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- Human Capital Development
Human Capital Development
Kenedix, Inc. and Kenedix Real Estate Fund Management, Inc (“KFM”) have identified “Recruitment, development and retention of talents” as a material topic and been providing various development programs and benefits to all of its employees to attract talents and organize a system where they can make a long-term career under the policy that human resources are crucial for sophisticated investment management.
- Attracting and Retaining Talents, and Developing Their Careers
- Health and Wellbeing of Employees
- Diversity and Equal Opportunities
- Relevant Data (Employment and System Use)
Attracting and Retaining Talents and Developing Their Careers
Kenedix Group, including KFM, is promoting initiatives to develop capabilities of employees by providing trainings and educational programs to maximize individual productivity. Employees receive the opportunities to discuss whether they are satisfied with their jobs and their career plans twice a year, which are used to improve the efficiency of the operation and distribution of personnel at the most desirable place.
Diverse Human Capital and Stable Employment
KFM is operated by employees seconded from its parent company, Kenedix, Inc., and utilizes the know-how, expertise, philosophy and human networks cultivated by the Kenedix Group. Furthermore, KFM continues to recruit new employees so that it can secure appropriate human resources in a timely manner in accordance with business conditions and environmental changes.
Moreover, to forecast hiring needs and proactively develop new pools of talent, Kenedix has adopted a referral recruitment strategy (an employee placement system whereby current officers and employees are encouraged to recommend personnel suited to the Kenedix Group, such as acquaintances and friends) in February 2021 in addition to regular new graduate recruitment and mid-career recruitment.
By securing various human resources, Kenedix, Inc. promotes sustainability management as a real estate asset management company.
Kenedix Group have never conducted lay-offs or other employment adjustment since their establishment in 1995.
Number of Personnel Seconded from the Sponsor (Kenedix, Inc.) to KFM
As of December 31, 2023 | 111 |
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Total Benefits Package
The Asset Management Company strives to create a comfortable working environment through various benefit programs for all of its employees (including contract and part-time employees).
Programs | Scope | Contents | |
---|---|---|---|
Human Resource Development | Training program | All employees | Allows employees to take various training courses required for their job level |
Subsidy for qualification acquisition | All employees | Subsidizes the registration, maintenance, and renewal costs of recommended and supported qualifications in full. In addition, separate incentive payments are provided for the acquisition of certain recommended qualifications | |
Childcare and Nursing | Maternity leave, childcare leave and child nursing leave | All employees | Leave and absence to care for children |
Subsidy for childcare transportation | All employees | Subsidy for transportation to daycare centers, etc. for employees who care for multiple preschool children | |
Nursing care leave | All employees | Leave and absence to care for a family member in need of nursing care | |
Non-statutory nursing care leave system | All employees | Leave to care for a family member in need of nursing care for a period exceeding one year in combination with nursing care leave | |
Special nursing care leave | All employees | In addition to nursing care leave, a total of 10 days of paid special leave for nursing care is granted for each person requiring nursing care | |
Shorter working hour | All employees | Allows employees to shorten their working hours for the purpose of childcare or nursing care | |
Support for Diverse Working Style | Flexible working hours | All employees | Allows employees to flexibly choose their start and end times for their workday according to personal convenience |
Remote work | All employees | Allows employees to work from home or in a shared office, etc. for greater flexibility in working style | |
Annual paid leave in excess of statutory requirements | All employees | 20 days of paid leave at a flat rate (monthly rate for the first year of employment) | |
Consecutive leave | All employees | In addition to regular annual paid leave, employees are granted consecutive leave | |
Refreshment leave | Regular employees | Refreshment leave is granted every 10 years of continuous service, and a commemorative service reward is provided to those who take the leave | |
Hourly paid leave | All employees | Allows employees to take annual paid leave, child nursing care leave, and nursing care leave in one-hour increments |
Human Resource Development System
At Kenedix, Inc. where employees to be transferred to KFM are originally hired as new graduates, they are assigned to one-month entry training and then rotate several times in 5 years to make them grow up to human resources that have broad insight. Furthermore, to continuously improve the operational skills of employees, the company provides external seminars that are structured for specific job categories, such as managers, mid-level employees and new employees.
Examples of Human Resource Development Programs by Position and Level
Employee Talent Development Training Percentage
FY 2020 | FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 |
---|---|---|---|
32.2% | 93.4% | 82.9% | 76.5% |
In 2020, the figure declined sharply due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The figure rebounded in 2021 by utilizing online training.
Note 2:
These figures are based on individuals who work at the Asset Management Company.
Training Costs per Employee
FY 2020 | FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 |
---|---|---|---|
30,944 yen | 59,606 yen | 65,933 yen | 65,393 yen |
Training Programs
Managerial/ Leadership Development Training Program
KFM utilizes the Kenedix, Inc. training programs and requires employees in managerial positions to attend external seminars on managerial and leadership development training.
Job-specific Skill Development Training Program
Kenedix provides seminars arranged by a third party for specific job categories, such as managers, mid-level employees and new employees to give them opportunities to acquire the skills required at each level.
Self-development Program
Kenedix provides opportunities to all of its employees to attend seminars and trainings arranged by third parties to acquire specialist knowledge or skills required for their jobs.
English Training Program
Kenedix provides English language training by teachers from educational institutions to employees who apply for these classes. Students participate in discussions every week. An online-speaking program is also available so employees can utilize this opportunity with more flexibility.
Training Program Provided by Professor
For those who applied, the company provides the opportunities to participate in the training program provided by Professor Chihiro Shimizu who is specialized in big data analysis and real estate economics at Nihon University. Also, the company invites the professor for regular teach-ins for employees on real estate.
Study Abroad Program
Kenedix provides opportunities to obtain a broad range of knowledge, personal connections and international viewpoints by sending employees to study in oversea graduate schools where they acquire skills to become the next generation of management.
Encouragement to Obtain Professional Certifications
To keep the status of leading company with professionals that provide high quality services, it is encouraged for its employees to obtain various certifications to develop capability and career and improve organizational power. All the executives and employees, including contract employees, are eligible to receive full subsidies for registration, maintenance, and renewal costs of recommended or supported certifications, with the aim of promoting skill development and career formation of employees who are the future leaders of the company and improving the vitality of the organization. In addition, additional incentives are provided for the acquisition of certain recommended certifications to promote the acquisition thereof by executives and employees.
Number of Employees with Certifications
Real estate notaries | 73 | Certified real estate consulting masters | 11 |
---|---|---|---|
ARES certified masters | 33 | Chartered members of SAAJ | 6 |
Licensed senior architects | 5 | Certified public accountants | 1 |
Real estate appraisers | 3 | Certified public accountants (USCPA) | 3 |
Certified building administrators | 11 | Tax accountants | 0 |
Persons Eligible for Subsidy
All executives and employees, including contract employees
Detail of Subsidy
All registration, maintenance and renewal costs for recommended and supported qualifications
Separate incentive payments for acquisition of certain recommended qualifications.
Internal Job Announcement
Kenedix Group has internal job application program to provide its employees with the opportunity to demonstrate the best of their ability and to exploit human resource within the company. Employees are allowed to apply for the jobs they wish and design their own career.
Evaluation System to Encourage Employee’s Career Development
Employees performance is evaluated through objectives management evaluations. Managers interview individuals to discuss their performance and career opportunities at the beginning, half year and end of the fiscal year.
At the fiscal year end, all employees undergo an evaluation of achievement of contribution responsibility. The supervisor evaluates the performance of each employee in terms of their contribution responsibilities and the degree to which they have achieved them, and the results are fed back to the employee after reflecting the assessment results of the Personnel Evaluation Committee.
Engagement Survey
We conduct regular engagement surveys every year as a measure to make the Kenedix Group a rewarding place to work and a company of choice for our employees. By measuring employee satisfaction, we are working to strengthen engagement by continuously examining improvement measures to realize an attractive workplace. Based on the results of the survey, we take organizational issues seriously, analyze them and respond to them.
FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | |
---|---|---|---|
Engagement rating | BBB | A | AA |
Engagement score | 55.4 | 59.3 | 62.2 |
Investment Unit Ownership Program (ESOP)
We have introduced investment unit ownership program (ESOP) for KDXR for the employees and senior executive officers of KFM.
The purpose of the introduction of the program is to promote welfare benefits by providing opportunities to acquire the Kenedix Group REITs’ investment units and facilitating their wealth building as well as to enhance unitholder value over the medium to long-term by promoting further alignment of interests with the Kenedix Group REITs’ unitholders. In addition, the program provides a certain percentage incentive for contributions to each investment unit ownership, which also contributes to the welfare of employees.
Whistleblowing System
KFM has a whistleblowing system for the prevention and rapid discovery of incidents caused by violations of laws and regulations and other improper conduct, the improvement of self-cleansing processes, the control of reputational risk exposure, and the retention of public trust. Our whistle-blowing policy applies to all the employees including directors, full-time employee, elderly employee, contact employee, part-time employee, assigned / temporary employee from the other company, and former employee left within 1 year of the termination date.
Reporting, Investigation and Disciplinary Processes
If violation of law (including internal company policies) occurs or could occur and if the matter has not been satisfactorily resolved by ordinary procedures, the company accepts reports, declarations, and consultations from internal and external contacts. Anonymous reporting is also accepted.
The person in charge of handling whistleblowing shall conduct fair and impartial investigation. The respondent will be provided with the opportunity to present a defense and the fair hearing is held with relevant persons in compliance with the obligation of confidentiality.
The person in charge of handling whistleblowing reports all results from investigations to the director in charge of compliance and the President & CEO, as well as to the board of directors and the council of corporate auditors, including the results of notifications to the whistleblower. The head of the department to which the accused belongs take appropriate action such as immediate order to stop action in violation of law.
Based on the report, disciplinary action and all the other appropriate measures to correct such as criminal prosecution, claims for damages or measures to prevent recurrence shall be taken.
Prohibition of Unfair Treatment
Whistleblowers and those who cooperate with them, as well as those who cooperate with investigations based on the reports, are subject to protection under the whistleblowing system and the Whistleblower Protection Act, and any unfair treatment against the whistleblower are prohibited.
Health and Wellbeing of Employees
KFM and Kenedix, Inc. have identified “Health and wellbeing of employees” as material topic and been promoting initiatives to maintain work/life balance, provide working environment that is pleasant and advantageous in soft and hard to maximize employee’s ability. In addition, the company has prepared the non-salary benefits for all of its employees to reflect a variety of personal needs.
Work Style Reform
KFM has been improving its working environment by encouraging employees to take paid holiday, reducing overtime work and introducing various internal rules to allow flex work style.
Promoting the Use of Paid Vacation Days
On top of annual paid leave, we have a program that allows employees to take consecutive days off in July, August and September. Department managers encourage the people they supervise to go on an extended vacation and to use all of their annual leave.
Hourly Paid Leave
We have an hourly paid leave system that allows employees to choose a flexible working style. Annual paid leave, sick/injured childcare leave and elderly parent care extended leave can all be taken in one-hour increments.
Flexible Working Hours
All employees can choose different start and end times for their workday except a core-time from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to enhance their working arrangements.
Remote Work
All employees can work from home or in a shared office for their greater flexibility in working style.
Initiatives to Reduce Overtime Work
Managers in each department are monitoring working hours in their team and adjusting workload for employees to minimize overtime. If an employee was found to have worked more than certain hours, a check-up by doctor shall be arranged upon employee’s request, reported to the Health Committee.
Health and Wellbeing
Kenedix Group has been endorsing health management to support health of employees and preparing comfortable working environment through establishing rules as follows.
Health Committee
Kenedix, Inc. has established health committee and organized monthly meeting to discuss and take measures to promote health and prevent disorder for its employees. Also the committee sends email every month to all employees on relevant topics to enlighten them on health and wellbeing.
Annual Physical Health Checkup
All employees including contract employees are to receive annual physical health checkup by doctor on company cost.
Mental Health Care
All employees have access to counseling service provided by the company where employees are allowed to report any personal issues or issues regarding the company to external counselors, in order to raise their mental literacy. Newsletter with relevant topics on mental health is sent every month to notify of this service. In addition, the company provides annual stress check to all employees including contract employees to prevent illness of which result are provided to each employee and, if necessary, checkup by doctor is arranged.
Diverse Working Styles
We make the working environment more flexible and provide a variety of working styles and options to suit each individual.
Positive Working Environment for Workers
KFM is located at “Hibiya Parkfront”, the building Kenedix, Inc. participated in its development. The transportation of the building is excellent since it is directly connected to 2 metro stations, Kasumigaseki and Uchisaiwaicho, through the neighboring building. Taking advantage of its rare location near Hibiya Park, abundant trees are planted inside and outside the building under the concept of an “office in the park”. In addition, by providing services and facilities to support office workers, the building has become an ideal office where “people can feel nature and work comfortably”.
Harmonization with the Nature of Hibiya Park
In order to harmonize with Hibiya Park, the landscape was developed for greening with over 100 plants and trees. Trees and plants are also placed inside the building to achieve park-like comfortable space in the building.
Hibiya Centrium Unified with Landscape in Hibiya Park
To protect biodiversity, over 100 kinds of trees and plants were selected after thorough examination of landscape in Hibiya Park. The area has become the oasis for tenants and workers from the nearby office.
Use of Workcations
We started the operation of PerkUP Karuizawa as a base for team building and other activities in a scenic area of Japan far from big cities.
Proposal Project
We have implemented a project to solicit a variety of proposals that will contribute to the achievement of the Mid-term Management Plan from all employees of the Kenedix Group. Winners are selected through employee voting, and those proposals deemed desirable to be promoted as a project are promoted toward realization with resources, provided by the company.
“Kolet,” the newly built single-family properties for rent, was commercialized through this proposal project.
Support for Group Activities Outside of Work
The company subsidizes for group activities such as futsal or golf, which help employees make personal connection beyond his/her job scope.
Diversity and Equal Opportunities
KFM and Kenedix, Inc. have established diversity and equal opportunities as one of its material issues. We promote various initiatives related to diversity, equity & inclusion. Also, we welcome diversity regarding race, religion, creed, gender, age, sexual orientation, disabilities and nationality and respect the rights of individuals. We are dedicated to operating workplaces where all people at the Kenedix Group can realize their full potential.
Respect for Human Rights, prevention of all forms of discrimination and harassment
The Kenedix Compliance Manual clearly states that we will respect human rights and reject all forms of discrimination and harassment. There are compliance and other training programs to be certain that everyone at the Kenedix Group understands and observes these standards. We recognize the ILO (International Labor Organization) declaration on fundamental principles and rights at work, including the elimination of discrimination, prohibition of forced labor, prohibition of child labor, freedom of association, and the right to collective bargaining, as important social issues, and we are also working to prevent overwork and pay wages that exceed the minimum wage. In addition, we are thoroughly prohibiting harassment, and we provide training for managers on how to deal with harassment.
Promotion of women employees’ activities
We believe that it is important to revitalize the workplace through the participation of a diverse range of employees. In addition, from the perspective of effectively utilizing human resources to cope with the future decline in the working-age population, we are particularly promoting the activities of women. In order for women to realize their full potential, we have established a workplace environment that is easy for women to work in, as well as systems to support childbirth and childcare, and we aim to become a company where women and their families can play an even more active role.
Women’s Activity Promotion Project
As a result of an internal proposal project, we have established a new project team for the promotion of women’s activities across the Kenedix Group. This project conducted a company-wide questionnaire on women’s activities to summarize the issues and future measures to be taken by the company, and conducted training for all employees, executives, managers, and female employees on diversity to foster understanding of diversity in the company. In addition, based on these trainings and other activities, the Kenedix Group executives formulated the “Kenedix Declaration of Conduct for the Promotion of Female Advancement and Improvement of the Workplace Environment.”
Kenedix Declaration of Conduct for the Promotion of Women Advancement and Improvement of the Workplace Environment
Each and every one of our employees is the source of our corporate value. We respect the abilities of all employees and aim to create a workplace environment where they can work with peace of mind.
- We will create a workplace where all employees, regardless of gender, occupation, or age, can improve their skills and fully demonstrate their individual abilities.
- We will create a workplace where employees can respect each other and freely and openly exchange opinions regardless of hierarchy, departments, age, or gender.
- We will provide opportunities for motivated women employees to gain a wide range of work experience.
General business owner action plan based on the law for the promotion of women’s activity
In order to create an employment environment in which all employees, regardless of gender, can improve their skills and fully demonstrate their individual abilities, we have established the following action plan.
Target
- Increase the percentage of female employees in management positions to at least 15% by the end of 2025, with a view to achieving 20% by the end of 2030.
- Continue to have 100% of female employees take childcare leave, and increase the number of male employees taking childcare leave.
Initiatives
- Training and career support for female employees
- Promotion of measures through the Women’s Activity Promotion Project
- Creation of a workplace environment for flexible and efficient work and leave styles
- Introduce a permanent telework system
- Promote flexible and efficient work styles by use of PerkUP Karuizawa, shared offices
- Promote the use of various types of leave, including annual paid leave
- Establishment and dissemination of an environment that facilitates the use of childcare leave
- Promote internal awareness of childcare-related programs
- Gathering information on case studies of other companies
Employment program for seniors
From the perspective of revitalizing the workplace through the participation of diverse employees and effectively utilizing human resources in response to the future decline in the working-age population, we have established a system for rehiring employees who have reached retirement age of 60 until the age of 65. Under this system, we expect that the knowledge and expertise of our senior employees, who have been at the forefront of the real estate asset management industry since its dawn, will be passed on to the organization.
Support for Employees Through Their Life Event
We have prepared various programs to support employees to work through their life event such as having children or nursing elderly.
Childbirth and childcare
We have a number of programs for women during a pregnancy, such as time off for medical check-ups, working hours that avoid times when trains are most crowded, and days off for good health. At childbirth and afterward, we provide time off for women and their husbands.
Employees can receive time off for the care of a baby or when a preschool age child is sick or requires other care. We also offer flexible working time so employees can care for family members. For example, employees can limit overtime and late-night assignments, reduce working hours, or use staggered hours. There is also a subsidy for expenses for child-related transportation needs before and after work and a discounted babysitter service. As a result, return rate of female employees from maternity leave has been 100% since 2015 for three consecutive years.
Nursing elderly
Employees taking care of an elderly parent or other relative can use extra days off or extended leave. We also limit overtime and late-night assignments, reduce working hours, or use staggered hours so that an individual can fulfill family responsibilities. Support for nursing care goes beyond requirements by providing more than the legally mandated time off and special days off to care for an elderly parent or other relative.