Basic Policy

Sumitomo Forestry strives to create an environment that facilitates free and vigorous expression as well as an exchange of opinions by employees so that they can perform their responsibilities with vigor, integrity and consideration for others. The Company wants each and every employee to grow within a corporate culture of respect for individual employees, and fair evaluation of accomplishments and efforts.

Communication in Employee Evaluation and Job Execution

Sumitomo Forestry has a policy of providing all employees feedback on their evaluation results, with the main objective of nurturing and developing human resources through employee evaluations. In addition to short-term semiannual performance, the evaluation items include items that contribute to the long-term development of the company, teamwork attitude and actions to create results, compliance, and risk management. Meetings between individual employees and supervisors must be held once every six months, providing an opportunity to set targets and receive an explanation of evaluation results.

At Sumitomo Forestry, we also conduct multi-faceted evaluations (360 Degree Evaluation) in which employees are evaluated in a "one-to-many" relationship with the people who work with them, rather than a "one-to-one" relationship between supervisors and subordinates. In fiscal 2023, these were mainly conducted for employees in charge of organizational management, specifically management employees or employees who intend to become management. From these results, we provide feedback to help each employee precisely recognize the current situation (awareness), gain hints into specific management actions as well as help them formulate and execute independent action plans. In addition, these evaluation results also provide feedback to supervisors of the organization where these employees belong as reference for their own evaluations and guidance to each employee.

In 2024, we introduced new value evaluations (performance evaluations) that focus on increasing the added value of individual employees and evaluating their acquisition and utilization of skills. The evaluation criteria will be clarified as a definition of the ability grade for each job type and grade, and the growth of each employee will be absolutely evaluated against these criteria.

In addition, the Personnel Department conducts direct self-report hearings of all employees once a year to ascertain opinions on jobs and workplaces, transfer requests and family circumstances, among other matters.

Casual Discussions with President Mitsuyoshi

At the Sumitomo Forestry Group, Casual Discussions have been held on a regular basis to foster communication between the President and frontline employees. In 2023, these discussions were held at four locations, including the Nishikyushu Branch of the Housing Division (Saga and Nagasaki sales offices), the Nara Branch, and the Kyoto Branch.

From 2024, we plan to hold these discussions at six branches and sales offices nationwide under the title of "Casual Discussions with President Mitsuyoshi.” The President will explain the Sumitomo Forestry Group's value chain, the Wood Cycle, and answer questions from employees. By sharing the content of these meetings throughout the company, we aim to promote mutual understanding, foster a deeper understanding of the Wood Cycle, and increase employee motivation through dialogue between the President and employees.

Employee Satisfaction Survey

Sumitomo Forestry conducted the 13th employee satisfaction surveys in July 2023.

The survey asked 85 different questions in 10 categories: work, work load, workplace, supervisor, evaluation/ treatment/skill development, career, management and vision, customer first, compliance and satisfaction.

The questionnaire targeted 5,344 full-time and fixed-term employees with a response rate of 96.4%.

As a result of the survey, when asked whether they were satisfied working for Sumitomo Forestry, 76.3% of employees answered either "absolutely" or "somewhat agree”.

Furthermore, this survey was also jointly conducted at 26 Group companies in Japan since 2019. The questionnaire targeted 12,752 fixed-term employees (including some part-time employees) with a response rate of 90.3%.

Sumitomo Forestry plans to introduce the employee satisfaction survey as an annual survey throughout all consolidated Group companies in Japan to understand yearly changes.

Employee Satisfaction Survey Response Rate (Sumitomo Forestry)

Employee Satisfaction Survey Trends (Sumitomo Forestry)

Relationship with Labor Unions

Sumitomo Forestry has a labor union based on a union shop system. The scope of union members is determined based on the collective bargaining agreement concluded between the Company and the Sumitomo Forestry Labor Union. As of January 1, 2024, 100% (3,915 employees) of eligible employees are members of the labor union.

In addition, in the labor agreement, the Company recognizes the freedom of union activities and the right to collective bargaining, and promises to strive to stabilize the lives of union members and to maintain and improve working conditions, including wage regulations, through meetings with management, which are composed of members from both labor and management.

In fiscal 2023, the Labor Union Executive Department engaged in lively discussions with the company on behalf of union members in preparation for the introduction of the new personnel system, and after reflecting some of the opinions of union members, the new personnel system was rolled out in January 2024.