Policy

Human resources development policy

Our Group’s corporate philosophy is “Ties of Reliability”, and our action principles are “Integrity,” “Innovation,” “Challenge,” “Co-creation,” and “Agility”. Our Group will recruit individuals who resonate with these principles. In an era of accelerating change, we will nurture talent capable of contributing to a sustainable society by actively collaborating with colleagues both inside and outside the Company, embracing diverse values and backgrounds, and boldly taking on innovative challenges with agility.

Internal environment improvement policy

Our Group will foster a broad-minded, open organization and culture where employees holding diverse values and backgrounds can grow through friendly competition and grow toward our long-term vision of “Contribute to the realization of a sustainable society through advanced materials and solutions.”
While advancing work style reform and achieving a suitable personnel system and competitive employee treatment that attracts diverse human resources, to support employees’ growth, we have also readied varied training programs matched to employees’ career stages, characteristics, and aspirations. We treat the human rights of employees with utmost respect and do not tolerate harassment. Based on the Tokai Carbon Health and Productivity Management Declaration, we strive for management that places importance on the health of employees and their families, and support asset building through our pension and employee stock ownership programs.

Basic ideas

Basic ideas on hiring and employment

Tokai Carbon guarantees fair employment opportunities for all individuals and considers only aptitudes and strengths in making hiring decisions. We make no distinctions based on race, geographic origin, nationality, age, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.
In hiring recent college graduates, we seek goal-oriented, self-directed individuals who welcome challenges, are problem solvers, and will cooperate with others. When it comes to mid-career hires, we look for people who have skills that respond to our overseas business development, technical development, and other business needs.

Initiatives

Initiatives for Human resource development

【Certification and ranking system】

Tokai Carbon operates a certification and ranking system that differs depending on career development track, as defined by responsibilities, department assignment, and rotation. This system allows career development tracks to be changed based on Company needs or employee preferences and opens the door to rapid promotion of outstanding individuals.

【Evaluation system】

We employ a goal management system that outlines performance goals and topics to clarify goals for each employee. The annual policy for each workplace, which reflects the management policies of the long-term management vision and the medium-term management plan, etc., will be used to establish the individual goals. Three times every year, each employee will participate in a meeting with their superiors, during which they will set specific goals and be given progress evaluations and feedback to increase individual motivation, promote personnel development, and ensure performance management.
To promote understanding of the personnel evaluation system and goal management system, and to eliminate inconsistency in evaluations, we provide training for employees who have become a new evaluators to ensure the effective implementation of the system.
In addition, based on the belief that personnel evaluations are an important element that contributes to human resource development and improved communication between superiors and subordinates, we are working to improve employee engagement by informing on-site supervisors and other managerial employees about appropriate interview and feedback methods and putting them into practice.
Furthermore, through an interview conducted every year for every employee with not more than 10 years of working history with their superior, as well as with the Human Resources Department managerial member, to confirm their future career path, we understand their work progress, the degree to which they are reaching their potential, and any concerns they may have about their future careers, which helps in the placement of the right people in the right positions.

【Enhancement of employee engagement】

We view improving employee engagement not only as a means to boost productivity, enhance customer satisfaction, and reduce turnover rates, but also as a critical management priority for enriching the lives of individual employees by increasing job satisfaction and improving work-life balance.

Based on this policy, we have conducted annual employee engagement surveys for all employees since 2023. We conduct ongoing monitoring of organizational health and, based on the findings, drive group-wide improvement actions to create a workplace environment where employees can work with motivation. For the 2025 survey, we achieved an exceptionally high response rate of 99%, and the overall engagement score improved compared to the previous year. We evaluate this as evidence that our initiatives are progressing in the right direction.

Detailed results identified areas related to immediate supervisors, such as “(Supervisor) Support Behavior” and “(Supervisor) Decision-making Behavior,” as consistent strengths of our company. Conversely, while “Human Resources (Recruitment and Placement)” and “Facility Environment” showed an upward trend compared to the previous survey, they remain challenging areas. To address these issues, we will further advance efforts to create an environment where employees can thrive. This includes strengthening recruitment, launching a new human resource development system in April 2026, expanding transfer plans to provide growth opportunities, and making capital investments to improve workplace environments based on requests from respective sites.

As for post-survey improvement actions in respective organizations, we are drafting and executing plans at the department, division, business division, and workplace (plant and laboratory) levels, with a focus on strengthening communication within the workplace. Furthermore, we share positive examples of improvement activities from various organizations on our internal portal site to encourage mutual learning across the company and strive to improve engagement throughout the entire organization.

【Self-assessment】

Tokai Carbon has a system under which employees — mainly general career-track employees whose professional education includes position rotations — annually assess the volume and quality of their work and express desires for current and future positions and locations. This information is communicated to the Human Resources Department by employees in personal interviews. It is used by the department as basic input for making career development and training decisions, and for assessing individual positions and workplace environments.

【Education and training】

【Philosophy of human resource development】

At Tokai Carbon, our approach to developing human resources capable of driving business strategies is centered on On-the-Job Training (OJT)—practical experience through daily operations combined with guidance and feedback from supervisors and senior colleagues. We position Off-the-Job Training (Off-JT), planned and implemented by the Human Resources Department, as a means to effectively support and complement the professional growth achieved through this OJT.

1. Selective training

   Selective training programs launched in 2017 include study abroad language training, next-generation leader training, and executive management training on a selective basis to secure future executive candidates. In 2025, we held executive management training for about seven months targeting for a employee selected from within the company, and a study abroad language training program (online and study abroad in Chicago) for three young and mid-career employees.

   For 2026, we will provide the next generation leader training for approximately nine months to four selected employees from within the company, and we will also provide abroad language training program, with one person studying in online. The outcome will be reported to the management by the training participants after completion of the training programs.

2. Stratified training

   In terms of stratified training, training for general managers, managers, management leaders, and senior staff is conducted as training courses for managerial staff, while leadership training, cafeteria style training (where the participants freely select a program for skills that are useful for their work), global training, career design training, step-up training, second-year training, and new hire training are conducted for the younger generation. Training for managerial staff accepts trainees from group companies if so requested.

   New hire training has been enhanced from 2019, with on-site training at plants, in addition to head office introductory training for approximately three months, in order to provide new hires with basic knowledge regarding safety and production management, etc. required of employees of a manufacturing company.

   In 2021, stratified training has been further enhanced and opportunities to learn career designs, creation of a global mindset, basic knowledge of MBA, etc., will be provided annually to the younger generation with one to seven years of work experience and for each job class for the managerial staff.

   In 2025, the average number of hours of training per employee for selective training and stratified training was 22 hours per year.

   In addition, we have established a correspondence education system and a public qualification incentive system for the purpose of self-improvement of individuals. As part of this growing culture of encouraging self-improvement, we have implemented a new public qualification incentive system from April 2019, including increased lump-sum incentives for public qualifications.

Supportive Working Environment

【Enhancing childcare/nursing care leave systems, etc.】

To support our employees for balancing childcare and work, we have introduced prenatal and postnatal leave and childcare leave and related systems that exceed legal standards.
The childcare leave system provides a maximum two-year leave after the birth of a child. In addition, we offer support that is more generous than legal requirements: measures to enable flexible working styles—such as the shortened working hours system, staggered working hours, and work-from-home system (up to 10 times per month)—are available until the child completes the third grade of elementary school. These benefits exceed statutory standards. Nursing care leave provides for a total of 93 days per family.
For the acquisition of annual paid leave, in addition to planned acquisition of 5 or more days, we enhance flexibility through a half-day leave system and an expired leave accumulation system.

【Work-from-home and flextime systems】

We have introduced work-from-home and flextime systems to enable employees to work flexibly without being constrained by time or location. Both of these systems are gradually being made available to a wider range of workplaces to foster a balance between work and family life.

【Improvement of workplace environments】

To improve “workplace environments,” an area identified as challenging in our employee engagement surveys, we are implementing capital investments for workplace environment improvements at our domestic sites based on their specific requests.

Promoting diversity

【Promoting active participation by women】

Based on the Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace, we formulated a general employer action plan in 2025. Over the five-year period starting April 2025, our goals are to increase the percentage of women in managerial positions to 7.0% or more and reduce the average monthly overtime hours for all full-time employees to 25 hours or less for each fiscal year during the period of the plan. To achieve these goals, we will focus on increasing the proportion of women among female new graduates hired for career-track positions to at least 30%, and creating a comfortable workplace environment for employees who need to raise children or provide care for family members, etc. The percentage of women among the new graduates hired for career-track positions in 2026 is 25%.

【Utilization of senior talent】

We have established a re-employment contract system enabling motivated and skilled senior employees to continue working after mandatory retirement by age. In 2024, to maintain and boost the motivation of our senior talent, we expanded this system by introducing a Premium Re-employment Contract System. This new system, launched into operation in 2025, enables employees to continue working under conditions equivalent to those before retirement, based on their performance and aspirations.

【Expansion of mid-career recruitment】

We are expanding mid-career recruitment efforts to invigorate our organization, strengthen expertise and secure immediate contributors for business promotion. By actively bringing in talent with external experience and advanced specialized knowledge, we aim to introduce new perspectives and ideas, thereby enhancing the overall capabilities of our organization. Furthermore, hiring immediate contributors in a rapidly changing business environment will accelerate our business growth.

【Expanding hiring of people with disabilities】

As of June 1, 2025, our employment rate of persons with disabilities is 2.14%, which is below the statutory employment rate. In order to achieve the statutory employment rate, Tokai Carbon will strive to create a comfortable working environment and actively hire persons with disabilities.

＜Employing person with disabilities in TOKAI farm＞
We began working to cultivate vegetables with special needs individual using a corporate farm.Two farm managers and six staff members are engaged in a hydroponics facility in an indoor farm.We can harvest leafy vegetables, such as pine and vegetables, in about one month after sowing. The harvested vegetables are distributed to employees.
These initiatives are one of our means to ensure employment for person with disabilities and contribute to the realization of a symbiotic society.

Seeding scene

Employees of TOKAI firms

Performance

【HR-related data(Non-consolidated)】Excluding fixed-term workers

【Consolidated employment figures by region】

【Training conducted】

【Work-life balance data】