Enhance personnel systems to improve employee motivation

KADOKAWA has been actively working to build an environment that enables employees to be motivated and better demonstrate their creativity. KADOKAWA has introduced a free agent transfer system not bound by immediate bosses’ intentions and recommends that employees spend some of their work hours doing jobs for other departments. Further, employees may also devise and set up interdepartmental projects. KADOKAWA also encourages its employees to engage in side jobs doing things they would not be able to do within the company.

Enhance personnel systems that improve motivation

“Free-agent” transfer system

To facilitate job matching, the system allows employees to apply for positions in departments they are interested in. The system is applicable to full-time employees of KADOKAWA and full-time employees of the KADOKAWA Group companies which have expressed their intention to apply for the free agent transfer. The system was started in FY2021.

Number of employees matched to date
213
*as of December, 2023

  • Changes in the number of positions open and the number of applicants

    Changes in the number of positions open and the number of applicants

  • Changes in the number and rate of actual free agent transfers

    Changes in the number and rate of actual free agent transfers

Specific examples of transfers:

  • 20s

    Business manager to Literary editor

  • 20s

    Sales to Comic editor

  • 30s

    Advertising to Web media editor

  • 30s

    Web director to Overseas business

  • 40s

    Site operator to Management of facilities

  • 40s

    Sales to Digital business

  • 50s

    Legal affairs to Proofreading

Many of our colleagues have tried jobs that are different from what they did before.

Voices from employees who applied for the free agent transfer program

Voices from employees who applied for the free agent transfer program

Prevention of human resources drain

According to the in-house questionnaire survey conducted in January 2023, 42.9% of respondents said that resigning and changing jobs were among the choices they considered when utilizing or applying for the free agent transfer system, based on other personnel systems and other options. This shows that motivating employees helps prevent human resources leaving the company to some extent.

Other options they considered when utilizing or applying for the free agent transfer system (multiple answers allowed)

Other options they considered when utilizing or applying for the free agent transfer system (multiple answers allowed)

Side job system

Applicable to all employees, this system expands workstyle options and supports voluntary career development.

Number of employees who have used the system to date
188
*as of April, 2024

Classification of side jobs
*as of December, 2023

Classification of side jobs *as of December, 2023

Incentive system for obtaining public qualifications

Can be used for 139 job types, maximum amount of incentives: 10 million yen

Number of uses of the system up to the present
349
*as of April, 2024
Total amount paid
23,570,000 yen
*as of April, 2024

Qualifications applied for by area of business
*as of December, 2023

Qualifications applied for by area of business *as of December, 2023

Project Open Call

This is a system that enables employees to propose projects that are challenging, medium- or long-term or interdepartmental, form teams to turn their proposals into reality and recruit members of the project team in-house. The KADOKAWA Group has established a system that enables employees to openly and autonomously propose new businesses and operational improvements.

  • A project allowing anyone, experienced in editing or not, to become a chief editor and implement the entire process from planning to final proofreading
  • HR Project Focusing on Childcare Support that proposes and implements revisions to the childcare-related regulations and new welfare services
  • Project translating and publishing the world's best content aspiring to publish global megahits
  • Company-wide Asia BL Project for internationally popular Asian BL dramas

“Now is the Time to Think about War” Project originated from a proposal directed to the CEO

Based on the key message, “Now is the Time to Think about War,” an initiative was implemented in 2022 to extensively propose continued thinking about war and a refusal to stop thinking about it. This originated from a post to an online form of opinions and questions to CEO Natsuno allowing employees of the KADOKAWA Group to directly submit their opinions and questions to the CEO. An example of this project's activities is the free distribution of nine war-related titles published by the KADOKAWA Group on BOOK☆WALKER, a comprehensive e-book store directly operated by the Group. The nine titles included Barefoot Gen.

“Now is the Time to Think about War” advertising material
“Now is the Time to Think about War” advertising material

Improve the program for supporting human resources for overseas operations

  • We have been extensively recruiting human resources by making our mid-career recruitment site available in different languages and adding global content. Accepting more multinational interns.
  • We organize seminars and other opportunities to increase employee motivation to get involved in skill surveys and global business.
  • We implement human resource exchanges, enable working remotely and take other measures to develop hybrid human resources equipped with specialized skills including the skills that enable them to pursue global careers.
  • Improve reward programs. For example, provide lump-sum allowances to employees of overseas subsidiaries when they obtain a qualifying score in the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test.