Human Resource Strategy

As a Japan-origin global corporate group operating in 45 countries and regions worldwide, including in China and other parts of Asia, Nippon Paint Group is committed to contributing to Maximization of Shareholder Value (MSV) by leveraging the diversity and strengths of its human capital, as well as fulfilling its obligations to stakeholders, which is the premise of MSV.

Nippon Paint Group Statement regarding Employee Development

To ensure the sustainable growth of Nippon Paint Group, it is essential that we attract, develop, and retain a skilled workforce. We aim to foster a corporate culture and working environment that is rewarding, enabling individuals to leverage their unique qualities and capabilities to the fullest extent.
In Nippon Paint Group, which values the autonomy of Partner Companies^*1 and operates on autonomous and decentralized management principles, each Partner Company Group^*2 takes the lead in investing in human capital. This investment is approached with a comprehensive and long-term perspective that aligns with the characteristics of each country, region, and business field. Each Partner Company within the Partner Company Groups initiates programs for employee competency development tailored to their specific needs, nurturing a diverse and self-reliant human resource pool.
Nippon Paint Group not only establishes a personnel system that suits the locality and characteristics of each country and region but also cultivates outstanding talent, serving as the driving force behind our business. This is achieved through the provision of customized training programs and diverse career development opportunities tailored to each company's challenges. These efforts lay the foundation for building a diverse and robust organization.

*1 Consolidated subsidiaries of Nippon Paint Holdings
*2 Nippon Paint Group companies grouped by region or business

Our approach to achieving MSV

Our primary approach in our human resource strategy to achieve MSV is to build a strong and diverse organization with excellent human capital. This will enable us to consistently achieve strong growth.
People play a vital role in an organization as they are the driving force behind business growth. In successful partner companies, powerful teams consisting of diverse individuals, along with excellent leadership teams, act as the driving force. It's important to recognize that achieving goals cannot be done alone.
Given that the market undergoes long-term changes, we need a human resource base that can not only adapt to these changes but also capitalize on them with agility. People can embrace change and seize opportunities, even if they encounter failures while taking risks to pursue their objectives, as long as they accept and learn from those failures. To attain MSV, it is crucial to foster a dynamic and open corporate culture, as well as a pleasant and rewarding work environment that encourages every employee to take on challenges and fully showcase their unique qualities and abilities in generating new value and businesses.
We will make appropriate investments in human capital to establish an organization that can grow sustainably. From a technological standpoint, this means investing in human capital with a long-term perspective towards developing innovative and productive technologies, while also implementing tailored personnel systems.
The People & Community Team conducts activities around two categories of Materiality: Diversity & Inclusion as well as Growth with Communities. Our activities are conducted in each country and region with focus on the three pillars of (1) Increasing the ratio of women in managerial positions, (2) Celebrating diversity, and (3) Building and enabling local communities
Our goal is to achieve sustainable EPS growth through productivity improvement enabled by maintaining employee motivation and increasing employee engagement, as well as reducing expenses for employee recruitment and retention. We are also committed to fully fulfilling our obligations to employees.
The key initiatives for building strong teams include enhancing the training programs by using the amount of training hours and education investments as KPIs as detailed in the following pages and implementing various actions such as promoting women’s empowerment based on the ratio of women in managerial positions as KPI with the goal of raising the ratio to 35% by 2025 at NIPSEA Group and to 10% in 2025 in Japan.
However, achieving these KPIs is not the objective of our initiatives. Rather, these initiatives are aimed at increasing the Group’s social recognition as an organization that embraces diverse thinking and is willing to transform. We believe this will attract more excellent talent regardless of age, gender, nationality, ethnicity, religion and other factors, who will be the driving force for further transformation of the Group, creating synergies. What we see as crucial is to create an environment that allows our excellent talent to play greater roles and add value. We believe such an environment will have a positive impact on the top line and bottom line by improving work efficiency and bringing about transformation, and in turn may contribute to MSV.

Key indicators related to human capital (FY2022)

Human resource development measures essential for achieving MSV

For Nippon Paint Group to grow in a sustainable manner, it is essential that we secure skilled human resources and offer a corporate culture and working environment in which it is pleasant and rewarding to work, thus allowing people to leverage their individuality and capabilities to the fullest.
We focus on developing talent and capability of employees and attract talent and skilled individuals by promoting opportunities for professional growth and advancement, rewarding employee performance. The Group promoted the enhancement of human resources by investing in human capital through the intensification of training programs developed autonomously by each partner company according to the challenges faced.
We believe expanding training programs will have a direct benefit of enhancing employees’ skills, as well as other benefits such as maintaining employee motivation and engagement, improving competitive advantage in hiring new college graduates and mid-career people and reducing the turnover ratio. Accordingly, it is a key initiative for enhancing the human resource portfolio.

DuluxGroup

At DuluxGroup, we understand that having a motivated, skilled, and diverse workforce is key to our ongoing success. We have a strong culture of development, with our leaders dedicated to continuously developing their people To support this, we have formal learning programs specific to the relevant business, geography and role. DuluxGroup (Pacific) offers a comprehensive learning program encompassing leadership, professional skills, functional skills and product training, including residential programs, external programs, virtual programs, livestreams and podcasts.
We encourage our employees to “Own your Growth” and take advantage of the formal and informal learning opportunities that we offer to all our people. Similarly, Cromology and JUB offer relevant learning programs to support the business and professional skills of their employees. This includes employee induction; compulsory training to meet legislative and internal regulations; professional skills training and leadership skills.

NIPSEA Group

NIPSEA Group recognizes the importance of training and development in the overall growth and success of the organization. To ensure the holistic development of our employees, our learning and development plans are designed at country level to meet the specific needs of the local workforce. Through the annual Training Needs Analysis exercise, we are able to create a more effective learning experience that focuses on upskilling their capabilities and competencies required at different job levels. This strategic approach allows countries to refine and optimize their learning programs, ensuring they remain aligned with the dynamic demands of the industry and the organization. Moreover, our commitment to employee development extends beyond mere skill acquisition. We strive to foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation, empowering our employees to embrace lifelong learning as a cornerstone of personal and professional growth. NIPSEA Group continues to extend the use of the Learning Management System to more countries. In FY2023, NIPSEA Group clocked a total of 553,215 hours on employee training.

Dunn-Edwards

At Dunn-Edwards, our training objective is to continuously develop and deliver programs that not only provide our team members with the skills and knowledge necessary to be successful in their current roles, but also those that will aid them in longterm professional development.In this process, we leverage both technology (learning management systems, interactive programs, etc.) and current training techniques (micro learning, hands-on sessions, etc.) to ensure our team members are provided a wide variety of tools and resources to build successful careers in an ever-evolving workplace. Internal training programs include New-hire Orientations customized by department, position-specific programs in Sales, Product Performance, Retail and Business Management, Labor Law, Harassment Prevention, Risk Management, Safety, Hazardous Materials (HAZMAT), Diversity and Inclusion and more. We also offer a generous Tuition Assistance Program that is available to all employees (both full-time and parttime) and provides access to not only degreed programs from accredited institutions, but also professional certification programs, vocational programs, and educational seminars.

Japan Group

Japan Group offers training for all employees, such as training by job level according to the expected roles and career stages of individual employees (new employee orientation training for new grads and mid-careers, follow-up training, new manager training, and annual training). We have started talent management process at each partner company from FY2023, leadership training was provided to some successors of GM positions. In addition, the HR department conducted a communication program (1-on-1 meeting, feedback, coaching). We also offered English skill training programs for selected employees who often communicate with people from overseas partner companies and business partners. In FY2023, the total amount of training hours in Japan Group was 28,000 hours.

Benefits expected from improving employee satisfaction levels

Increasing employee engagement will lead to creating an environment where excellent human resources can consistently perform to their fullest potential. We regularly monitor and survey employee satisfaction levels of partner companies that join the Group under our Asset Assembler model. The survey results of each partner company will be compared and analyzed using benchmarks, such as the peer average in the same region, and historical data to examine actions necessary to improve employee satisfaction levels.

DuluxGroup

DuluxGroup focuses on ongoing monitoring of employee engagement through its leaders. Most recent engagement survey (80% satisfaction in FY2021) shows world-class engagement scores. We will continue to equip leaders to take up their role to lead and engage our people and reinforce connection to their purpose, as well as to their Values and Behaviors in different countries and business units.

NIPSEA Group

NIPSEA Group aims to energize its employees and improve engagement and retention through stepping up communication efforts by senior leaders, focusing on aspects such as development and recognition of employees, and streamlining processes (most recent score is 75% in FY2022). We will continue to focus on Senior Leaders' communication with employees about business objectives, performance updates, and company initiatives and implement employee development programs comprising of leadership, soft skills, technical, functional, and wellness programs while focusing on employee retention by communicating about career, skill gaps, and growth opportunities.

Dunn-Edwards

Dunn-Edwards exit interview data shows that a new team member's first year with the company is the most important period for building a connection with the organization. Important factors for employee retention include compensation, employee benefits (healtcare plans, retirement plans, vacation and leave programs, tuition assistance programs, etc.), career development opportunities, and strong leadership from those in managerial positions. To ensure Dunn-Edawards is competitive and attractive in these areas, we regularly evaluate and update our compensation and benefits offerings, while continuously developing and enhancing training programs designed for career advancement.

Japan Group

Japan Group embraces employees' engagement as an important management issue and has started in FY2024 the survey adopting NIPSEA Group's framework. We will address the issues identified in the survey for future improvement.