At Skylark, one of our values is “Positive Work Environment/Employee Engagement,” so each employee works together with their colleagues to create a cheerful workplace. In addition, since we believe that growth through human resources is the greatest growth strategy, we are actively investing in the growth of all employees and the creation of an environment which allows them to live with peace of mind. With the aim of improving employee knowledge and individual skills, we have created an environment where employees can learn what they want to learn when they want to without burden depending on the content of the training, including group training, online training, on-demand training, and e-learning. We will strive to instill our corporate philosophy, purpose, mission, and values, and implement employee development training so that each and every one of us can embody those concepts.
Strategic Background and Changes in the Business Environment
The total population of Japan, a country which is experiencing a declining birthrate and aging population, is in a phase of decline with the working-age population also decreasing. Under such circumstances, securing talented human resources for employment at table service restaurants is an essential element for our growth. While there is a shortage of workers, there are cases where people who are motivated to work after raising children are unable to get the job they want. In response to these latent needs, we hire employees nationwide and provide a stable working environment.
Important Targets
Results
Employee Development Training
FY 2022 Training Program
|
New graduates and mid-career employees |
Other |
Total |
| Number of participants |
180 |
5,190 |
5,370 |
| Average number of training hours per person |
Approx. 990 hours per person |
Approx. 3 hours per person |
Approx. 45 hours per person (193,459 hours ÷ 4,294 people) |
| Total training hours |
178,200 hours (990 hours × 180 people) |
15,259 hours (2.94 hours × 5,190 people) |
193,459 hours (36.03 hours × 5,370 people) |
| Average number of training days |
Approx. 124 days |
Approx. 2.5 days |
Approx. 6.5 days |
| Areas of focus |
Business manners, food hygiene, store management, cooking and customer service operations, complaint handling, compliance, communication, harassment, capacity development, etc. |
Promoting Diversity
Promoting Women’s Participation in the Workplace
Skylark Group provides a leave system and a childcare support system as well as work styles that can be selected according to preference for accommodating life events such as marriage and childbirth. In addition, by providing employment categories that do not require relocation, we are working to create a system in which employees can work for a long time even if changes occur in their family environment.
In 2022, we set a new target for the percentage of women in management positions, and are working to achieve a target of 15% by 2025 and 30% by 2030 from the current 10% level.
In 2023, the ratio of female employees among new employees exceeded 60% for the first time ever. In addition to hiring mid-career employees targeting individuals with non-working periods who have completed child rearing duties, we will expand the employment environment in which women can work energetically and with dreams in mind whether or not they have restaurant work experience.
Ms. Kogure Joined the Group as a mid-career hire in her 40s. After being a homemaker for 20 years, she entered the company in April 2022 with the aim of becoming a full-time employee.
Improving Work Engagement
Enhancing Capabilities for Promoting QSC Improvement Initiatives
◉ Introduction of a System in Which Customer Satisfaction is Reflected in Evaluations
In the post-COVID-19 era, it is very important to understand customer satisfaction, face the different challenges in each store, and make improvements quickly. In April 2021, we introduced a tool to determine the abilities required of in their stores and have been utilizing purposespecific training and OJT according to each individual’s abilities. In 2022, a new system was introduced to directly reflect customer requests received from customer surveys in improvement efforts and evaluations of our store managers. Through these initiatives, we will continue to improve QSC (quality, service and cleanliness) in our stores and continue to exist as the restaurants of choice for our customers.
Improving Operational Efficiency and Convenience Through DX Promotion
We are working to promote DX related to humanresources and labor with three goals: Improve employee convenience and satisfaction, standardize and streamline human resources and labor-related operations, and reduce labor hours for administrative operations.
In 2022, the Group revamped its talent management system, digitized the evaluation flow, and started the centralized management, analysis, and utilization of personnel information. We aim to operate a system that leads to the improvement of satisfaction and motivation of evaluation.
Promotion and Enhancement of Health Management
Updating of Our Declaration of Employee Health Management and Creation of a Health Management Promotion System
Skylark Group believes that Group company employees continuing to work vigorously in a state of good physical and mental health will help us in fulfilling the Group’s mission.
In April 2021, the Managing Director of the Human Capital Management Division was appointed to the position of Chief Health Officer (CHO) and the department heads at each workplace were each appointed to the position of Health Promotion Leader. Their duty is to maintain and improve the health of themselves as well as their subordinates. It is now possible to systematically manage the progress of measures and improvement actions related to health and productivity management, which leads to results.
Continuing Our Quit Smoking Movement
Our Quit Smoking movement aimed at employees was launched in 2014. Through this movement, the number of employees who smoke is steadily declining as a result of using a division-level contest format and commending the best-performing divisions to reduce the percentage of smokers in the Group. We will continue to provide handson support to help employees quit smoking by distributing smoking cessation aids and apps to help quit smoking with the aim of bringing the number of smokers down to zero by 2050.
Encouraging Employees to Take Regular Health Checks
Skylark encourages employees to take health checks in order to enable sound and sustainable business management through the early-stage detection of lifestyle-related diseases. In particular, we have established penalty regulations for fulltime employees for when they fail to take health checks. As a result, the percentage of employees taking health checks continues to be at almost 100%, although hospitals placed restrictions on the number of health checks accepted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, to ensure that employees’ continued employment is not adversely affected by the increasing severity of various symptoms resulting from a range of lifestyle habits, we have appointed full-time staff in collaboration with the health insurance association to recommend follow-up checks and/or immediate medical examinations via a health promotion leader based on the results of our employee health checks.
Fostering Health Literacy
Health insurance association members are encouraged to install an app available from the association on their personal digital devices so that they can view past health check results, monitor their daily exercise and vital information, view health-related information, and view their health promotion event schedule whenever they want.
Promoting Workstyle Reform
Initiatives to limit long working hours
Under the Upper Limit on Overtime Work Regulations introduced in April 2020, as a general rule, the upper limit for overtime work is set to 45 hours per month, and 360 hours per year. Even under special temporary circumstances, the upper limit has now been set to 720 hours per year, less than 100 hours per month (including work on days off), and an average of 80 hours per month across multiple months (also including work on days off).
In 2018, Skylark set its own upper limits of less than 80 hours per month (including work on days off) and an average of 60 hours per month across multiple months (also including work on days off). Starting in 2022, all store managers will receive training on correct time and attendance management once every two months, and we continue to educate and monitor them to ensure compliance with laws and regulations.
Ensuring that employees take annual paid holidays
In response to the new requirement that all employees who have been granted 10 or more days of annual paid leave be allowed to take 5 days of paid leave each year at specified times, we have created a web-based paid leave taking ledger for each individual store to manage progress. Along with filling out pail leave plans, we also encourage that managers talk with eligible employees to promote paid leave acquisition.
Promoting Employment of People with Disabilities
The employment rate of people with disabilities in 2022 was 3.32%, which exceeds the legally mandated ratio. The number of employees with disabilities working in the Skylark Group is approximately 570. At each site where people with disabilities are employed, we provide a guidebook titled Guide to Employment of People with Disabilities so that all store members can share information on the characteristics of each disability and who to contact in case of any issues. The guidebook includes many case studies in manga format to create a more comfortable workplace for people with disabilities.
Promoting Employment of Foreigners
Approximately 1,400 foreign nationals from 27 countries work at our central kitchens as technical trainees or qualified workers with specific skills, or as employees or part-time employees at our stores and central kitchens.
(Technical trainees: 172, Workers with specific skills: 102)
We are strengthening our support for foreign nationals so that they will know about support efforts and will want to work for us by establishing the Global Human Resources Contact Desk, actively introducing friends, revamping our website dedicated to the recruitment of foreigners, and introducing new management support tools for foreigners.
Promoting Employment of the Elderly
In April 2015, the mandatory retirement age for employees was raised from 60 to 65, and in January 2019, the maximum re-employment age for part-time workers was raised from 70 to 75. Company veterans, who are active over the age of 65, work the schedule, role, and amount of hours of their choice in accordance with their life stage and lifestyle. By promoting DX, we are creating an environment where the elderly can continue to work.
Creating an Environment Where People Can Work with Satisfaction
Since 2022, we have been conducting regular employee questionnaires on workplaces and work with the aim of improving the workplace environment and developing human resources.
In 2023, we introduced a one-on-one meeting with a focus on the subordinate called Meeting For You in which superiors and subordinates participate to further strengthen their communication.