Talent Development

People are the source of Kioxia Group's competitiveness. We believe that if each individual employee continuously challenges themselves and creates new value, it will help us realize our mission of "uplifting the world with memory." Accordingly we will continue to strengthen our educational offerings and adopt a systematic approach that allows each and every employee to take on new challenges.

Kioxia Corporation has established a Human Resources Development Group in the Human Resources & General Affairs Department tasked with developing and utilizing human resources more effectively. Kioxia Corporation also has a Training and Development Committee, chaired by the President & CEO, which proposes initiatives for the improvement of in-house personnel training and development based on the results of relevant programs each year. This committee deliberates policies for the following fiscal year on the basis of its business plan. The outcome of discussions by the Training and Development Committee are reflected in new training and development initiatives.

Kioxia Group runs a variety of training programs aimed at establishing a common learning base for all employees; these include programs based on the requirements of specific career levels. Furthermore, we provide tools that support self-development, encouraging employees to voluntarily acquire fresh knowledge and skills.

Kioxia Group proactively nurtures and trains its engineers. New employees of Kioxia Group in Japan are provided with basic training covering electrical engineering, electronics, semiconductors, information processing and storage system fundamentals, as well as manufacturing, statistics, AI, and machine learning; these are seen as essential steps to enhance employees’ technical skills. Furthermore, specialized technical courses covering the skills needed for technology development are provided to engineers from their second year of employment onwards.

On-the-job training and a variety of education programs within each division are provided under a mentor in each workplace, with detailed instructions provided to each individual in accordance with their career status. In addition, we are striving to create a work environment that encourages each individual to shape their own career as an engineer, with the company facilitating the necessary learning.

Kioxia Group supports the career development of all its employees. The Career Design System at Kioxia Corporation, for example, provides each employee with an annual opportunity to discuss and share their views on their own long-term career development as well as on mid-term skill acquisition goals, how their skills can be improved, and how they can showcase them to their superiors. The Performance Management System at Kioxia Corporation gives employees a semi-annual opportunity to review and discuss with their superiors their job performance over the previous six months as well as their objectives for the following six months.

Kioxia Corporation has established overseas study programs, one of its initiatives to encourage employees to acquire greater expertise and become active globally. The program works with overseas universities, graduate schools and research institutes, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California, San Diego, etc. In FY 2023, three employees embarked on this program.

In FY2023, Kioxia Corporation introduced a leave of absence system that allows employees to engage in independent career development and reskilling. The program enables them to improve their skills at universities, graduate schools and equivalent educational and research institutions in order to enhance their job-related expertise and management skills, via MBA courses or similar.

In order for the Kioxia Group to enhance its competitiveness and flourish, it is essential to increase the engagement of each employee. Kioxia Group regularly conducts employee engagement surveys as a starting point from which to enhance employee engagement and revitalize the organization. The survey results are used in conjunction with opinions voiced separately by employees to identify any problem areas, and formulate and implement measures to resolve these. In FY2022, we conducted an anonymous worldwide survey targeting about 14,000 employees and received responses from 89% of them.

The results of these surveys⁴ are shared with the President & CEO, Executive Officers and department heads and are utilized to help improve employee engagement. In FY2023, we provided feedback to employees on the results of the previous survey and implemented measures to address issues identified in the survey. One of these was the need to further improve communication between managers and employees; accordingly we posted messages from managers on our internal website regarding company policies and incorporating their own thoughts, etc.), and we conducted a follow-up employee survey to gauge their response to these.

We will continue to conduct these surveys in order to improve the workplace environment and foster an organizational culture that is rewarding and makes Kioxia Group an easy company to work in.