Last Updated: 2024.12.09
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Our employees working around the world are the engine driving Fast Retailing's growth. We believe that people with high standards and ideals, who can think and act autonomously based on our shared values of 'truth, goodness and beauty' and 'customer-oriented', can help us achieve our goal to become the No.1, most-loved brand in the world.
Priority areas
Fast Retailing is strengthening its efforts to recruit and develop people, particularly in the following three priority areas:
Store sales staff who meet the true needs of customers
Store sales staff who think and act on their own to provide truly pleasant services tailored to local conditions and meet the true needs of customers.Global management personnel
Global management personnel, including store managers, who contribute to society by achieving tangible results through global leadership that transcends countries, regions, and business domains.Highly specialized human resources of a global standard
Human resources with world-class expertise in areas such as digital, IT, creative and global supply chain management, as well as those with an ability to build new global business functions and structures for the future, unrestrained by convention or existing concepts.
Initiatives to recruit people
Enhancing and diversifying new graduate recruitment
By shifting from a recruitment system based on brands and sales divisions to a group-wide recruitment system, we will recruit people of the standard required by Fast Retailing across brands. In addition, we will hire high-caliber new-graduates from the digital, IT, creative, and global supply chain management fields, and will work to develop these people into talent that can excel at a global level.
We will promote the recruitment of talented personnel who are motivated to work at our stores on a global scale. In collaboration with universities around the world, we will deepen student understanding of and identification with Fast Retailing's business model and the essence of our trade through global internships and workshops held locally, and by inviting students from around the world to Japan. Through these measures, we will identify talented personnel who can play an active role in the field and develop them as candidates for management.
Mid-career recruitment of highly specialized personnel
We will strengthen our recruitment of world-class, highly specialized personnel. We will recruit senior management talent from all over the world to build new functions and lead business expansion, including digital, IT, creative, and global supply chain management.
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Recruiting excellent sales staff
We will work to recruit excellent sales staff who can embody our approach as a "digital consumer retail company" through which we stay connected with customers, turning feedback into products, and delivering these in the optimal form. We will raise the level of compensation to attract talented and motivated employees, and at the same time, we will retain them by preparing a variety of career paths that match their abilities and growth.
Globally Competitive Compensation
We constantly monitor the talent markets and compensation levels in each country around the world and review our compensation system to maintain a competitive advantage across all industries. This will contribute to the recruitment and retention of excellent store sales staff, global management personnel, and world-class skilled professionals. Through a series of initiatives, we aim to create teams with small number of selected people.
Respect for human rights in recruitment activities
We comply with local legislation in our recruitment activities. In order to prevent child labor and forced labor, we thoroughly check the candidate's age at time of employment. We do not retain any important personal documents such as passports, restrict the freedom of movement of staff, or require staff to stay at or pay for accommodation owned or controlled by Fast Retailing.
Initiatives for people development and fair evaluations
Provide global growth opportunities, optimize human resource allocation, and promote organizational diversity
Global job rotation
By optimizing the allocation of management personnel on a global basis, we are working to strengthen the management structure in each country and region. In addition, we strategically provide talented employees in each location with global growth opportunities that transcend their business and market boundaries, and those who achieve results are selected for senior management positions in each location.Global internal recruitment
To encourage career development that transcends departmental boundaries, we have established the "Career Challenge Program", an in-house open recruitment system. We are expanding the open recruitment system, which operates in each market, to the group and global level. By clearly specifying the positions that are needed on a group and global basis, and by establishing a global open recruitment system that allows employees to apply for positions that transcend brands, countries, and departments, we are expanding opportunities for employees to carve out their own careers on the global stage.Expanding training dispatch to Japan
Highly motivated, talented employees working in stores around the world will be sent to Japan for training after joining the company, so they can experience firsthand the standards of customer satisfaction realized by Japanese store managers and sales staff, Fast Retailing's philosophy and Japanese culture behind those standards, and develop into candidates for Fast Retailing's global management personnel.
Dynamic and fair evaluation and selection
Fast Retailing has standardized its evaluation and compensation systems globally and introduced standard evaluation guideline to avoid national, regional, or organizational bias. We have also adopted a grading system that defines the skills and requirements necessary for each position, and conduct semi-annual evaluations and promotions based on individual abilities. We encourage growth by making bold selections, including grade-skipping, as employees grow.
To ensure fairness and transparency of the evaluations, the evaluations are conducted not only by the direct supervisor, but also by departmental evaluation meetings that include personnel in charge of human resources, and for employees above a certain grade, by a global evaluation meeting consisting of all executive officers of the Group.
Development of sales staff and diverse career paths
We have established a promotion and salary increase system and career path for sales staff based on fair evaluation and in accordance with their abilities. In order to grow as salesperson, we provide necessary education in a timely and appropriate manner, such as 'Education on Fast Retailing's philosophy and values' and 'Education to cultivate the ability to propose products that go beyond existing product knowledge and meet customer needs', thereby creating an environment where employees can work and grow over the long term. Furthermore, we intend to further enhance our diverse career paths, which allow employees with motivation and ability to advance their careers from sales staff to store manager and even to management personnel, as one of our strengths since the founding of our company.
Other training and career development programs
To support the self-realization of each employee, we encourage employees to set their own career goals and work with their supervisors to create and implement individual development plans. We also have a self-reporting system that allows employees to report their career aspirations to the Human Resources Department.
As a mechanism to promote personal growth through work evaluations, we have introduced a Management by Objectives (MBO) system in which employees set goals with their supervisors twice a year, and their supervisors conduct evaluations and provide feedback every six months. In addition to evaluations based on the degree of target achievement, we have also introduced a system in which subordinates and colleagues in the same department, as well as in other departments, assess an individual's diverse abilities from multiple perspectives, encouraging employees to learn and gain insight into their work.
Benefits and defined contribution pension plans
Fast Retailing offers a variety of benefits to our employees. In addition to a full range of insurance (health, pension, workplace accident, unemployment), we offer an employee stock ownership plan, employee discounts, and employee housing. In addition, Fast Retailing Group employees in Japan may participate in the Fast Retailing 401(k) plan, a defined contribution pension plan.
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Proper payment of salaries
In accordance with local legislation, appropriate salaries and benefits are stipulated in our payroll regulations. We ensure to make payment in full stipulated in the employment contract on-time, and legitimate deductions are indicated on pay slips.
Initiatives for employee education
Policy and promotion system
Fast Retailing emphasizes the personal growth and self-actualization of each employee. Guided by two of our fundamental concepts - Global One and ZEN-IN KEIEI - each employee cultivates the mindset of an executive and learns to implement global best practices through their work. We foster a problem-solving workforce that focuses on our customers first. We develop employees that can form and respond to a clear and accurate understanding of the marketplace: conditions, products, preferences.
The Fast Retailing Management and Innovation Center (FR-MIC) is the group's internal training facility. The center promotes the development of an organization in which diverse human resources understand Fast Retailing's management philosophy and the business principles, and based on these, demonstrate their abilities in daily business activities. Specifically, the center provides education and training programs using 'Notes for Becoming a business leader', 'In Spirit and Action', 'What has FR Changed' and 'This Store Exists for Our Customers -The Principles Behind Getting It Done-' written by Tadashi Yanai, Chairman and President of the company. FR-MIC also creates opportunities for direct sessions with executive officers, including CEOs from various markets, including Tadashi Yanai, and various education and training programs. In addition, we also work to expand our company-wide education platform, whereby employees around the world access video learning content and best-practice case studies to develop skills in management philosophy, management thinking, and product information. Furthermore, the FR Convention is held twice a year, bringing together global store managers, head-office employees and outstanding store sales staff to ensure company-wide strategies and key management messages are communicated.
Education Program
FR-MIC conducts education programs to meet four priority objectives:
- 1. Discover, develop and retain our business leaders
Establishes a sustainable talent development scheme to continue discovering our next generation of business leaders, while providing growth and education opportunities through challenging assignments.
- 2. Communicate Fast Retailing's philosophy, values and principles
Provides education to help employees understand and execute the company's corporate philosophy and fundamental principles of business, management, and work, for tangible results.
- 3. Promote results-oriented on the job-training
Transform existing education programs that focus on operational skills and procedures into those that focus on results-oriented, on-the-job training, leading to the growth of our employees and improvement of their motivation.
- 4. Establish a foundation of globally-accessible education tools
To establish this foundation, we are creating a strong curriculum and educating trainers to provide equal opportunity and high-quality education standards to all employees globally.
By developing our personnel through these policies, we are motivating our people around the world, while also retaining the best talent. We are optimizing company performance, promoting employee engagement and maximizing each employee's potential to become a business leader.
[Major Training Programs]
Fast Retailing's Unique Educational Opportunities
• Sharing Our Corporate Vision and Policies
To grow, we must promote understanding of the Fast Retailing corporate philosophy and vision among all employees. We hold the Fast Retailing Convention on a semi-annual basis, inviting nearly 8,000 store managers and head office staff from around the world, including via online, to participate. We also hold local conventions across the globe as another means to foster a sense of unity within our businesses.
• Learning Corporate Culture and Principles Directly from Management
We have an opportunity to learn directly from members of Fast Retailing management who exemplify our vision, values and principles of business, management, and work, so that each employee can acquire and implement Fast Retailing's ways of problem-solving and working to achieve results. In this way, all our employees understand and demonstrate Fast Retailing values and behaviors.
• Direct communication to solve on-site issues and accelerate development opportunities
In addition to daily communication, we hold "Direct Meetings" two times a year, bringing together top management, headquarters staff, and store employees. Here, store staff and store managers gather and discuss on-site issues with senior management and directors to achieve solutions.
Sustainability Education
As Fast Retailing global business grows, the more important it becomes for our employees to understand our sustainability values, policies and actions. We want all employees to discuss sustainability with each other and to consider their day-to-day work through the lens of sustainability. We seek to constantly improve our sustainability education program to achieve this goal.
Strengthening internal communication
We issue regular communications, such as the Fast Retailing Integrated Report and UNIQLO's sustainability booklet, The Power of Clothing, to foster employee knowledge and understanding. In addition, we share the latest news and information about Fast Retailing's sustainability initiatives through our global intranet system, and are distributing sustainability news for employees at retail stores.
Sustainability Week
We are organizing our Sustainability Week regularly to share Fast Retailing's sustainability activities. In March 2018, we celebrated our first-ever Sustainability Week, held at our Roppongi and Ariake head offices, as well as at our businesses in the United Kingdom, France, China, Korea and the US. During these events, we hosted discussions on our corporate sustainability activities, exchanging opinions about the issues facing our company and offering suggestions to address them. We have also invited external experts to lead workshops on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) topics to deepen employee understanding of sustainability issues. We continue to create ongoing educational opportunities, such as holding exhibitions and talk sessions on sustainability and participatory event like quiz rallies whenever we host the Fast Retailing Convention.
Efforts to promote diversity
The Diversity Promotion Team plays a central role in conducting global initiatives such as raising awareness of diversity and conducting training.
