Human Resource Development

To become a company that achieves global excellence in the truest sense, it is necessary to recruit the best human resources from around the world, regardless of race, nationality, age, or gender, and to properly develop and position them within the Group. Amid the increasing globalization of management environments and markets and the emergence of a borderless world, Panasonic is striving to attract and foster personnel that can play an active role on a global basis.

"People are the foundation of business. Develop people before making products." This is the philosophy that underlies our efforts to boost global human resource development through a robust series of programs that include on the job training as well as special training programs off the job.

Panasonic's Human Resources Development Company develops and manages standard training programs that are implemented throughout the company. This comprehensive initiative includes programs to train the next generation of management, leadership and management courses that teach the skills demanded of managers at every level, and courses in Panasonic's management philosophy. There are also programs teaching the specialized knowledge, technology, and skills demanded in our core activities of development, manufacturing and sales of products. Senior Executive Management Seminars (SMS), and Executive Management Seminars (EMS) are conducted for personnel in other countries and aim to bolster training for the upper management strata at Panasonic companies outside Japan. We have been creating an organization that enables people from different countries, cultures, and languages to meet and enrich each other, so this year, we redoubled our efforts on the Working in Japan program-which provides long-term and short-term assignments and training opportunities in Japan-with the aim of enhancing the training of leaders in product development, manufacturing, and sales, and facilitate the placement of personnel in management positions.

We also implemented a number of training programs tailored to the needs of employees in every business field, and the wide variety of training programs implemented in Japan were also made available at all business sites in other countries.

These human resource development efforts provide the personal growth that is inextricably linked with organizational growth, and repeating this development cycle steadily will result in self-fulfillment for each employee as well as improved results for the company.

To achieve the stronger and more dynamic frontline in the workplace that will enable us to be a global leader in each business domain, we are creating a work environment in which individuality is valued and employees can exercise their skills to the fullest extent. The Skills Evaluation System, introduced in April 2006, firstly makes existing skills visible and then actively supports employees in finding vigorous and exciting challenges in their work through effective communication with senior staff.