Through its corporate university, the Company devises ways to imbue all its employees with its corporate history and management philosophy while working to bring on the next generation by Groupwide training for specific employee ranks. In addition, training sessions will be conducted overseas to broaden the global perspective.
At the Group sales company F.D.C. Friends Inc., we have established F.D.C. FRIENDS COLLEGE, a dedicated education and training facility that is equipped with a mockup of a shop space where we train customer-contact professionals by means of lectures and role-playing. Based on a structured curriculum, employees acquire knowledge and skills in stages and will learn the customer service techniques that will enable them to cope with all manner of eventualities with a highly attuned hospitality mindset.

Through its Diversity Promotion Committee, the Company is working to encourage the advancement of women.
As one specific initiative, we are making use of a Maternity Leave/Returning to Work Support Interview Sheet to promote the return to work of women who will be taking maternity leave.
Introduced with the aim of improving mutual understanding between supervisors and those taking leave as well as promoting communication when women are pregnant, give birth and return to work, the Maternity Leave/Returning to Work Support Interview Sheet enables anxiety-free returns to work and consultations on questions with superiors beforehand through the filling out the sheet and regular interviews. In addition, enabling those taking maternity or childcare leave to have the opportunity to feel a connection with the Company even during their leave is expected to have the effect of lowering the psychological hurdle at the time of their return.

With the aim of extending the capabilities of people with disabilities while promoting their independence and contributing to society, the Company established Heartful Aqua, Inc. as special subsidiary in 2012 and works to promote the employment of people with disabilities and develop areas of occupation for them.
Besides the light tasks that arise in stores, such as cutting ribbons and seals as well as assembling boxes, people with disabilities are currently undertaking a wide range of duties in support of the Group companies’ business operations, including sales slip verification and the calculation of totals that involves the use of computers.

To support affluent lifestyles and the creation of environments that allow employees to excel at work, the Company is engaged in a raft of welfare system measures, such as those covering time off work and leave, and support systems.
In addition, even in cases in which the working environment is limited, for example by childcare and nursing or family nursing commitments, the Company provides support so that employees can engage in their duties with peace of mind and lead fulfilling working lives.