Human Resources

HR Strategy

HR Strategy

With regard to its approach to human resources, the Sharp Group clearly states in its business philosophy that, “It is the intention of our corporation to grow hand-in-hand with our employees, encouraging and aiding them to reach their full potential and improve their standard of living.” In order to put this philosophy into practice, the Medium-Term Management Plan (FY2025–2027) establishes that we will expand investment in “people” as a growth platform that will support continuous business expansion.

Medium-Term Management Plan (excerpt): Expanding Investment in “People”

As the Sharp Group strives to achieve renewed business growth, we recognize that developing and recruiting talent with outstanding technical skills and expertise is essential. Based on this understanding, and to ensure the steady implementation of our medium-term management plan, we are focusing on “cultivating and acquiring human resources to facilitate growth” and “building an environment that enables diverse talent to thrive” as the pillars of our human resources strategy.

Cultivating and Acquiring Human Resources to Facilitate Growth

The Sharp Group believes that, in order for it to pursue its business in a way that achieves sustained growth, it is necessary to secure talented human resources in technology and management-related fields who can drive new business and global expansion. In line with this, we hire new graduates as a means of acquiring new talent. We also hire people with work experience in order to secure core talent capable of pursuing new business. As part of our efforts to improve overall corporate strength, we prepare and provide various human resource development programs to our employees. Through these programs aimed at enhancing the quality and breadth of employee skills, we are working to strengthen the workforce that supports business growth.

Building an Environment That Enables Diverse Talent to Thrive

The Sharp Group aims to “build an environment that enables diverse talent to thrive” and, towards that end, works to foster a culture that challenges its employees and encourages their individuality. We will build an environment that capitalizes on the diversity and skills of our employees and will be an organization where everyone can perform to their full potential. We also emphasize creating safe and healthy workplaces by focusing on more robust employee health promotion and enhancing employee benefits.

By creating such an environment, we will improve employee engagement and, thus, help ensure corporate growth and competitive advantage.

Human Resource Development

Variety of Human Resource Development Programs

Our range of development programs is one way we are boosting our comprehensive strength.

We have many kinds of development programs aimed at improving the quality and scope of employees’ capabilities. Through these programs, we are training young employees, cultivating the next generation of leaders, developing global talent, strengthening individual skills, and more.

Human Resource Development Programs (in Japan)

Job-Level-Specific Human Resource Development

In job-level-specific training, employees acquire the knowledge, skills, and mindset essential to each stage of their careers. Young people receive training starting from when they are first selected to join Sharp, training upon joining the company, and training in their first few years at the company. Furthermore, manager candidate training is provided before promotion to manager in order to systematically strengthen management capabilities.

Under this training system, we continue to expand our job-level-specific training programs, focusing particularly on middle management and young talent. By implementing training at each level, we encourage career independence and support employees’ independent growth, thereby strengthening both management and young talent. In fiscal 2025, we launched three job-level-specific training courses for employees in their third and fifth years of employment, as well as for those at the section chief level.
From fiscal 2026 onwards, we plan to add new courses and to expand the target group.

Strengthening Development of the Next Generation of Senior Managers (Sharp Leadership Program)

With an eye to continuous growth, we are implementing training for selected employees that will strengthen the development of the next generation of senior management personnel. We are creating a process for systematically developing the next generation of senior managers who will lead Sharp into a future phase of dramatic growth, based on a clearly defined profile of the ideal candidate.

In terms of training measures, we are actively working to create effective and ongoing learning opportunities, such as implementing a blended learning approach that combines e-learning and group training, or cultivating Sharp alumni, to impart the mindset and skills necessary for leadership.

In fiscal 2025, we launched two Sharp Leadership Program courses targeting future executives and managers. From fiscal 2026 onwards, we plan to add new courses and to expand the target group.

Expanding the AI- and Digitally Savvy Workforce

For the Sharp Group to achieve renewed growth, it is necessary to transform its business model into one that maximizes the use of the diverse data it possesses through AI and digital technologies, as well as to shift to data-driven management that combines operational data with these technologies. In promoting these changes, we have positioned the development and acquisition of an AI- and digitally savvy workforce as an urgent priority and are working to expand our talent base.

Regarding the development of an AI- and digitally savvy workforce, we have introduced training programs for AI/DX promotion personnel, including those who plan business models, those who promote data utilization, and engineers. Also, in order to strengthen this AI/DX promotion system and to raise the AI skill and knowledge level of all employees, as they are the users of AI and DX, we start by teaching them the basics of generative AI and then promote gradual improvement through e-learning and other means.

• Number of people at Sharp Corporation and its major domestic consolidated subsidiaries who have taken the AI/digital engineer reskilling program.

We conducted the following development programs in fiscal 2025.

・For AI/DX promotion personnel
① Business architect course
② Data scientist course
③ Engineer course (AI/digital engineer reskilling program)

・For AI/DX users
① e-learning (generative AI use)
② Group training (generative AI use promotion)

We will continue to offer training and development programs beyond fiscal 2026 to expand the pool of AI- and digitally savvy workforce supporting the advancement of AI/DX. Furthermore, we are pursuing competitive and flexible employee compensation packages to attract personnel highly specialized in areas related to AI and digital technology.

Fostering Global Human Resources

In the Sharp Group, we treat the strengthening of our overseas business as a priority initiative, which includes pursuing global expansion of our brand business and acceleration of business transformation as key initiatives for future growth. In order to execute this strategy, we believe it is essential to secure and cultivate outstanding global talent who are well-versed in overseas operations and markets and who possess the capabilities to drive business expansion. We will strive to secure and cultivate global talent in a planned manner to continuously strengthen and grow our overseas business.

Specifically, we effectively utilize training, rotation, and OJT (overseas assignments, overseas business trips, etc.) for suitable personnel in order to develop them into professionals who can contribute to Sharp’s overseas expansion. We also actively hire people with extensive experience in overseas business.

To improve employees’ foreign language abilities towards expanding Sharp’s global business, we provide foreign language study of two types: the basics, open to all employees; and intensive, for selected employees. In the basics, we meet individuals’ particular study needs with learning that can be done anytime and anywhere, in addition to counseling on language learning.

Fostering a New-Business-Creation Mindset

We support new business ideas from our employees, in an aim to create new businesses and business models that can become pillars of our next-generation business.

To enable all employees to actively challenge themselves in creating new businesses and innovations, we strengthened our system so that idea proposal opportunities, which were previously held only once a year, can be made at any time starting from fiscal 2025. By making it possible to make proposals anytime and as many times as needed, we are encouraging employees to take on challenges.

Personnel, Education, and Training System for Fostering Strong Individuals (Learning for Self-Development)

In line with its thinking focused on the development of strong individuals, the Sharp Group is working to create an environment where employees can learn the basic business knowledge and expertise that they need as professionals. By enabling individuals to pursue learning independently, anytime, anywhere, we are facilitating the development of professionals who are well-versed in business. We have created an e-learning environment that allows employees to easily study these topics anytime, anywhere, using their home computers or smartphones, and we actively support employees in improving their skills through self-development. Through the ongoing provision of these various education and training initiatives, we are fostering a corporate culture of employee-driven mutual learning and instruction in which we cultivate personnel capable of delivering the sorts of innovation that strengthen the company.

Creating a Learning-Friendly Environment

Company-Wide Study Sessions (Technology, Management)

We hold two varieties of study session with the aim of sharing knowledge across the company.
Technology-related study sessions are intended to share information on key technology areas, providing explanations of technological trends and company-wide initiatives. Management-related study sessions include explanations of business skills intended to impart a range of different managerial skills. All sessions are held during working hours and recordings are available for viewing, creating an environment conducive to easy learning.

Specialized Technical Training and Management Skills Improvement Training

Through specialized technical training, we pursue a variety of initiatives aimed at helping employees improve and deepen their expertise (technical competency). The courses we offer include a basic skills-building seminar (e-learning), in which primarily younger engineers learn the basics of technology, and technical workshops, which incorporate a practical program that is directly linked to job skills in specific technical fields. There are also engineer exchange meetings. Our education and training initiatives are aimed at strengthening technical expertise company-wide, going beyond the limited framework of specific business and products to share technical know-how across internal functions and to develop younger employees by passing existing skills and techniques on to them.

In management skills improvement training, there are self-study courses for all employees to learn and acquire the basic knowledge and skills of business.

Fiscal 2025 Learning for Self-Development Participation (Full-time employees at Sharp Corporation and consolidated subsidiaries in Japan)

Scope: Company-wide study sessions, management skills improvement training, specialized training, Sharp Language Academy

Example

Talent Development through 360° Feedback

SDE, Sharp’s European device sales base, provides 360° feedback opportunities to support the growth of each employee. This system collects self-evaluations from employees themselves and feedback from multiple internal stakeholders, including line managers, managers and colleagues from other departments, and direct team members. This allows SDE to understand each individual’s strengths and areas for growth from a multifaceted perspective. The results obtained are used for employee skills development, leading to the creation of action plans by the employees themselves and concrete improvement measures through dialogue with management and the HR department.

This initiative aims to foster a feedback and communication culture where employees can frankly share their opinions with each other. Through highly objective feedback based on diverse perspectives, open dialogue is promoted, leading to improved employee self-understanding, fair talent evaluation and development, and continuous growth throughout the organization.

Example

Investing in Employee Growth through Tuition-Free Degree Opportunities

SEC, Sharp’s U.S. production and sales base, has partnered with the University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC) since 2019 to provide a free tuition support program to help employees obtain bachelor’s and master’s degrees, in order to support their professional development and career advancement.

This program aims to reduce the financial burden of obtaining bachelor’s and master’s degrees and to support employees’ continuous learning and professional development. UAGC’s flexible online learning environment allows employees to balance their work and personal lives while pursuing learning tailored to their individual career goals.

The areas of study are diverse, including accounting, finance, human resources, marketing, supply chain and operations management, leadership, cybersecurity and data security technologies, and information systems management. The Master of Business Administration (MBA) program, in particular, attracts significant interest from participants.

Since the launch of this program, 28 employees have earned a bachelor’s or master’s degree. Furthermore, SEC has invested a total of US$473,200 in this program to date, demonstrating our continued commitment to talent development and support for employee growth.

SEC supports employee growth by expanding access to higher education and continuous learning opportunities, fostering career development while contributing to the long-term success of the organization.

Personnel System Conducive to Talent Development and Motivation Boosting

Grade System

We have introduced a grade system that determines position rank and compensation according to job content, role size, and level of responsibility. The system is designed to enable speedy promotion based on roles and performance, and it is used to select and promote outstanding human resources.

Employee Evaluations

We use a bonus/pay raise system that is tied to company performance and employee evaluation in order to reward those employees who have produced good results.

To ensure fair evaluations, all employees have an interview with their managers at the beginning, middle, and end of each evaluation term, at which time both sides confirm how well the employee is doing in terms of progress towards targets, contribution to the company, and job results. Evaluation results are given to employees every half year along with explanations of the evaluations with the aim of contributing to employees’ growth.

In-House Recruitment System

Our in-house recruitment system allows current employees to apply for jobs such as the launch of a new business. Besides effectively leveraging existing human resources, the system also helps our employees advance their careers.

Personnel Declaration System

All employees submit a career development plan along with a self- assessment of their job aptitude.We then store this information—along with records of interviews with supervisors—in a personnel database. This provides an overview of how employees are progressing with respect to their career goals, and it allows us to effectively develop human resources.

Step-Up Campaign (Qualification Acquisition Encouragement Plan)

To support employee self-development, we offer monetary rewards to employees who have acquired qualifications, with the amount depending on the difficulty of acquiring the qualification. This plan covers about 200 qualifications, including some for field-specific techniques and skills, some directly related to daily duties, and some for language skills.