate the pace of overseas business expansion. In order to achieve this, we believe there is an urgent need to expand the business itself, including the realization of group synergies through such measures as the integration of food businesses, and to build and strengthen a global governance system.
As part of our human resources strategy, we clarify the areas where collaboration is needed and where responsibilities should be divided between the holding company and operating companies, and are making investments focusing on the development of human resources that will be key players. In addition, in order to ensure further progress, we have identified the job descriptions of personnel for governance of overseas operations that should be strengthened, and have set a KPI of the number of such human resources required by 2030 under the new medium-term business plan “Compass x Growth 2027.”
In order to achieve the KPI, we are expanding the pool of candidates for human resources capable of dealing with governance for overseas and systematically developing them based on their individual career goals. Specifically, we have systematized and implemented measures to develop human resources, in such subjects as language skills and cross cultural understanding and mindset, based on the human resource requirements that have been identified along with the nature of work. Furthermore, by strengthening the hiring of experienced personnel from outside the Company, we will quickly build a system to accelerate overseas business.
In addition, the realization of business strategies is an essential element for human resources to lead the business. Specific business strategies include strengthening operations in North America through integration of production and sales, stable procurement of raw materials in Southeast Asia, and expansion of global sales channels in the food business, and business expansion in Europe and infrastructure development and sales expansion in each country in Southeast Asia in the temperature-controlled logistics business. Aiming to develop human resources to carry out these activities, we are implementing measures such as providing young employees with opportunities to learn about the work directly on-site. We also systematically secure human resources for business operations by strengthening recruitment from outside the Company, in the same way as for human resources for governance.

●KPI of Human Resources Capable of Dealing with Governance for Overseas

• * Definition of human resources capable of dealing with governance for overseas: General term for managerial personnel responsible for overall governance of overseas operations (business management, corporate internal audit, accounting and finance, human resources, sustainability, information, general affairs, etc.) in each area

Employee Interview

Differences in values and wide-ranging work experiences broaden the world.

② Recruitment and Education

Recruitment

We believe that human resources are the source of corporate growth because it is people who work to realize management strategies. We define our “vision and organization” as follows.

In order to secure and develop these human resources, each Group company individually implements recruitment activities that match the business and organizational culture of each company, rather than applying uniform recruitment standards.

Initiatives by Nichirei Foods

Education

Shiko-juku: Comments from a participant

Development of IT and DX Human Resources

DX Bronze training to enhance DX literacy (started in FY2023) was conducted for approximately 4,100 employees. In addition, we provided DX Silver training to about 840 employees, including workshops that focused on “transformation” leveraging digital and data. In FY2025, project management training was launched as DX Gold training to increase the success rate of IT and DX projects, and has been held regularly since FY2026. (DX Gold training officially started in FY2026)
In addition, a total of 35 employees have completed the data analysis human resource development program, which uses data to solve their own operational issues, starting to bring mutual enhancement in the internal community of the Company. We will accelerate the development of human resources that support operational innovation through a variety of training measures, including training on the use of new technologies such as generative AI.

DX Silver training led me to focus on the Nichirei Group’s unique data analysis-based human resources development program, addressing the practical issue of visualizing the time, number of cases, lead time and other factors required for all the stages from ordering to inspection work at each center. In streamlining duties to deal with the labor shortage and improve profitability, I deemed it imperative to start by visualizing the work to determine where the issues lie and what the best course of action is.
Feeling a sense of accomplishment from the results of the training program and recognizing the need to put what I had learned into practice, I proceeded with system development of a dashboard.* Launched in April 2024, this dashboard is now available to approximately 2,000 people with core system accounts, enabling them to use it for data analysis. This analysis has revealed bottlenecks at one center, such as the frequency of manual entries and same-day input tasks in registering incoming and outgoing goods. The Integrated Operations Management Division will continue to promote the use of the dashboard for analysis as it works to establish and support environments that enable logistics facilities to identify bottlenecks and make precise operational improvements.

Development of Human Resources for Sustainability

The Nichirei Group has been ramping up sustainability management by implementing position-based study sessions and education and training programs for all levels of employees since FY2023.

We deepen learning by inviting experts to conduct lectures on topics such as sustainability management, sustainable procurement, business and human rights, climate change, a circular economy, biodiversity, and diversity of human resources.

The training employs a unique online business card game called “One for Future”, which incorporates information on the Group’s assets and material matters to deepen thinking about how to achieve both social and economic value. Participants assemble in teams (as members of different operating companies from the ones they belong to) to think about the social issues they can resolve using the Group’s strengths and capabilities. In FY2024, the program was initiated for managers, and efforts are underway for all employees to complete the program in FY2026.

We conduct activities related to sustainability and ESG relevant to our material matters, which encompass the environment, society, human rights, and sustainable food, in conjunction with global events. We also use videos to help participants easily understand and learn technical terms.

Level-based training plan (Holding company)

③ Enhancing Engagement

KPI of Employee Engagement Score^*

• * Employee engagement score: An index measured through a survey of employees’ willingness to contribute and sense of belonging, mental and physical health and vitality, and the state of productivity in the workplace environment. A score is calculated based on the percentage of positive responses (two out of five rating scales) to the questions (As defined by Willis Towers Watson (WTW)).

Since issues related to employee engagement differ depending on the type of job and the work environment, we set issues according to the actual situation of each group company, and formulate and implement action plans.
In order to achieve our goals, it is important to have constructive and active communication regardless of position. Therefore, we have taken measures such as establishing a habit of dialogue in the workplace, including one-on-one training, career design training and a review of personnel rotation in order to motivate employees to work actively in the Company into the future. As a result, we have seen improvements in scores on related questions.
Through the accumulation of these initiatives, our employee engagement score in FY2025 improved by 1 point from the previous year, but in order to achieve our KPIs, we must accelerate the improvement cycle. While verifying the effectiveness of these measures, we will further strengthen employee engagement by sharing good practices in the issues common to the Group, as shown on the below.
This fiscal year, we began analyzing the relationship between employee engagement and financial indicators in the Group. Based on the results of the analysis, we plan to formulate and implement measures to reflect factors that contribute to increasing economic value. We aim to achieve improving both employee engagement and economic value through a PDCA cycle that starts from the survey and focuses on connectivity.

Cycle for Improving Employee Engagement

④ Promotion of Diversity

Instilling the significance and purpose of efforts to promote diversity

Amid the diversifying needs and values of customers and consumers, we consider that promoting diversity is essential for the Company to achieve sustainable growth. We believe that bringing together people from diverse backgrounds and sharing ideas from different perspectives will enhance innovation and improve competitiveness. In order to respect and accept each other's differences and turn them into a strength for the organization, the entire Nichirei Group is working to enhance psychological safety through dialogue and to foster an organizational culture that encourages each employee to take on challenges voluntarily.

1.Implementation of diversity study sessions for officers

We are strengthening efforts to promote diversity as a group-wide initiative, including conducting a questionnaire survey across the Group. As part of this effort, we hold diversity study sessions for executive officers and above of major domestic Group companies. The themes were “Leadership Essentials and Diversity Management” and “Unconscious Bias” in FY2025, and “Psychological Safety” in FY2026. In addition, based on a recognition that understanding unconscious bias is essential to improve psychological safety, we made the training compulsory for all positions and plan to complete it for all employees at major domestic companies by the end of FY2028.

2.Promotion of the advancement of women employees

In order to increase the number of women employees involved in various decision-making processes and ensure that the right people are assigned to the right positions throughout the Group, we expanded the target for the ratio of women managers, which used to be applied only to the holding company, to major domestic companies. We will systematically expand management positions by enhancing capabilities, awareness, and motivation through group-wide initiatives in addition to the training unique to operating companies.

In order for women candidates for management positions to be able to demonstrate leadership with confidence, we have introduced a program to acquire the problem-solving techniques necessary for management positions. In addition to repeated learning of monthly training and five months of practice in respective divisions, all participants gained confidence through discussions with employees at the same level in each Group company and completed the course with the motivation to develop their strengths and become a leader. Some of the participants assumed management positions as a result.

Women employees working on the front lines of Group companies are engaged in activities aimed at solving problems from a practical point of view and building a network of women employees across businesses. In FY2025, a round-table discussion was held between the project members and the presidents of the holding company and operating companies. The members served as a bridge between management and the workplace and promoted instilling the significance and purpose of women employees’ advancement by providing feedback at their respective workplaces on the passion expressed by management for the advancement of women employees, as perceived by the members. Since April of this year, the membership has been refreshed, and the team is now advancing the initiative with a fresh perspective.

Nichirei Foods Initiatives

Nichirei Foods launched its Diversity Promotion Department in 2022, and is carrying out a variety of activities with the goal of creating an environment where diverse people can do work that is satisfying and allows them to demonstrate their unique skills. In this context, we have positioned the advancement of women employees as an important issue for promoting diversity and inclusion. We are therefore implementing measures to help employees advance their careers while taking into account their individual life stages and values. These measures include providing opportunities for women to proactively think about their careers, creating networks among women employees, and enhancing welfare programs to support work-life balance.

In March 2023, the Research & Development and Product Development Department held a seminar for their women employees in management positions, with the aim of nurturing women in management and resolving career concerns specific to their job types. The first half of the seminar featured a lecture by a woman director from outside the Group with a career in product development, and in the second half participants broke off into working groups to exchange opinions. Many participants indicated they were able to envision taking on challenges to advance their careers. They also indicated that they found the seminar’s suggestions for solving problems and thinking positively from a woman’s perspective very helpful for dispelling concerns about career building and embracing a growth mindset.

The N-win Project launched in 2021 aims to improve the job satisfaction of Nichirei Foods’ women employees. It involves conducting employee surveys and other initiatives that address feedback from the workplace obtained from the surveys. In FY2023, the project included a total of four roundtable discussions in which 69 women employees in their 20s participated.

Nichirei Logistics Group Initiatives

The Nichirei Logistics Group places the highest priority on diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) in order to innovate. Unconscious bias has a major impact on how DE&I is promoted, and many women themselves believe that their role is in the home and that the genders have differing abilities to perform work. While men currently dominate the logistics industry, the Diversity Promotion Department leads the implementation of measures for the advancement of women employees in the workplace, an issue that we will continue to address in promoting diversity.

The results of a survey conducted by the Nichirei Logistics Group revealed that while men rarely have concerns after being promoted to a position, the majority of women harbor a degree of hesitation or concern. Less than one in four women surveyed viewed the increase in discretion as a result of being promoted to a higher position positively. Therefore, we have initiated training for women who have been promoted to provide them with insights about the mindset and work styles of managers. A key feature of this training is that the curriculum inculcates a mindset that enables supervisors to broaden the scope of their responsibilities. Because they take part in the program alongside trainees, supervisors are cultivated as division managers able to support the development of women managers.

• *Planned for Eastern Japan; held voluntarily as a result of each operating company’s diversity activities.

Many people in the Nichirei Logistics Group have never seen women working in management positions at distribution centers and cannot imagine a woman having a management career. Therefore, we started conducting WAMs in FY2023 to provide an opportunity for our people to learn about women working as managers, and as an opportunity to build personal networks beyond the worksite. We hold five-person WAMs—comprising two managers and three regular employees—four times a year for 60 minutes each. They are a meaningful, pleasant forum for people to interact and think about their careers.

Employee Interview

Support from others helped me get where I am, so I hope to encourage the next generation.

Work Satisfaction

The Nichirei Group aims to further improve productivity and create a vibrant workplace by welcoming diverse human resources, values, and ideas to energize the organization. In FY2018, we established the Nichirei Group Workplace Reform Policy. Each operating company set goals based on the policy and promoted various initiatives over the five years through FY2022. The Group Diversity Promotion Council and the Group Health Promotion Council were organized under the Group Human Resources Committee as organizations to enhance work satisfaction. These organizations discussed human resource strategies that would contribute to the realization of the sustainable growth of the entire Group, exchanged opinions on measures, shared information, and confirmed progress.

Flexible System Design

We design flexible personnel systems to create an environment where each individual can demonstrate their abilities and thrive. Creating a comfortable workplace and further improving the skills of diverse individuals will increase our corporate value.
For example, our childcare leave system was already in place before the October 2022 revision of the Act on Childcare Leave, Caregiver Leave, and Other Measures for the Welfare of Workers Caring for Children or Other Family Members, and exceeded its statutory requirements. After the revision, we enhanced our system to provide more options, including the ability to divide childcare leave into installments until the child is one year old.
In FY2024, we introduced a new Company-wide in-house side job system. Our aim is to generate new value through the exchange of knowledge and human resources within the Company, and to help employees improve their skills and develop their careers.

Employee Interview

Initiatives to Encourage Childcare Leave

In line with the October 2022 revision of the Act on Childcare Leave, Caregiver Leave, and Other Measures for the Welfare of Workers Caring for Children or Other Family Members, the Nichirei Group has revised its childcare leave system. Although the Nichirei Group’s system exceeded statutory requirements prior to the act’s revision, the Group addressed the revised regulations by enhancing its system in ways such as establishing childcare leave at the time of childbirth and childcare leave that can be divided into installments until the child is one year old, with both leave systems aimed at men. We also provided more options for taking childcare leave.
Taking this revision as an opportunity, Nichirei Group management met with the labor union to discuss and set a target of 100%* of male employees taking three or more days of absence or leave for childcare. By setting these targets, encouraging men to participate in childrearing and expanding opportunities for women to play an active role in the workplace, we aim to achieve work-life balance for both men and women during their child-rearing years.

• *We set this target for male employees because when women employees give birth, 100% of them take childcare leave.

Employee Interview

Childcare has given me a new perspective that enriches both my work and private life.

Next Generation Development Guidebook

This guidebook focuses on the Nichirei Group’s absence and leave systems for childbirth and childcare, with the aim of helping both men and women achieve work-life balance during childrearing years. The guidebook has sections for women and men that provide information on support for balancing work and childcare, prenatal preparations, and necessary procedures at each stage from childbirth to the return to work.

Career Declaration System

To improve job satisfaction, it is important to provide employees with roles compatible with their career plans. The Group has introduced a Career Declaration System in which all employees assess their career and declare their future career objectives once a year. This information is taken into account when deciding transfers and assignments.

Gender Discrepancies in Salary

The Group decides salary based on position and job description and does not set differences based on gender. In addition, gender does not play a role in deciding promotions or salary increases.

Impartial Hiring Opportunities

The Group releases recruiting essentials and all other information on its website, accepts a wide variety of applications, and impartially selects new graduates.

Creating Stimulating Employment Opportunities for People with Disabilities

The Nichirei Group actively promotes the employment of people with disabilities whom work at Nichirei Aura Inc., a special Group subsidiary. They are engaged in a wide range of operations, including cleaning of office interiors and maintenance of green spaces at the Head Office, the food factories of Group companies, and distribution centers. The Group will continue to create comfortable workplace environments for people with disabilities.

Supporting Non-Japanese Trainees’ Careers

Offering Employees Workplace Transfer Options

Nichirei Foods Inc. revised its personnel system during FY2016 and FY2017, in order to specify which employees are not subject to job transfers. Those who are unable to move to a distant location due to marriage, childcare, nursing, injury or sickness, or other personal reasons, or those who have worked more than a set amount of time, can remain at their desired workplace based on their individual career objectives regardless of reason, and can themselves decide whether they are eligible to be transferred. The revisions were instituted out of respect for the diverse circumstances and preferences of Nichirei Foods employees, and to create workplaces in which all members are motivated to work.

Providing Employment Opportunities for Seniors

In 2002, the Nichirei Group set up the Senior Staff System to provide employment opportunities for employees on retirement. After reaching the retirement age of 60, those wishing to continue working may do so until the age of 65. At present, we employ more than 100 senior staff members, whose experience and knowledge contribute to Group development.

Employee Interview

I will establish links to the next generation while continuing my work.

Diverse Styles of Working (Provide working condition option)

In-House Childcare Facility

In April 2018, Nichirei opened an in-house daycare center at its Head Office, located in the Tsukiji district of Tokyo’s Chuo Ward. This is one of the Group’s workstyle reforms, designed to enable the early return to work by those employees raising children and to support a work–life balance.
In an effort to assist members of the community, by helping alleviate the problem of long waiting lists at childcare facilities, we are also accepting a fixed number of local children at the daycare center.

Volunteer Leave System

The Nichirei Group supports employee activities through its volunteer leave system.

Past Initiatives (2017-2021)

The Nichirei Group considers its employees to be irreplaceable and refers to them as "human assets" rather than "human resources." (Only for Japanese notation) By accepting diverse human resources, values, and ideas and revitalizing the organization, we aim to further improve productivity and create an energetic workplace. In 2017, we established the "Nichirei Group Workplace Reform Policy," and each operating company set targets based on this policy and promoted various initiatives over the five years through FY2022.
The Group Diversity Promotion Council and the Group Health Promotion Liaison Committee were organized under the Group Human Resources Committee as organizations to promote the "enhancement of job satisfaction." These groups discussed human resource strategies that would contribute to the realization of sustainable growth of the entire Group, exchanged opinions on measures, shared information, and confirmed progress. ​

Human Resources Committee

The Human Resources Committee, which promotes the increased job satisfaction-related part of the Nichirei Pledge, meets twice each year.
The Diversity Promotion Conference, under the Group Human Resources Committee, meets with labor and management twice a year to monitor measures undertaken at each Group company in relation to human rights, job satisfaction, the workstyle of each employee, support for active participation in the workforce by women, the employment of foreigners, workstyles that differ according to life stage and age, as well as the employment of and collaboration with, the disabled.

Human Assets Development

The president of each Nichirei Group operating company is responsible for building systems that develop optimal human assets for the Company.
These measures are reviewed annually, as required by the education and training policies of each operating company, while related plans and their results are monitored by the Group Human Resources Committee, which meets twice each year.