Human Resource Programs and Career Development: Providing Opportunities for Growth

The NSK Group has established a range of human resource programs designed to maximize the motivation, skills, and individual potential of employees and to help shape encouraging workplaces for every employee. We provide many opportunities for individual growth, with a focus on employee evaluation and feedback using target management and performance agreements. Some of the main channels for growth are job rotation, our Workplace and Career Aspirations Survey, and our system for changing employee classification.

NSK aims to develop core human resources who can support sustainable growth. Through a variety of educational offerings and training programs that further refine our people’s abilities, knowledge, and character, we provide numerous opportunities and forums for further development. As a new initiative, we are planning optional training programs designed to help employees gain practical skills to tackle the challenges they face in today’s rapidly changing social environment, as well as the increasing diversity and complexity of work. This initiative provides employees an opportunity to recognize how times have changed and how they can continue to learn and grow on their own. We hold the following specific training programs to help employees continue to develop their own careers. 

To develop talent for managerial roles around the world, the NSK Group has been running the Japan Management College (JMC) since 2000. In 2011, the eligibility criteria was expanded to include NSK Group employees worldwide, launching a parallel program named the Global Management College (GMC). At the JMC, managerial applicants selected in Japan systematically learn about business management over a period of about one year. They then make proposals to NSK’s executives for enhancing the Group’s future operations. About 425 employees have been through the JMC so far, and a steady stream of executives have been produced by the program. Every year, two GMC participants from each global region, including Japan, are selected to make educational visits to NSK Group sites worldwide. GMC participants receive lectures on business strategy and make visits to business sites in and outside the company, helping them to acquire the knowledge and skills required for senior leadership. In recent years, the GMC has been sending some participants to prestigious business schools outside Japan and inviting experts to come and give lectures. The GMC has been completed by 124 people from 17 countries in seven regions to date, and many of them are now active as leaders across the NSK Group. Since FY2019, we have been selecting assistant managers and offering them a special Assistant Manager Cours. The aim is to further raise the level of the JMC program. While learning the basics of business management, these young participants learn about the current business environment, which is undergoing major changes as a result of globalization and digital technology. They spend five months studying and thinking about the optimal direction for NSK in the future.

In 2007, NSK established the NSK Institute of Technology (NIT) to develop highly skilled technical personnel who can support NSK's competitiveness from a technological standpoint. In these times of constant change, NIT trains young employees to strengthen their fundamental business skills, enabling them to maximize and further develop their abilities. Additionally, NIT offers lectures in general knowledge areas, including science, mathematics, and engineering, along with the specific knowledge necessary for NSK engineers — in areas such as safety, quality, environment, engineering ethics, and the Four Core Technologies plus One. Specialized technical learning content across various fields is also provided online as needed. Through these initiatives, NSK offers educational support that helps engineers identify issues not only for direct customers, like automobile, home appliance, and industrial machinery manufacturers, but also for end users, local communities, and the global society, thereby contributing solutions leveraging NSK's MOTION & CONTROL™ while enhancing their own capabilities. In FY2023, 539 employees attended NIT lectures. Furthermore, NIT plays a role in developing the next generation in local communities by sending lecturers to universities and conducting science classes for elementary school students.

The NSK Manufacturing Education and Training Center, established in 2005, aims to enhance the training of employees involved in production to provide better products for customers. Since its inception, a total of 1,265 employees have completed regular training and are active on the shop floor. To strengthen manufacturing, it is vital to improve the skills of each individual employee. Therefore, we have implemented a system where employees acquire technical skills and knowledge, take on central roles in the workplace, and pass on skills to their colleagues.

The training courses are listed in the table below. The NSK Manufacturing Education and Training Center operates in two locations on the Fujisawa Plant and Ishibe Plant premises. It serves a broad range of employees, from those who have been with the company for about two years to those in management positions. Approximately 150 employees receive training each year and apply what they learn in their respective workplaces.

NSK has established a correspondence education system to support employee skill development. We offer over 150 programs, including language courses, digital transformation/IT literacy, certifications, and specialized skills, with the company covering 50% of the tuition fees upon meeting completion requirements. Additionally, we implement measures to enhance English proficiency, such as offering TOEIC® tests in-house.

We send employees to universities and graduate schools in and outside Japan to cultivate globally active personnel and highly specialized professionals. Destinations include Japanese institutions such as the University of Tokyo, International University of Japan, Toyota Technological Institute, Institute of Science Tokyo, Kyushu University, and Yokohama National University, as well as institutions outside Japan like the University of California, Berkeley, Technical University of Munich, and Cranfield University.

NSK’s quality education program is designed by the Quality Assurance Division Headquarters. Appropriate quality training is conducted as part of group training sessions organized by the Headquarters’ Human Resources Department, NIT, and other relevant departments, depending on employees' divisions and organizational levels. Moreover, since FY2019, we have been establishing Quality-Dojos at our plants and technical departments, where regular quality training is conducted annually.