■Human Capital Development

Employees who have reached mandatory retirement age but wish to continue working and meet the recruitment standards may be reemployed as 'senior employees,' until they are 65 years old. They can use their experience in a supportive role as well as to help train younger staff members.

Dentsu Inc., which is committed to helping client companies and wider society grow sustainably in advertising and other domains, is ready to adapt. It will continue contributing to social development and supporting the growth of the Company and its corporate clients, while maximizing the value of its employees.

In a bid to fully understand the wellbeing of its employees and organizations, the Company has been collecting and analyzing a wide range of human resources-related data. To this end, Dentsu has been focusing on employee working conditions, attributes, values, engagement, work experience, and skills.

Based on what it has found, the Company has been identifying issues that employees face, and has been devising, implementing, and verifying action plans aimed at attaining solutions. The data also is being applied to map the Company’s human capital.

In recognition of these efforts, Dentsu was awarded a top prize in the Learning category of the 2022 HR Technology Awards. Presented for the seventh time by the HR Research Institute, these awards recognize outstanding efforts in Japan to apply technology and big data analytics to human resources management. Dentsu also received the Grand Prix prize in the People Analytics category of the Digital HR Competition 2022, which was sponsored by the People Analytics & HR Technology Association.

We have a wide variety of initiatives that support all employees learning and growth. This reflects our desirer to ensure that diverse dentsu people are motivated to maintain their desire to grow.

With the aim of ensuring that diverse dentsu people maintain their desire to grow and proactively engage in daily actions based on that motivation, we implement a wide variety of initiatives that support dentsu employee learning and growth.

We design and implement programs aimed at enhancing the core Dentsu business skills required at Dentsu Inc. and in all business areas. Programs also help staff master the skills and mindset necessary to drive corporate, client, and social transformations, including the latest digital, global, and leadership trends.

Moreover, we support employee career autonomy, as well as the acceleration and expansion of individual learning and actions (growth circle) by inculcating the habit of learning on one’s own initiative.

We continue to strengthen management perspectives and skills to support employee growth, with a view to becoming an organization able to win as a team. To this end, we have programs that support management in setting short-, as well as medium- to long-term goals, and to help them better envision what they want their teams and individual members to achieve and how to do so.

Other programs provide behavioral guidelines, an appropriate mindset, and the basic skill set that must be acquired by dentsu people. These are attained through training and workplace cooperation. The programs offered include the start-up program provided when staff join the company, and mandatory programs for young employees.

We also focus on building a foundation for careers at the Company, so that employees can continue to grow as professionals while affirming their own positions and levels of expertise.

To create new business, profits, and value, as well as contribute to the sustainable growth of the Company, Dentsu is focusing its efforts on developing human resources able to drive business while collaborating with other Group companies to become next-generation leaders.

We have programs that help directors in all areas to advance by developing dentsu core creative competencies. Guidance is provided in an integrated, systematic, comprehensive, and practical manner. As also available are programs that cultivate talent who are able to think for themselves, involve others, move independently, and help lead dentsu transformation in an environment of intense change and uncertainty.

Dentsu believes that a fulfilling personal life improves the quality of one’s working life, while satisfying work boosts one’s sense of self-fulfillment. Thus, our work–life balance program seeks to generate synergy between one’s working life and one’s personal life.

Most important for creating a work-friendly environment is health management, particularly in relation to long working hours. The Company has a Human Relations Management Department, which is developing and implementing programs to reduce overtime and make it easier for employees to take holidays.

In addition, we have the Anytime Consultation Office, dedicated to addressing employee concerns and other issues. We reflect staff feedback in our Company initiatives and systems.

One-on-one consultations are available with career counselors outside the company to discuss future career opportunities. There is also a group-wide body to promote the participation of all employees at approximately 60 directly owned subsidiaries of dentsu Japan, and to share best practices and other information across a wide range of industries within the group. Young employees have opportunities to consider their careers from an early stage through mandatory career workshops and career seminars led by outside lecturers.

Dentsu strives to provide employees with advanced healthcare management, from preventive measures to return-to-work support, so that staff members can enjoy good mental and physical health. Dentsu also conducts periodic health screenings of all employees and actively urges those who haven’t participated in health screenings. In addition to the regular health screenings, the Company also provides for employees who are over 30 years of age examinations for lifestyle-related diseases, including cancer testing. Moreover, helical CT scans are provided for employees 45 years of age and older.

In recent years, the Company has been enhancing measures for mental health, which is an essential health management agenda, and it has held mandatory training on that subject for managers since fiscal 2009. In cooperation with industry-specialized physicians, public health nurses and other medical staff members, Dentsu also provides support for employees returning to work following long periods of convalescence. The return-to-work support system is designed to ensure that excessive pressure is not placed on returning employees and that their illness will not recur.

At the Tokyo Head Office Building, we have set up a Dentsu Healthcare Management Center, available for use by employees. Besides internal medicine, the center provides scheduled orthopedic, ophthalmological, and ENT services, as well as psychiatric counseling.

Various systems have been put in place by Dentsu Inc. that go beyond the requirements of the Act on Childcare Leave/Caregiver Leave. For example, the Company provides a consultation service for employees to ensure that, while building their career, they are able to maintain a balance between work and childcare, nursing care, and other responsibilities.

We recognize that, if we are to achieve sustainable growth, it is essential that we create an environment in which all employees can be in good mental and physical health while working. This requires that we enable the staff to achieve, among other things, personal growth through diversity. To that end, we have implemented a variety of initiatives to support work–life balance and, as a result, the rate at which childcare leave is used is growing.

In addition, the Company believes that using childcare leave should not be seen as an imposition or obligation, and that it is important to create an environment where those who want to take childcare leave feel free to do so. We regularly communicate with employees to inculcate in them the idea that childcare leave is a natural option after the birth of a child.

In recent years, as women have become more active in society, the Japanese government has been promoting the use of childcare leave by men. It believes that if the burden of childcare, which tends to fall on women, is shared by both parents, more women will remain on the staff. Moreover, the Company encourages men to take childcare leave in the belief that the experience will help broaden their horizons.

To fully leverage the abilities of our employees and ensure they engage in productive work, it is essential that they have sufficient rest. Moreover, taking a holiday helps generate new ideas.

Dentsu has a variety of systems in place that encourage employees to take paid leave. In addition to the standard annual paid leave, employees are given two consecutive days of paid leave each year to allow them to take a longer break. The additional days can be used when taking off five or more consecutive days in combination with weekends, public holidays, annual paid leave, or compensatory leave. In April 2010, we introduced hourly units of annual paid leave to better accommodate flexible work styles.

Employees invited to participate in national skiing events or international American football tournaments are granted special “education leave.” And, since 2020, we have granted so-called refresh holiday special paid leave. The idea is to allow employees to recover when particularly fatigued.

Employees are entitled to plan when they work, which information they enter into an optimized time calendar. To promote the use of paid leave, we have designated one day per month as a paid holiday for training and other purposes, thereby helping to create an environment in which it is easy for staff to take time off.