At Murata, we see operating capital as a source of value creation developed by putting company philosophy into practice, and we believe that our human resources are at the core of value creation. In order to continue to create value as an Innovator in Electronics, we will continue to enhance our human capital as we link employee motivation and growth with increasing organizational strength.
"Employee engagement" that is born when employees are motivated and feel they are growing
Engagement at Murata
CS and ES have always been important values at Murata, and will continue to be so in the future. As the scope of CS has expanded to include the resolution of social issues, it is necessary to further improve ES of our employees who play a role in solving these issues. Our definition of ES is that, "every employee achieves satisfaction and continuing growth through the performance of their work duties."
At Murata, we believe that "engagement" means that every employee feels that their work is meaningful and feels that they are growing. We also believe that it is important for employee development to be aligned with the growth of the organization (Murata).
Empowering environments at Murata
One of our strengths has always been our ability to retain and enhance human capital, and we have engaged in various initiatives that assume long-term career development in order to do this. We have developed a multi-level remuneration system. By aligning the company’s needs with the career plans of individuals, we have also focused on developing rotations for growth, developing specialized skills for technological development and monozukuri, and fostering managements to transform individual strengths into organizational strengths. We also continue to establish environments and systems that allow each of our diverse employees to work in whatever way best suits their own individual lifestyle.
Actions to enhance engagement
1．Improvement in organizational culture based on global survey results
At Murata, our two most important values are CS ("to create and provide value that is recognized by the customer") and ES ("every employee achieves satisfaction and continuing growth through the performance of their work duties"). Through ensuring the spiraling up of both CS and ES, we realize sustainable value creation as an Innovator in Electronics.
As the scope of CS has expanded to include the resolution of social issues, it is necessary to further improve ES of our employees who play a role in solving these issues. We sincerely accept the results of global surveys conducted for all employees as reflecting the true feeling of our employees, regularly check whether employees feel that their work is meaningful and that they are growing each day, and implement reliable means of improving our organizational culture, because we believe that this helps to improve employee dynamism and achieve what Murata wants to be (Vision2030).
Related initiatives
Employee engagement initiatives
Since 2004, Murata has continued to reform organizational cultures in order to establish a company culture that provides both meaning and opportunities for growth to employees. At Murata, we believe that it is important for employees to feel that their work is meaningful and to continue to grow. We therefore had been conducting employee surveys at each site in order to determine and analyze issues as we continue to improve.
In fiscal 2021, we began conducting global surveys and running through a global PDCA cycle. The positive response ratio for "employee engagement" has been set as a medium- to long-term benchmark, with a goal of 70% by fiscal 2024 and 76% or higher by fiscal 2030.
Intellectual property rights of employees
Murata has a reward system regarding new technologies developed by employees. See below for details.
Link: Measures concerning intellectual property
2．Promotion of dialog between management and employees
At Murata, we believe that it is important to obtain the understanding and agreement of our employees with regard to the company's philosophies, reason for being, and business goals, in order for the company to continue to grow.
We aim to put our company philosophy into practice and provide value even as our environments undergo drastic change, and engage in autonomous and decentralized organizational operation. We held a panel discussion in which executive officers also participated, under the belief that we must reform the behavior of each and every employee in order to accomplish this. During this discussion, executive officers shared their personal experiences and thoughts on how best to put autonomous and decentralized management into practice in various organizations and positions, and exchanged opinions with employees. Employees reacted positively to the discussion, mentioning that they felt the importance of applying their interpretations and opinions on autonomous and decentralized management to their own behavior, and that they felt that sharing diverse opinions was useful for creating value. In addition to discussions such as this, we will continue to promote dialog between management and employees in order to foment an organizational culture in which employees agree and are satisfied with organizational reform initiatives. Some of these efforts will include:
- Policy explanation sessions conducted by the President
- Employee surveys
- Employee training (training programs organized by executive officers, training by level, company philosophy training)
- Dialog sessions with company officers
- Internal portal site, internal newsletters
- Whistle-blowing system, consultation desk
Related initiatives
Entrenchment of Management Philosophy that connects diverse individuals
Through promoting the activity of a diverse workforce, we believe that Murata will display strengths based on the distinctive characteristics of each individual employee. At the same time, in order to ensure that these diverse strengths resonate and generate innovation, it is more important than ever to ensure that all employees share the values that Murata has cultivated.
At Murata, beginning with training sessions organized by our executives, in which they act as lecturers to discuss Murata’s Management Philosophy (Company Philosophy), we are engaged in a variety of efforts to deepen understanding of our Company Philosophy on a global basis, for example by providing materials to promote mutual discussion in the workplace and holding workshops in all locations. In addition, when we welcome new employees who have just been hired or who have joined the Group through M&A, etc., we begin by generating a feeling of connection with Murata’s Corporate Philosophy in each individual as a member of the Murata team, making efforts to create the groundwork that will enable us to incorporate the diverse backgrounds of each individual in the practice of Murata’s Management Philosophy.
In addition, we have started new initiatives according to the environment such as providing the employees with an online opportunity to learn the Murata philosophy and the path of Murata history as well as think about the future of Murata and their own role.
Providing opportunities for "chatting and consulting" to create new value
At Murata, we aim to put autonomous and decentralized organizational operation into practice. In order to achieve it, we believe it is necessary that the President's intentions are shared with and understood by employees. We introduced a new internal communication tool called "Chitchat with president" in order to deliver the messages from the President to employees all around the world. It engages employees in active two-way communication; they can ask questions, consult or make suggestions to the President.
3．Establishment of environments and systems that make work more pleasant
Our employees have a diverse range of backgrounds and values. We believe that establishing pleasant environments and systems for all of our employees is crucial for employees to feel their work is rewarding and to work together autonomously, in order to create innovation.
Therefore, we continue to develop environments with an excellent work-life balance, where individual employees can consider their work-life balance, discuss issues at the workplace, and improve productivity. We are encouraging continuous dialog at each workplace about work processes, including taking days off and balancing work and private life, aiming to increase productivity and promote employee development and sustainable business development. More specifically, we are engaged in suppressing overtime working, enhancing our remote work system, enhancing our flextime system, increasing the number of annual paid leave days, and providing a system for allowing employees to continue to work as they provide childcare or nursing care, or recover from illness.
Related initiatives
Initiatives to suppress overtime working
Murata introduced a flextime system in 1990, aiming to increase productivity and reduce the total work time. In addition, in 2009, we introduced a “super flextime” system with no core time to enable an even more flexible working style.
We have also set the upper limit of monthly overtime hours at 35 hours based on a labor-management agreement under Article 36 of the Labor Standards Act, which stipulates rules that an application for approval be submitted to the labor union to work extra time during late-night hours. Regular monitoring between labor and management is also conducted, including interview surveys on actual work hours by the labor union, supervisors, and HR staff as necessary, in an effort to suppress overtime working by giving first priority to employees’ mental and physical health and safety.
Looking ahead to the Murata style of "working and leave" in the New Normal era
In order to realize the sustainable development of Murata going forward, it is essential to further increase productivity and create an environment in which employees can create value under conditions which are mentally and physically healthy and within reasonable working hours. We believe that promoting a style of work which does not easily rely on overtime working can create an environment in which personnel with diverse attributes can feel a sense of purpose while playing an active role. A telecommuting system has been employed at Murata since March 2019 for the primary purpose of improving productivity, but the spread of the novel coronavirus infection has given us the opportunity to rapidly expand working from home to completely change our way of working to one in which "everyone reporting to the office to work" is no longer routine. Amidst a significant transformation of the relationship between the company and the individual, we are once again having discussions between labor and management about the Murata style of "working and rest" in the New Normal era and revising the systems of work and leave around the concepts of "differences," "autonomy," "responsibility and obligations," and "self-selection." While discussing the ideal form of these systems for the sustainable development of Murata going forward, we will create an environment in which employees can create value under conditions which are mentally and physically healthy.
Employment system revisions from April 2021
Primary revision details
(1) Full-scale revision of the telecommuting system
- Expansion of the people that it applies to through a re-examination of the system objectives (including the objective to harmonize one's private life and work in addition to improving productivity)
- Removal of the unified upper limit on the number of times that telecommuting is implemented
- Permission to step out for personal business during telecommuting
(2) Revision of the flextime system
- Removal of the ban on application to child-rearing and nursing care temporary part-time workers
- Reduction of core time hours
(3) Increase in the number of annual paid leave days granted (from October 2021)
(4) Reduction in the number of prescribed working days (affiliated group companies in Japan)
Building stable relationships based on mutual trust
The Japanese Electrical Electronic & Information Union has member labor unions within Murata Manufacturing.
Recognizing that labor disputes can be resolved through mutual understanding and trust, on the basis of dialogue between parties, we strive for corporate development and for the realization of stability in employees’ lifestyles from the standpoint of both labor and management. Labor-related systems and standards are set, changed, and reviewed through discussions with the labor unions, and are carried out on a basis of mutual agreement. Our labor union monitors various working conditions such as long working hours (overtime), and works with us to make improvements. At domestic Group companies with no labor unions, there are organizations that represent employees known as employee associations, to which every employee other than management belongs. In addition to holding discussions and exchanging views with top management, these groups facilitate communication among employees. Meetings are held at appropriate times to explain labor-related systems and standards to management and newly appointed officers, who do not belong to unions or employee associations.
Creating workplaces that promote work satisfaction
Seeking to create mentally and physically healthy environments in which diverse human resources are able to flourish
At Murata, we want our employees not only to simply to perform their jobs, but also, by through their roles in their families and in the local community, to grow as people and cultivate and attain a rich understanding of humanity and of their own careers. We recognize that the provision of an environment in which each individual employee can realize work-life balance and create value on the basis of mental and physical health is essential to the realization of these goals. In order to both increase productivity and support the realization of work-life balance, we are actively introducing systems that allow flexible ways of working, providing our employees with the choice of a diverse range of working styles.
Main support systems (Murata Manufacturing)
In response to the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children, we have introduced a variety of systems that go beyond the requirements of the law in order to support the realization of work-life balance and career continuity.
Additionally, in April 2019, we opened the Kaede nursery in Nagaokakyo City and the Murata Yumenomori nursery in Izumo City as company-run nurseries. They are aimed at supporting a smooth return to work for employees who took maternity or childcare leave, and supporting diverse work styles for employees who wish to work while raising their children.
Based on our Action Plan for the Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children, in order to support the healthy development of the children who will form the next generation, we hold events “Children’s visit days” in which employees’ children are invited to visit the company at all of our worksites. Through the experience of seeing their parent at work and touring their parent’s workplace, we are trying to give children a real sense of “work,” and to instill a feeling of gratitude toward their working parents.
There are initiatives also in areas other than childcare and nursing care. One example is that while it is specified by law that health insurance expense is paid by the employer and the insured person for 50% each, at Murata, the employer pays for 4.726% of the standard monthly remuneration, and the insured person pays for 3.474% of the standard monthly remuneration.
4．Secure and safe workplace and health management
CS and ES are the most important values at Murata, and we believe that these are the foundation for employees’ health and wellness in secure and safe workplaces.
By solidifying this foundation, we will increase the value of our human capital. Based on Vision2030, we have defined what Murata wants to be in 2030 with regard to secure and safe workplace and health management, as "each employee can work while feeling that they are healthy in a safe workplace." All people working in Murata should be healthy with their “mind” and “body” as well as “relationship between people and society,” in harmony and they should be naturally acting safely. In the workplace environment, they should be able to concentrate on their work without worries and experience few near-miss accidents.
Link: Secure and safe workplace and health management