HR Practices of Toyota (Japan)

Toyota seeks to develop human resources through the activity of making things. Toyota believes that the development of human resources requires the handing down of values and perspectives. In conjunction with the geographic expansion of business and the growth of business areas, undertaking global actions for the development of human resources has become a priority issue. Toyota is building both tangible (a new learning facility) and intangible (course content) structures relating to team member development that ensures a secure and steady flow of qualified human resources to conduct Toyota's global business in the 21st century.

Fully Committed and Thorough Human Resources Development

Toyota conducts systematic company-wide and divisional training and assignments for training purposes with an emphasis on on-the-job training (OJT) to ensure that associates can fully utilize their abilities.

• "Toyota — Dev

  eloping People"

In October 2002, Toyota created the booklet "Toyota — Developing People" and distributed it to all associates to create a common understanding that "the source of Toyota's competitiveness is human resources development" a

nd to promote the creation of workplaces where personnel development takes place at all sites and at all levels.

• A Shared Toyota Way In order to carry out the Guiding Principles at Toyota Motor Corporation, in April 2001 Toyota adopted the Toyota Way 2001, an expression of the values and conduct guidelines that all employees should embrace. In order to promote the development of Global Toyota and the transfer of authority to local entities, Toyota's management philosophies, values and business methods, that previously had been implicit in Toyota's tradition, were codified. Based on the dual pillars of "Respect for people" and

"Continuous Improvement," the following five key principles sum up the Toyota employee conduct guidelines:

Challenge, Kaizen (improvement),

Genchi Genbutsu (go and see),

Respect, and

Teamwork.

In 2002, these policies were advanced further with the adoption of the Toyota Way for individual functions, including overseas sales, domestic sales, human resources, accounting, procurement, etc.

Toward Promotion of Women's Participation

Based on the principle of respecting diversity and with the aim of reforming management throughout the company, Toyota set its sights on women's participation, reviewing its arrangement with regard to female employees, and taking steps to put a better environment in place. In order to promote the creation of an environment more conducive to participation by motivated female employees, Toyota has made a three-pronged effort to: (1) Help enable women to work and raise children at the same time; (2) Assist in women's career building, and (3) Reform the working environment and employee awareness. Toyota has also introduced flexible working arrangements and constructed child-care facilities at business sites.