Employee Growth and Organizational Culture

Santen's CORE PRINCIPLE "Tenki ni sanyo suru" underpins its efforts to create a strong organization and develop competent human resources too.

In FY2022, we revised our conduct assessment system into one based on our VALUES, which define the values on which we place great importance toward the realization of our long-term vision and the principles on which we will focus during the next five to 10 years in particular. We therefore ensure that each employee's daily conduct will connect to the realization of our vision.

In Santen, all employees have a discussion with their manager at the beginning of the year to set goals after coordinating organizational and individual goals. Employees are evaluated based on their achievement of those goals at the end of the target period. To help employees achieve their goals, we provide opportunities for them to meet with their supervisors at least every quarter during the fiscal year review to discuss progress toward goals, as well as medium- to long-term career prospects. Conversations include past professional experiences, future career goals, and the opportunities and skills development necessary to achieve them. Employees may receive guidance and evaluations from supervisors in their matrix organization, as well as from immediate supervisors. Ultimately, evaluations reflect not only individual performance, but also organizational performance. We support each employee in improving and making the most of his or her abilities, which we hope will lead to a sense of accomplishment and growth at work.

We offer a variety of training programs, including new employee and rank-specific training focused on medical representative (MR) education.

In Japan, we offer a self-development support system in which the company pays a portion of the cost of language and business skills training. We also cover a portion of test fees taken by employees as part of their self-development. To foster a sense of career autonomy in each employee, we provide expanded opportunities for dialogue between supervisors and subordinates in the workplace, meetings with outside career consultants, and career training.

We disclose aggregated training data under Social Data.

In April 2020, we have started operation of a new internal job posting system, the Global Job Posting System. This system is open to all employees of the Santen Group, and is open to all recruiting positions within the Group. Through the recruitment position, employees will be able to know what kind of career and growth opportunities they have, and by encouraging themselves to take up a medium- to long-term career, it will promote employees' growth.

Since FY2017, Santen's Manufacturing Division has introduced the Meister System, an employee evaluation and treatment system uniquely employed in the Noto Plant and the Shiga Product Supply Center, Japan, with the aim of enhancing manufacturing operators' skills and motivation. Among the qualified candidates who have met the in-house criteria, the employees who have high levels of skills, achievements, experiences and trust from their subordinates, while performing "Individual Action Principles" that comprise CORE PRINCIPLE, are certified as Meisters.

Due to the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been reimaging the future of work more seriously. Santen announced the "New Work Style" in May 2021 as a guideline to be shared with all its employees working around the world. To achieve further growth, it is pivotal for every single employee to realize the most suitable "way of working" so that we can leverage our potential as individuals and as a team.

The global guideline of New Work Style at the company is touching initiatives such as Flexible Workplace, Digitalized Processes, Well-being and lifestyle, Flexible Worktime as well as community contribution, all based on our Santen 2030 VALUES. For example, We adopted the concept of 'Digital Workplace' to accelerate the new way of working and are deploying IT infrastructure for all the members of the company can work comfortably from anywhere anytime. In addition to 'go paperless', digital signatures and streamlined online approval system, the company is expanding internal online communication tools so that we are able to be motivated and improve our productivity even working from home or elsewhere. Our employees have a choice of where, when and how to co-create our success through meaningful work and interactions to positively impact Happiness with Vision worldwide.

As the digital workplace becomes widespread, we offer a platform called The Café that provides opportunities for employees, managers, and executives to connect with each other. By joining The Café, Santen team members connect with people and attend events that match their interests and goals. In this way, we help expand professional networks, facilitate mutual knowledge-sharing, and broaden career opportunities.

Santen’s Listening framework integrates the voice of our people into data-driven business decisions and increases our team member’s engagement & commitment to work for Santen. We are leveraging results of our listening exercises for continuous improvement of people-centric policies and practices.

Since 2022, we are conducting company-wide annual engagement surveys with ‘Great Place to Work ®’, an independent research firm specializing in workplace culture. In addition to annual surveys, we are regularly conducting ‘People Pulses’ with detailed questions about specific policies and practices, such as our global Performance & Development (P&D) process. We are carefully monitoring the trajectory of results and setting globally and regionally relevant action items and motifs, such as communication and collaboration, improving our team members engagement over time.

The company strives to create a working environment where employees can make the best use of their abilities regardless of their life stage or gender, with full, mutual respect for their diverse values, and can also achieve a good work-life balance while performing their duties effectively and efficiently. In Japan, for example, we have adopted the following systems in excess of those required by law.

The company has introduced a wide variety of employee welfare and benefit systems, for example in Japan: asset-building support systems such as employee stock ownership and asset-building savings; systems to support employees in child or family care according to their life stage, including leave and shortened working hours; medical examinations on many items, which help employees continue to work in good shape; and survivor's pensions.

In Japan, the company offers retiring employees three options: using the reemployment system, receiving the job-hunting support service, or receiving financial aid for job training and job-hunting support after the period of reemployment. We also provide employees who are about to retire with career design training to allow them to understand reemployment, pension and other systems, as well as changes in the employment environment, and consider a life plan after retirement. We have thus established the employee support system to enable all employees to work for many years without worry.