Role-Based Talent Management

Nabtesco aims to foster a corporate culture in which each employee takes on challenges and grows together with the company, in pursuit of realizing the Long-Term Vision of becoming “Leaders in Innovation.” The foundation of this culture is role-based talent management.

Role-based talent management is a system in which the company defines the necessary organizations and roles based on its business strategies, and employees deliver value aligned with those roles, thereby earning attractive compensation that reflects the market value of their roles and contributions. This system is designed to strengthen the relationship between the company and its employees through “roles (jobs)” while achieving both sustainable enhancement of corporate value and fulfillment of employees’ careers. At the core of this initiative is the new personnel system introduced in 2024, which incorporates job-based elements. From 2025, the new personnel system has been expanded to cover general employees, and a company-wide role-based personnel system is now in operation.

Role-based talent management is a system that links business strategies with human capital strategies to design necessary organizations and positions in a strategy-driven, agile manner, thereby enabling optimal allocation of talent. Organizational design is thoroughly implemented based on common company-wide organizational design rules, with checks and balances applied at either the company-wide or business unit level depending on the organizational hierarchy in order to ensure role-based operations and prevent “competency-based” operations (i.e., structuring the organization around existing personnel).

In position design, with respect to managers, the size of each role is measured using a common company-wide methodology, and grade and compensation are determined per position. Even if positions share the same job title, we set different grades and compensation levels depending on the role’s significance for achieving business strategies. For general employees, although not defined at the same level of granularity as for managers, grades and compensation levels are defined according to roles, thereby ensuring a consistent system that is not influenced by attributes such as age or length of service.
Furthermore, managers prepare job descriptions (JDs) that specify the expected roles of each position as well as the skills and experience required for appointment to such positions. This enables position-based talent management, including optimal talent placement and systematic development of personnel for future appointments. In addition, through personnel evaluations, we identify gaps in skills and competencies, and support employees in their autonomous learning and growth, thereby helping them to realize their envisioned career paths.

In line with the revision of the systems for managers and general employees, Nabtesco has introduced a job- and role-based compensation system. We emphasize providing timely, appropriate rewards based on market value for employees’ roles and contributions, and we strive to provide competitive, attractive compensation. As part of this effort, we participate in external compensation surveys annually to verify the appropriateness and competitiveness of our compensation levels against benchmark data, while continuously reviewing the system. In addition, when an employee’s role changes due to a personnel transfer, we immediately revise the compensation level to reflect the new role, thereby ensuring a strong link between roles and compensation. At the same time, to ensure that strategic transfers initiated by the company do not lower the motivation of those who already hold positions, we maintain flexibility in operating the system while ensuring fairness.

For non-regular employees, we have established a different compensation system. However, we set compensation levels at appropriate levels based on the principle of equal pay for equal work, with reference to regular employees’ compensation levels (derived from external benchmarks). Moreover, in addition to statutory industry-specific minimum wages, Nabtesco has established its own company-specific minimum wage rules to serve as a safety net.

Performance management is at the core of role-based talent management. What is essential is to clearly define the roles expected of each position and to appropriately evaluate the degree of fulfillment. For managers, positions have been redefined into two categories: “line management,” which is responsible for leading the organization and achieving goals, and “project lead,” which promotes solving management issues by leveraging advanced expertise. This redefinition clarifies each position’s contribution areas while ensuring that evaluations are thoroughly conducted based on roles in both goal-setting and assessment. Evaluation is not simply for determining individual treatment, but rather is positioned as an opportunity for employees to correctly understand their roles and connect this understanding to growth. Through goal setting, reviews, and assessments based on job descriptions (JDs) and role grade definitions, employees come to recognize the expectations for their roles, and their organizations establish systems to steadily support their fulfillment of those roles.

In addition, Nabtesco has introduced a team-based performance management system. Based on internal standards, the performance of each business unit is evaluated from both financial and non-financial perspectives. This enhances team-based collaboration awareness while linking evaluation results to individual treatment (bonuses). By enabling a balanced evaluation of individual results and team results, this approach promotes organization-wide value creation while ensuring transparency, fairness, and a sense of acceptability.

Furthermore, as a foundation for fulfilling roles, we promote communication initiatives such as one-on-one meetings, town hall meetings, and engagement programs. By capturing voices from the workplace and enhancing job satisfaction and collaborative awareness, we foster an environment where employees can more easily fulfill their expected roles, in alignment with the operation of the evaluation system. In this way, performance management is centered on thorough role-based evaluation practices, while incorporating communication and engagement initiatives in order to achieve a system that ensure role execution and support both results and growth.

Role-based talent management, through its trinity of “positions,” “compensation,” and “performance,” encourages employees to take on challenges and enables sustainable organizational growth. We aim to further advance role-based talent management, maximize each individual’s potential, and become a company that grows together with society.