Human Resource Development

At the Canon Marketing Japan Group (hereafter, the "Canon MJ Group"), we have a basic policy of evaluating job performance, awareness, and actions fairly and equally regardless of gender, age and educational background. We apply a similar policy to human resource development. We provide educational opportunities, including opportunities to receive IT literacy education and education for each employee level, fairly to all employees who proactively seek learning.
Further, in 2021, we defined our ideal human resources and began to work proactively on human resources development, aiming to achieve the objective of developing skilled human resources that is set out in the Long-Term Management Objectives.

At the Canon MJ Group, we provide basic training that is common to all job categories, training for increasing expertise in each field and developing personnel who can lead their departments, and selective training for the management executives of the future.

We aim to implement a cycle through which behavior will be transformed through learning, taking on challenges and change. More specifically, employees will learn autonomously, draw on this learning to take on new work challenges and this will result in them changing something or in a change in themselves. We see new employee training and rank-based training as an opportunity for change and will instill a new mindset and skills. Such training is provided based on a personnel training system that defines the ability to think, the ability to execute, and the ability to involve other people, in a stepwise manner, and we ensure that employees can acquire skills step by step in areas such as design thinking, career training and human resource development in addition to business skills such as logical thinking, marketing, accounting and strategy. In addition, we support growth by offering a wide range of learning opportunities including a system of support for the acquisition of new qualifications, distance learning and e-learning. We are also focusing on initiatives to strengthen IT skills, such as having all employees sit the IT passport, DX certification and DX business certification exams and having all employees take part in data literacy training focusing on data handling.

We provide rank-specific training, which is aimed at supporting the transition when employees move to a higher stage, and online training intended for all employees. In rank-specific training, employees strive to achieve their ideal, of which they have a specific image, by developing their skills and mindset.
Moreover, we have expanded the menu for improving project management skills, language proficiency, PC skills, and other skills so that anyone can achieve personal development with the San-ji (Three Selfs) Spirit.
We believe it is important to develop a climate in which every single person continues learning.

Employees are able to gain the basic business skills required for each rank at the time of promotion through systematic rank-specific training, and consolidate these skills through on-the-job training. Based on the Katz model^*, we aim to have employees hone conceptual, technical, and human skills.
In addition to rank-specific training, we also provide opportunities for voluntary learning to support the improvement of business skills used day-to-day through a variety of programs, such as self-selected distance education and external seminars.

The next generation of managerial personnel is determined by the Nomination and Remuneration Committee, which is chaired by the president and comprises both inside and outside directors. The development of the potential candidates is deliberated by the Human Resources Strategy Committee. These processes are followed by examining the specifics such as the appointment of candidates for important positions and participation in selection training, forming the long-term framework for developing managerial personnel.

We have held Quorum 12 since 2014, a training session for select personnel in the general manager class. Since 2019, we have also held Quorum 15 for select personnel in the manager class. In addition to enhancing skills in business school, since 2024, we have begun using cross-boundary learning, in which participants learn about management through actual practice in other companies. We are developing the next generation of managerial personnel through hands-on learning and a liberal arts curriculum that enhances participants’ human skills.

In April 2025, the advanced ITS human resources certification program started with the use of Digital Skill Standards (DSS). The program rates human resources in terms of two criteria, knowledge and achievements. Advanced ITS human resources, namely those at Level 4 or higher, are certified as DX experts. Those at Level 3 are treated as DX candidates, namely candidates for advanced ITS human resources, and receive training to become advanced human resources.

Canon Marketing Japan is committed to supporting the career development of employees, aiming to “increase job satisfaction by allowing employees to think about their own careers autonomously and work independently towards the career they want to pursue, and to foster an organizational culture invigorated by autonomous employees”.
In addition to regular career interviews between bosses and their subordinates, dedicated career consultants (who hold national qualifications) give career consultations, and we hold career seminars by rank and age group to help employees achieve career autonomy.

Career Training and Career Interviews by Age Group
Career training tailored to each age group and individual career interviews with internal career consultants

Career Training and Career Interviews for Newly Appointed Line Managers
Career training for newly appointed line managers to develop skills for supporting subordinates, along with individual career interviews with internal career consultants

Career Counseling (Available on Demand)
A career counseling service with internal career consultants

Post-Event Career Interviews
Individual career interviews with internal career consultants following key events such as transfers, promotions, or returns to work

Career Interviews Between Subordinates and Superiors
Annual career interviews conducted between employees and their supervisors

It is important to be proactive in planning one's own career development. At the Canon MJ Group, we encourage employees to boldly take on new positions. We also implement the Job Opening Bulletin System (JOBS), an in-house recruiting program aimed at activating human resources in the Group. JOBS is a program that allows employees to transfer across departments and corporations and to put themselves up for new positions. The “company FA system” which provides employees with the opportunity to take on challenges of their own free will” has also been launched.