By implementing a human resource strategy that faces each employee on an individual basis, we aim to realize the Total Healthcare Strategy.
Executive Managing Officer in Charge of Human Resource Management
Administration, and Risk Management and General Manager of Human Resources Department, SUGI Holdings Co., Ltd.
Director and General Manager, Administration Division, Sugi Pharmacy Co., Ltd.
Representative Director & President, SUGI Smile Co., Ltd.
Representative Director & President, MCS Co., Ltd.
Shigeki Mori
Having identified “employees are the most important assets,” “working to improve the job satisfaction of each employee,” and “aiming to achieve the management philosophy, growth strategy, and budget by drawing out the strengths of each employee” as important perspectives of human resource management, the SUGI Pharmacy Group aims to become a company that is needed for the long term by integrating them into its management strategy. And the Group promotes human capital management under the six pillars of “personnel system,” “human resource development,” “recruitment and retention,” “compliance and corporate culture reform,” “diversity,” and “health and safety.” We work to achieve sustainable growth by realizing the Total Healthcare Strategy, which is our group vision, and through “kind behavior,” “contribution to local communities,” and “happiness and smiles of employees,” which are the tenets of the Group’s management philosophy.
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Improving job satisfaction through personnel system reform
Based on the idea that employees are the most important assets, the Group has been upgrading its personnel system with regard to evaluation, remuneration, welfare benefits, etc. As a result, we are steadily making progress. For example, employee turnover has decreased by half compared to 2018. Job satisfaction among managers as measured by the engagement score has exceeded the levels of other companies, and the average job satisfaction within the Group is also rising. However, based on the judgment that we need a further personnel system reform in order for the Group to achieve sustainable growth in an external environment that is changing due to, among other things, rapid digital transformation and a declining birth rate and aging population, we have introduced a new personnel system in March 2024.
The concept of the system reform is a “transition to a SUGI Pharmacy version of job-based personnel system.” The new system is designed to reflect the work evaluation results of each individual in their remuneration more than before. For example, a hybrid system has been introduced for managers that allows them to be promoted not only based on their individual ability, but also by taking on a higher role. In addition, an expert system has been introduced for highly skilled professionals, such as digital transformation talents, lawyers, certified public accountants, and M&A promotion personnel, who are essential for the expansion of our business domains. For general office workers, we have revised allowances for store managers and pharmacists, who are expected to play central roles in our growth strategies. Regarding evaluation, we have clarified requirements for their promotion by establishing grades based on their skill levels. We will continue to upgrade our personnel system going forward by listening to the voices of each employee in order to create a system under which all employees can work energetically. -
Human resource development that cares for the needs of each employee
In order to ensure that each employee is assigned to a position where they can demonstrate their abilities, we place the right persons in the right positions after visualizing their skills gained through education. Our current education programs, which are uniform and stratified programs, will be replaced with education programs that are tailored to each employee by measuring the current level of each employee through external assessment, in-house manual tests, etc., and teaching specific skills that are lacking. In addition, we will work to evolve the education programs into ones through which each employee can feel their growth by combining development through learning toward the acquisition of official qualifications, which is aimed at developing a culture of self-improvement, with development through personnel changes for employees to gain experience at various stores in terms of size and location (suburb / urban center). -
Securing human resources through recruitment and retention
We formulate human resource strategies by focusing mainly on strengthening the recruitment of new graduates and mid-career hires with relevant experience and preventing employee turnover. For the recruitment of new graduates, we strengthen the recruitment of pharmacists, registered pharmaceutical distributors, and medical office workers, in particular to correct company-wide uneven distribution of human resources across areas by strengthening the recruitment in areas where there is a shortage of human resources. For the recruitment of mid-career hires with relevant experience, we strengthen the recruitment of pharmacists and registered pharmaceutical distributors and strategically hire persons with strong expertise, particularly in such technical fields as medical care, development, products, international business, and administration to promote the Group’s growth strategy. Also for the recruitment of partner employees, we strive to secure excellent human resources by setting hourly wages at appropriate levels and changing recruitment advertising media. As for the prevention of employee turnover, we have made a significant progress over the last five years as a result of company-wide retention activities. -
Developing an open corporate culture
In FY 2023, the number of consultation requests concerning harassment received through the consultation call service decreased by two thirds from FY 2021. In FY 2024, we will continue to strictly deal with any harassment and respond to all reports to the consultation call service without exception. In order to further improve our working environment, we have strengthened measures to address long overtime hours. In addition, as part of corporate culture reform, we have been conducting tours of all stores by all officers and an anonymous questionnaire with all employees since FY 2021. We are working to develop an open corporate culture in which management diligently listens to the opinions of employees and the voice of each employee reaches management. -
Promotion of diversity management
Employee questionnaire survey results show that more than 90% of store employees answered that they prioritize not only work but also life, and more than 70% of managers answered that work-life balance is important for them. Many employees, whether they are general office workers or managers, answered that they would like to work in their local communities rather than work on nationwide assignment and would like to take holidays and paid leave and work systematically within their regular working hours. This shows that our challenge for the future is to strengthen sales capability and increase productivity at the same time as maintaining and improving employees’ motivation and engagement. Women’s empowerment is essential for us to develop services to meet the needs of customers and patients based on diverse ideas and from diverse perspectives. We will create a work environment in which it is easier for women to demonstrate their abilities by enhancing employee health and welfare benefits and promoting work style reform, and we aim to raise the percentage of female managers to 30% by the end of FY 2029. -
Promotion of healthy and safe management
We are working to create mechanisms to protect employee health. For example, we encourage employees who have abnormalities in their health checkups to undergo re-examinations and arrange interviews with occupational health physicians for them by enhancing our occupational health physician system and introducing and utilizing a health management system. As a result of these efforts, the SUGI Pharmacy Group has been selected as an Excellent Health Management Company for the sixth straight year. Going forward, we will promote health management aiming to obtain White 500 certification.