Recruitment, Development and
Success of Human Resources

Basic Concept

Talent is an essential management capital for achieving sustainable business growth and creating new value. Our ability to achieve high growth while creating new markets owes to the successes of our talented human resources. Through this approach, we have identified “promote recruitment, development, and success of human resources” as key material issues.
While actively recruiting diverse, highly specialized talent that contributes to business growth, we emphasize mission-driven individuals who resonate with our mission and vision. Even as we rapidly expand our workforce, we ensure to prevent the dilution of our corporate culture that we have embraced as a foundation of our human capital. In doing so, we foster a corporate culture that encourages our people to continue to take on challenges toward our common mission and goal. Furthermore, we focus on creating an environment that supports employee growth by developing training programs and career support systems to help each and every employee utilize their knowledge and ideas to their full potential.
Under these policies, we drive the creation of opportunities and the development of an environment for diverse talent to succeed, thereby promoting innovation to help solve business challenges.

Major Initiatives

Recruitment of Richly Diverse, Outstanding Talent

Continuous strengthening of recruitment is an essential element of our growth strategy. Our various organizations, including development, sales, and back office, comprise talented individuals from diverse backgrounds. We emphasize hiring employees with strong expertise and skills, and who have a mission-driven attitude that matches our corporate philosophy. This emphasis stems from our belief that people whose ideals match our corporate philosophy, such as our mission, vision, and values, are more likely to be successful after joining. This mission-driven corporate culture has been an effective tool for recruiting, enabling us to hire a range of highly capable individuals.
We are also focused on strengthening referral hiring, aiming for a recruitment rate of 35% through referrals by FY2029. The hiring success rate through referrals is significantly greater than that from standard procedures, greatly contributing to our important growth strategy of talent acquisition. As employees approach people they want to work with, referral hiring tends to result in fewer mismatches with the company after hiring and lower early resignation rates than standard hires. Furthermore, referral hiring reflects that employees hold our group in high regard, motivating them to recommend it to close friends and acquaintances as a good place to work. Therefore, we place importance on the percentage of recruitment through referrals as an indicator to quantitatively measure organizational health.

Measures to Strengthen Referral Hiring
My Myaku—An employee referral-based hiring system

We have created an environment that encourages employees to make referrals by covering meal costs when making referrals and reward payments when referrals are hired.

Utilization of digital signage and video content

We raise awareness of the My Myaku program by using digital signage on each floor of our office and internal videos to encourage employees to actively participate in referral hiring.

Sansan Bar—Events for interactions between employees and potential candidates

We host a monthly event called Sansan Bar, where employees and potential candidates can interact. Each time, 50+ participants join the event, strengthening the system for introducing and recruiting through employees’ networks.

Our Recruitment System That Supports Organizational Expansion

In June 2023, we conducted organizational restructuring with an eye on further business growth. We shifted from a structure with sales for each solution consolidated under one organization to business divisions with separate sales organizations for each solution. We significantly shifted our policy from resource optimization to net sales maximization, and we recognize that recruiting and securing talent is a vital management issue.

Measures to Strengthen Our Recruitment System
Establishment of Human Resource Business Partner (HRBP) organization

To promote large-scale recruitment, we established an HRBP organization within each division to strengthen our on-the-ground recruitment abilities. HRBP gains a deep understanding of each division’s unique needs based on its strategy, collaborating with the Human Resources Division to implement optimal recruitment plans, training, evaluations, and more. This structure had enabled us to execute flexible recruitment strategies tailored to the characteristics of each business, allowing us to recruit optimal human resources for each business.

Integration and optimization of our recruitment operations

To enhance efficiency in our recruitment operations, we established a cross-department operational planning team within the Human Resources Division. This team integrates our overall recruitment operations, achieving both optimization for each department and improved efficiency simultaneously.

Building of a recruitment brand and information dissemination

We strive to build a recruitment brand common for all positions and divisions while strengthening our information dissemination to enhance recruitment efforts. Our goal is to attract outstanding talent and improve the effectiveness of our recruitment activities.

Promoting Human Resources Development and Success

Amid rapid organizational growth, we believe that accelerating personal growth is the most important measure for maintaining and improving productivity without compromising it.

HR and Evaluation Systems
Adoption of Mission Grade System

We have adopted a Mission Grade System for personnel evaluation, which determines the level of job authority, responsibility, and treatment according to different grades. These grades are determined based on performance and future expectations, leveraging growth for each individual.

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) and 360-degree evaluation system

For HR evaluations, we assess individual contributions to the organization based on Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), which are set quarterly in the organization. In addition, we adopt a 360-degree evaluation to comprehensively incorporate feedback not only from direct supervisors but also from colleagues the employee works with and relevant personnel in other departments. These measures promote employee growth and strengthen overall organizational performance.

Improving Employee Engagement

We have consistently conducted employee engagement surveys over the past three years, achieving our highest engagement score ever in FY2023. Engagement scores are strongly correlated with business performance. Our analysis is that the momentum of reignited net sales growth spread company-wide, leading to the high organizational engagement. Additionally, our eNPS,*1 which measures whether employees would recommend their company to others, has improved to around zero. This is significant considering that the average for Japanese companies is said to be between -40 and -50. To improve engagement, we implement the following initiatives, focusing on three dimensions—individuals, surroundings, and organizations. Going forward, we will continue working to enhance overall organizational performance and drive business growth.

  1. *1 eNPSSM stands for Employee Net Promoter Score. It is a service mark of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld, and Satmetrix Systems, Inc. The eNPS is obtained by subtracting the percentage of Detractors from the percentage of Promoters of working for the Company.

(For individuals)

Jump! (internal recruiting system)

This system enables employees to move to other positions, allowing them to take on new challenges, gain business experience, and grow.

Geek Seek

This system promotes employees’ technical growth by supporting book purchases and internal study groups to deepen specialized knowledge.

OYACO

We create a supportive environment that helps employees balance childcare and work through a system designated to assist them in managing both.

Coacher & Career Talk

We support employees’ personal growth through coaching and career consultations.

Subsidy system for the cost of low-dose contraceptives via online consultations

We subsidize the cost of low-dose contraceptives and the online consultations required for prescriptions.

Engagement surveys

Once a month, we conduct engagement surveys for regular employees and contract employees. The results from analyses of the responses are used for self-management, organizational management, and the planning of company-wide internal systems and measures.

(For surroundings)

Strength Matching

Employees share their strengths with each other to promote teamwork, based on career summaries and personality assessments.

Mitsukacchi (Peer Bonus® using Unipos)

We enhance overall organizational motivation by utilizing a system where employees praise each other.

Know Me, Yoriai

This system supports social events to promote communication among employees.

Coacher Team

This system helps teams achieve their goals and promotes collaboration among members through group coaching.

Sansan Value Star (employee recognition awards)

This system recognizes employees who have embodied values and achieved results with awards.

(Organizational aspects)

Office-centric

We practice an office-centric work style that emphasizes face-to-face communication, combined with remote work, for the purpose of maximizing employees’ productivity and creativity.

My Myaku recruitment (referral hiring)

We recruit excellent talent who align with our corporate culture by utilizing employees’ networks.

Culture-focused recruitment

Our focus is on hiring personnel who resonate with our mission and vision and can embody them.

“Katachi” Discussions

We hold opportunities for all employees to participate in sharing and discussing our corporate philosophy to help spread it across the organization.

Long-term internships

We offer a long-term internship program to develop future leaders.

Fostering IT Talent for the Future

We support the Kamiyama Marugoto College of Design, Technology, and Entrepreneurship, a private technical college that opened in 2023. The school aims to nurture people who create things and possess the ability to make things happen that is, people who can change society. By supporting this institution in creating future innovators, we aim to fulfill our mission of “Turning encounters into innovation” and to help develop IT human resources who will transform the world.
Specifically, we participate as a scholarship partner*2 and support multiple students as Sansan Scholars. Young employees from our group, including sales and business planning staff, designers, engineers, and other diverse roles, participate as mentors, offering year-round support programs to the students. The content of these programs varies by school year. We decide activity policies based on assignments set by the school and provide support.
The College now has students up to the second year. First-year students are given the task of presenting on a company’s appeal and second year students devise future businesses that leverage a company’s strengths. Mentors share their respective knowledge and experience in presentation and design and in the structure and necessary functions of companies, how services are developed, and other aspects. The support initiatives simultaneously promote the growth of the employees who participate as mentors, and contribute to developing the group’s human resources, such as in the expectation they will become candidates for management positions.

  1. *2 Companies that have made contributions or donations to scholarship funds for the purpose of making tuition virtually free.
Top Gun Development Program for New Graduates

Top Gun is a results-focused training program for new graduates in general positions. In this program, new graduates tackle actual business challenges, enabling them to unlock their full potential early on. After completing the basic onboarding training, they are divided into groups to accomplish missions based on real business challenges. They take on the entire process—from developing strategies to achieve their goals, to securing appointments, conducting negotiations, closing deals, and supporting customers. In this program, high-performing employees from the field act as managers to support new graduates, helping them deepen their understanding of business processes and our corporate culture. Our goal is for new graduates to gain successful experiences early through the practical challenges, allowing them to grow with confidence.

Fostering Corporate Culture as the Foundation of Human Capital

The group values having a mission-driven culture. We collectively refer to our mission, vision, and values as the “Katachi of Sansan.” Each year, we set a theme that addresses short-term focus areas. The theme for 2024 is “growth mindset.” As our organization continues to expand, each individual’s growth becomes a driver of business growth, directly contributing to the company’s overall growth. By combining each person’s growth mindset with our corporate philosophy, including our mission, we cultivate a culture that serves as the foundation of our group’s human capital. To that end, we are enhancing our various training programs to ensure that each employee, starting from their entry into the company and through various opportunities, engages with the company culture and the annual themes.

SCOP (Sansan Culture Onboarding Program)

Our organization continues to expand, and about half of our current employees have joined within the past three years. To ensure that employees from various backgrounds can quickly succeed, it is important to align their careers and personal growth with our group’s mission, vision, values, and corporate philosophy as soon as possible. To achieve this, we use two of the five days of our SCOP onboarding program, which starts on the employees’ first day, for deepening their 5-Day Program understanding of our corporate philosophy and values. Even after being assigned to a position, for six months after joining the company, we provide monthly opportunities as part of SCOP to engage in discussions with managers from employees’ own departments and other departments, as well as with executives, about our mission, vision, and values, aiming to help employees learn more deeply through experience.

5-Day Program
Learn about our group’s knowledge.
Katachi Training (CEO), Katachi Salon (directors), Katachi Salon (executive officers)
Hear directly from the CEO, directors, and executive officers about their thoughts on the “Katachi of Sansan.”
Katachiba (group managers)
Together with group managers, employees articulate their thoughts on the “Katachi of Sansan” in relation to their own work.
Katachi Offsite Meeting
Based on the training thus far, employees deepen their understanding by discussing the “Katachi of Sansan” in their own words.
Spreading Our Corporate Culture Through Company-Wide Meetings

We hold all-employee company-wide meetings twice a month as opportunities to align with our corporate philosophy and discuss the future. These meetings aim to strengthen security awareness, which is crucial for delivering our services, deepen understanding of our values, and reflect on our mission and vision. Every quarter, our CEO reviews progress toward goals and outlines the policies and goals for the next quarter. We also incorporate various content, including updates on financial results, the latest status of each solution, and discussions by executives, managers, and general employees on topics related to the year’s theme as well as the company’s mission, vision, and values. This is designed to ensure that all employees can have an equal understanding of the company’s policies, status, and culture.

Sansan Value Star (SVS) Awards

The Sansan Value Star (SVS) awards are systems that recognize employees and teams that best embody the year’s theme and values, presented during company-wide meetings held twice a year. We also recognize the new graduate who achieved the fastest results, with a newcomer award. During the award presentation, supervisors and colleagues share stories that explain the reasons behind the recipient’s recognition. Additionally, detailed stories are later distributed via internal company media. Therefore, it provides an opportunity for other employees to learn from and be inspired by how the recipients tackled their challenges and achieved results.

Usage of Unipos

We use the Unipos culture platform, which involves participation by all employees to promote dissemination of our corporate culture and improve employee engagement. In Unipos, employees can send appreciatory comments and “tips” to each other for their contributions at work, making good actions visible to the entire company. Employees can post actions based on our mission, vision, values, and the year’s theme, greatly contributing to the permeation of our corporate philosophy. The posting rate was 58.1% in FY2023, and we aim to reach 80% by FY2029. To further encourage participation, we regularly recognize actions that best embody the corporate philosophy and communicate them internally.