Seven & i Group considers employees to be an important human resource asset supporting the enhancement of corporate value. We believe that employees’ heightened engagement and desire to contribute leads to our organization’s vitalization and strengthened competitiveness. Therefore, we conduct employee engagement & culture surveys with the aim of creating employee-friendly workplaces with job satisfaction.

In the fiscal year ended February 28, 2023, the employee engagement survey was developed into the Employee Engagement & Culture Survey, with this survey implemented for approximately 72,000 employees at 32 companies in Japan (including monthly salaried, part time, and hourly wage full-time employees). Seven questions inquiring into cultural statuses at each workplace (covering integrity, respect for autonomy, encouragement for taking on challenges, openness, etc.) were added to the survey with engagement at all companies surveyed concurrently. The result was an engagement score of 51%, with the average percentage of positive assessments in questions dealing with workplace culture at 72% (both for monthly salaried full-time employees). The survey is conducted once every year with the next survey scheduled to take place in the second half of the fiscal year ending February 28, 2024.

The Group is committed to improving engagement by endeavoring to create workplace environments conducive to working comfortably and which provide job satisfaction and motivation for diverse human resources. The employee engagement survey has been implemented since 2018 to visualize the statuses of organization. It is used to identify challenges faced by companies and their employees and to carry out improvement activities. We believe that enhancing the engagement levels of individual human resources as well as their willingness to contribute will promote organizational vitality and strengthen our competitiveness as a company. In the fiscal year ended February 28, 2022, we established Engagement Improvement Committees at each of our Group companies. These committees are chaired mainly by the heads of personnel departments, with members selected from a diverse pool of human resources. At Group companies, the committee leads the formulation of action measures to improve engagement while conducting regular monitoring on the implementation of these measures. Outcomes of surveys are reported through the Engagement Improvement Committees to the Management Councils of the Company and Group companies, for analysis, identification, and structuring of the challenges. We also leverage the sharing of case studies of good practices and promotion of mutual understanding to further promote activities. We will actively endeavor to work toward fostering corporate cultures in which companies and employees can grow in a sustainable manner, where employees are satisfied and engaged with their jobs and work in comfort, and where diverse opinions are respected.

Ito-Yokado are working toward a shared awareness and recognition of engagement with each employee around a core of 40 members who promote engagement and involve the members around them. As part of this, senior management, store managers, and headquarter leaders clearly define the management philosophy and vision, and embody the management philosophy, while holding meetings by area to instill job satisfaction and motivate employees. In this way, they are training personnel with the capacity to think and act on their own initiative and leveraging employee diversity to create environments that reflect the various feedback received, while strengthening the foundations to improve engagement.

Seven Bank holds Town Hall meetings, at which employees and the President engage in dialogues on a variety of topics. All employees, including those at subsidiaries, are eligible to participate in these meetings, with between six and eight employees exchanging frank views with the President at each Town Hall on ongoing initiatives to realize the Seven Bank Purpose and on the challenges faced by those working on the frontline. A total of around 60 meetings have been held, at which around 500 persons have participated. This initiative is providing opportunities for employees to put into words their feelings about their work and to share these with the President and other members of the company and is thereby successfully facilitating increased motivation among employees.

In March 2023, Akachan Honpo revised its personnel evaluation system, which had been identified as a challenge to be addressed as an outcome of the engagement survey. Briefing sessions and dialogue meetings were consolidated to previously unseen levels to communicate with employees during the revision of the system.

For the fiscal year ending February 29, 2024, Akachan Honpo will actively strive to achieve improvements in job satisfaction, with a focus on the operation of the new system. As many employees have had an increased number of opportunities to express their opinions under the system, this has had the result of instigating modifications of behaviors, including employees actively speaking up and approaching and encouraging those around them. The effects of these developments will be extended throughout departments and the entire company, and thereby be used to facilitate further improvements in employee engagement.