We support a systematic and structured talent development program and encourage all employees to proactively develop their own careers.

Our Approach

If our employees are the driving force behind value creation, talent development should be regarded as one of LIXIL’s material issues to be viewed from a long-term perspective.
As part of that process, we focus on training next-generation leaders and employees after evaluating global LIXIL talent based on future business needs.

To create a working environment in which all employees can work with high engagement, we support career development from two angles: strategic company-driven career development, and self-motivated career development managed by individual employees. Our Kawaranaito LIXIL human resource program, launched in November 2019 to revitalize business in Japan, is noteworthy in that it focuses on self-motivated management of career paths as a priority theme for fostering the next generation of human resources.

From FYE2022, we launched initiatives that support the ability of management-level talent to bring out the best in their team members, with a particular focus on manager effectiveness.

We are also accelerating the training of high potential female employees to become managers and leaders. As one of the key pillars of LIXIL’s enterprise D&I Strategy, we are committed to achieving gender equity at LIXIL by raising the percentage of female directors and executive officers to 50% and the percentage of female managers to 30%, both by 2030.

Our System

LIXIL holds People & Organizational Development (POD) conferences in all major organizations with our CEO, Chief People Officer (CPO), and leaders of our business units, and creates an annual next-generation training plan to cover key positions in line with our management direction. In FYE2022, we have created a list of approximately 650 potential successors for 250 major positions worldwide. This enables us to ensure business continuity even in times of emergency and to build a future-fit system for strategically selecting successors. We devise and implement training plans for each of the listed successors that are designed to build their individual strengths and address development areas by providing business assignments and job transfer opportunities and offering leadership training.

Overview of Talent Development

LIXIL’s talent development programs in Japan are designed to improve fundamental skills, develop stronger expertise, and grow as next-generation leaders. We have three types of virtual educational institutions, which are all intrinsically linked.

1) Basic School for Improving Fundamental Skills

A range of learning opportunities are offered to employees to match their individual skill levels, career stages, and career visions so they can acquire the necessary competencies. From FYE2022, we started offering internal online training focused on raising the overall digital capabilities across the company, which also allows people to choose the skills they want to learn and the level of difficulty.

2) Professional College for Improving Specialist Skills

Each division offers its own training opportunities to improve specialist knowledge, with the aim of improving the comprehensive strength and specialist expertise of our corporate functions and business units.

3) Selection-Based Program for Developing the Next Generation of Company Leaders

To accelerate the shift toward merit-based systems and a more diverse management-level talent portfolio, we are implementing selection-based talent development programs called NEXT and NEXT 2nd that focus on practical on-the job training. The NEXT program is designed for company executive candidates and the NEXT 2nd program is designed for managerial candidates. We are also developing a Global Challenge Program designed to develop globally minded talent that offers employees the opportunity to work in an office outside Japan for a period of one year.

LIXIL Training System

Offering Diverse Educational Programs

In Japan, LIXIL advocates self-motivated management of career paths as a key component of our Kawaranaito LIXIL human resource program to support career development and training for all generations. We promote the use of our LIXIL MANABO! learning management system and e-learning programs. We also made self-study easier by creating recommended skill maps for each company level so that employees can choose the right program for their individual skills and needs.

In FYE2022, we introduced a LinkedIn Learning platform for global executive or managerial candidates. The platform helps to improve our managerial training programs by offering an impressive range of over 17,000 training materials in seven languages, including courses, videos, and webinars given by experts.

LIXIL Americas offers a comprehensive education program through its LWTA University to meet diverse needs. The University offers a great variety of online tools including webinars, video sessions, and e-books, with course topics ranging from leadership, management, and other basic business skills to compliance, environment, occupational health and safety, and product knowledge.

The EMENA region is focused on expanding e-learning opportunities so that employees can take courses on a wide range of topics, including products, leadership, and compliance, regardless of their location.

Training and Education Support Programs Conducted in FYE2022

Annual Training Hours and Costs per Employee (FYE2022)

Scope and details of employee-related data ＞

Career Development Support

We are developing a global company-wide Career Journey project designed to motivate every employee and encourage them to think independently in their job. In Japan, for example, we are developing frameworks that enable employees to challenge themselves in their careers based on their own vision through our self-declared career plan system. We provide employees with access to our internal Job Posting recruiting system and ensure they have a chance to discuss their desired career path with their manager at least once a year.

In FYE2022, we enhanced our support of proactive career development by introducing a system that enables employees to have concurrent jobs outside the company and trialing a new system that permits employees to allocate 20% of their working hours to another position within the company.

Evaluation Framework

To ensure growth and positive results are fairly rewarded, employees of all major LIXIL review their performance against their goals with their direct manager and are evaluated by at least two managers at the end of each fiscal year.

In Japan, we assess employees’ performance in two ways: through evaluation on individual performance over the past half year, and through behavior evaluation to help nurture employees and encourage their personal growth. All employees assess their own achievements against objectives set at the beginning of the relevant evaluation period and determine final review rating by going through an evaluation process. Managers seek to nurture their employees by giving feedback in interviews on each employee’s performance and communicating what they expect from individuals.