Human Resources Development and Utilization

Human Resources Development

As declared in the SUMCO Vision, SUMCO aspires to become the "World's Best in Technology." To reach this goal, diversified training opportunities are provided to employees at all levels, from new recruits to managers and executives. We encourage employees to stay abreast of the changing times, making every effort to foster the development of human resources who will be able to think and act independently. Each year, up-and-coming engineers are also given the chance to present their research findings to senior management as a means of enhancing their motivation. In addition, we dispatch a certain number of engineers to the doctoral program at domestic universities every year to develop highly specialized technical personnel.
In pursuit of "Empower Employee Awareness of Profit," another element to the SUMCO Vision, the SUMCO CEO AWARD was established as the SUMCO Group's highest award, part of a measure to boost employee awareness of participation. The award is annually presented to individuals and organizations that have made meaningful contributions to enhancing corporate value. Along with this award, the Group also holds presentations by TPM teams annually in order to recognize outstanding success.
Moreover, to achieve "Competitiveness in Overseas Markets" as declared in the SUMCO Vision, we are working to cultivate an awareness of understanding and respecting a diverse range of cultures and values within the Group, and are endeavoring to develop globally competitive human resources by enhancing programs such as study abroad and foreign language learning schemes.
In 2023, a total 28,602 hours of company-wide training was held by departments in charge of human resources.
Undergoing regular review, the training programs are revised in line with changing needs; moreover, many suggestions received from outside directors with a wealth of experience in training and education are incorporated, aimed at making them better programs.

Career-formation programs

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Imari Crystal Engineering Section, Crystal Engineering Department
Jun Ota

Q. You spent two years conducting research at the National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. What made you decide to apply for the overseas program?

The reason for applying was when my boss directly asked me, "Why don't you give it a try?" I knew that overseas dispatch opportunities were available, but I wasn't confident in my language skills, and I also had concerns about leaving my current duties. So initially, I was hesitant to apply. However, being approached by my boss also changed my mindset to a positive one, realizing that I could take on the challenge too. The dispatch period coincided with the transition of the new process I was working on to the mass production stage at that time, and I wanted to see it through. However, I strongly felt that overseas dispatch was a valuable opportunity, so I made up my mind to apply. For me, spending my research life at a university abroad was such a significant challenge that even now, when I look back, it feels somewhat unbelievable. However, I still believe that it was a great decision at that time.

Q. Looking back on your research experience at an overseas university, how was it? Did you notice any differences compared to Japanese universities?

It was an environment where independence was required more than in Japan. While professors oversee research progress and provide guidance on papers, all aspects related to experiments are entrusted to students, including data acquisition, analysis, and even handling equipment malfunctions, which surprised me. Furthermore, there were many international students in the research laboratory, so conversations were mostly in English. Even though I thought I was prepared, I felt that the language barrier was higher than I had imagined. At the beginning of my dispatch, I often felt frustrated by my inability to express my opinions accurately and by my difficulty in correctly understanding the intentions of others. In particular, I struggled greatly with crafting coherent and unambiguous sentences that were logical and free from misunderstandings, especially when writing papers and other documents. However, thanks to those efforts, when I received an award for excellence at an international conference where I presented, I felt a sense of joy as if my hard work had been rewarded.
Additionally, the National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, where I attended, had a campus located in Hsinchu City, often referred to as Taiwan's Silicon Valley. The university was surrounded by well-known semiconductor companies and national semiconductor research institutes. During my time there, it was a valuable experience for me to fabricate and measure device samples in their facilities.

Q. Did you experience any confusion or memorable moments in your daily life abroad?

One thing that surprised me when I went to Taiwan is the strong family ties. Even students would often return home every week or go back home to have meals with their families. I think one reason for this is the small size of the country, which makes traveling back and forth easier.
One memorable experience from daily life is when I first arrived and ended up at a completely different location than the one I had told the taxi driver as my destination. I explained the situation to the driver by showing him the screen of my smartphone, and although it took some time, I was able to safely reach our destination. Living abroad, unexpected troubles like this happen a lot, but I've experienced firsthand that things often work out somehow. I used to be an anxious person, but now I've learned not to worry too much and to approach everything with a positive attitude, willing to take on challenges.

Q. How do you plan to apply what you learned during your overseas assignment?

In the laboratory, I primarily studied machine learning. This field was entirely new to me, and learning a new subject in a foreign language was quite challenging. However, I deepened my knowledge by utilizing not only textbooks but also video websites. As a result, I am currently involved in utilizing machine learning for quality improvement in the crystal growth process in my current work, and my experiences from my time in the laboratory are proving to be valuable.
Leaving both the company and Japan to live abroad while conducting research activities has had its ups and downs. In such a situation, what I particularly found important was to "enjoy the ‘difference’ from the conventional environment." We tend to think of Japan and Taiwan, companies and universities, colleagues and students, etc., in terms of "superiority" or "inferiority," but perceiving them as "differences" made it easier to adapt to the new environment. I have built various networks during my time in Taiwan, and the fact that I am still able to communicate with students in my laboratory and people I met in Hsinchu City is an experience that I wouldn't have had if I had stayed in Japan.

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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

SUMCO believes that the promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion is essential for becoming the strong company which can grow sustainably. Since our company has three roots: Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, and Komatsu, we have fostered a culture in which we can bring together and utilize the knowledge and expertise of each. In addition to this, we work to further enhance our corporate value so that diverse talents can work to utilize their ideas and experiences by expanding measures to promote women’s career and systems, local hires at our domestic and overseas bases and experienced workers of other companies, so that diverse talents can work to utilize their ideas and experiences. We will continue to actively promote diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to meet our stakeholders’ expectations.

Promoting Active Participation of Women

To provide employees who raise children with a more comfortable workplace environment and to support their work-life balance, SUMCO is focusing on creating an environment in which it is easy for women to work by establishing diverse employment support programs such as longer child-care leave period than the statutory leave period, a telework system, and a diverse short working hour system. In 2016, as part of these efforts, the Company has established the SUMCO Nursery School Imari as an on-site day-care facility at our Kyushu Plant in the Imari area, the largest site across the SUMCO Group. We also provide a childcare support allowance for employees who are unable to use the SUMCO Nursery School Imari.

Additionally, we improve support for women employees by developing a “Retiree Comeback Program” that allows employees who are forced to leave the company temporarily due to childcare or other reasons to return to work again. To further increase diversity within the company and to further promote women’s participation, we have set a medium-term goal of increasing the percentage of female managers to 10% in SUMCO* and 12% on a consolidated basis (in SUMCO Group) by 2030, and actively promote regular and experienced female employee hiring.

目標
* Total figures include the number of SUMCO employees assigned to other companies and exclude secondees to SUMCO Corporation from other companies.

As a new form of regional contribution, the facility is a community day-care service based on the Japanese government's Comprehensive Support System for Children and Childrearing. Accordingly, a portion of the capacity is made available to local residents who are not SUMCO employees.

Support programs for each life event

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Program Name of policy measure Description
Childcare support Childcare leave Eligible up to time child is 3 years old
Childcare leave at the time of birth Up to 4 weeks of paternity leave within 8 weeks after the child's birth, which can be divided into 2 periods
Shorter workdays during childcare Up to time child enters junior high school, choice of 4-hour or 6-hour workdays
Flexible work hours Up to time child enters junior high school, free arrangement of work times during the day adding up to a normal workday of 7 hours 45 minutes
Work from home (remote work) option Employees in a department and work category enabling them to work from home may choose to work remotely, as their circumstances warrant, at a maximum until child enters junior high school
Special paid time off Up to time child enters junior high school, in addition to the legally mandated time off for care of an ill child, paid time off can be taken for the necessary number of days when care for an illness is needed
SUMCO Nursery School Imari A nursery school on the company premises, available also to children of employees within access range
Childcare support allowance Employees outside the range of access to SUMCO Nursery School Imari can receive monthly grants of 10,000 to 20,000 yen up to time child is 3 years old
Family care support Family care leave Leave for care of a family member can be taken for a total of one year in up to three installments
Shorter workdays during family care A choice of 4-hour or 6-hour workdays (for a total of up to three years; can be divided into multiple installments)
Flexible work hours Free arrangement of work times during the day adding up to a normal workday of 7 hours 45 minutes (for a total of up to three years; can be divided into multiple installments)
Special paid time off In addition to the legally mandated time off for family care, paid time off can be taken for the necessary number of days when family care is needed
Work from home (remote work) option Employees in a department and work category enabling them to work from home may choose to work remotely, as their circumstances warrant
Other support Special time off when spouse gives birth When a spouse gives birth, a total of 3 days of paid time off within 10 days before and after birth
Return-to-work program for former employees Former employees who had to leave their job behind for personal reasons such as childcare or family care, and who wish to return, can do so by following the set procedures

PT.SUMCO Indonesia also offers a scholarship program for the children of its employees. We hope that this scholarship will contribute to the future development of Indonesia.
(Photo: Scholarship program event at PT.SUMCO Indonesia)

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Employment of People with Disabilities

Employment Ratio of People with Disabilities (SUMCO Group [Japan])

Employment Ratio of People with Disabilities (SUMCO Group [Japan])Employment Ratio of People with Disabilities (SUMCO Group [Japan])

  • *The figure for each fiscal year is the average of the period from January to December of the following year.

The SUMCO Group is actively working to employ persons with disabilities, as demonstrated by SUMCO establishing a company that specifically hires persons with disabilities in Japan. In 2023, the employment rate of people with disabilities in Japan and overseas is 1.54%, and the actual employment rate of people with disabilities in Japan is 2.12%, in comparison with 2.3%, the statutory employment rate.
Due to the increase in total number of employees through securing personnel for production expansion, the employment ratio of persons with disabilities has relatively decreased. However, the entire group is promoting the hiring of persons with disabilities to increase the employment ratio.

Employment of Older Workers

We have set up a re-employment system by which employees, if they are well-motivated and wish to continue working after mandatory retirement at age 60, can continue working until age 65. This allows them to continue working while leveraging their extensive experience, sophisticated skills and high-level abilities.
Additionally, by maintaining the same compensation applied at the time of mandatory retirement even after a regular employee is re-employed, the system allows employees to contribute with a strong sense of motivation even after reaching mandatory retirement age.

Utilization of Global Talent

The SUMCO Group maintains manufacturing plants in the US, Taiwan and Indonesia, as well as sales offices around the world. By utilizing local hiring and actively working to hire and utilize talented global human resources regardless of nationality. The SUMCO Group seeks to achieve even further growth as a global company by improving each other.

Number of Employees
(People)
Item Actual at end of 2023
Consolidated Sumco *
Regular employees Total number of people 9,847 4,858
Male 8,861 4,426
Female 986 432
Percentage of female 10.0% 8.9%
Managers Total number of people 919 567
Male 850 558
Female 69 9
Percentage of female 7.5% 1.6%
Item Sumco Remarks
Board member Total number of people 12 As of Mar. 31, 2024
Male 10
Female 2
Percentage of female 16.7%
New employee Total number of people 127 FY2023
Male 94
Female 33
Percentage of female 26.0%
Average years of service (years) Male 14.5 As of Dec. 31, 2023
Female 11.1
Difference 3.4
  • *Total figures include the number of Sumco employees assigned to other companies and exclude secondees to Sumco Corporation from other companies.
Item Regular employees
(As of Dec. 31, 2023)
Temporary employees
(2023 average)
Sumco 4,938 620
Consolidated 9,847 1,113
Japan 7,263
Overseas 2,584
Number of Employees by Region (Consolidated)
(People)
Region Number of employees
(As of Dec. 31, 2023)
Japan 7,263
North America 725
Southeast Asia 329
East Asia 1,503
Europe 27
Total 9,847
Breakdown of Employees (Consolidated)
(People)
Managers General employees Total
(As of Dec. 31, 2023)
Male 850 8,011 8,861
Female 69 917 986
Total 919 8,928 9,847

2023 Data

Number of harassment consultation cases 18
Number of participants in harassment training for management-level employees 1,150
Resignation rate for personal reasons among permanent employees (graph below shows the change in the past turnover rate) 1.21%
Human resource development Total hours of company-wide training held by the Human Resources Dept. 28,602 hours
Total cost 175 million yen
Percentage of employees who attended the above training 35.6%
Training hours per employee 5.9 hours
Percentage of persons with disabilities employed Global Total 1.54%
Japan Only 2.12%
Change in resignation rate among permanent employees
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Resignation rate for personal reasons 0.83% 0.77% 0.85% 0.91% 1.21%
Men 0.73% 0.70% 0.76% 0.88% 1.12%
Women 2.08% 1.60% 1.88% 1.23% 2.21%