Approach
Conveying Messages from Management through Our Personnel Systems
Personnel systems play an important role in showing employees a company’s expectations and the direction of its growth.
One thing we expect from our personnel systems is that they convey the message that we want to link the direction the Group intends to take with the vision of each employee. To improve
engagement, we consider it crucial that each employee feels that they are getting closer to achieving their own vision while
meeting their company’s expectations. For this reason, we have implemented many measures that provide opportunities for
aligning these elements.
As another expectation, our personnel systems contain the message that we want employees to increase the speed of their growth. Based our own unique perspective of time that runs at a speed four times that of the rest of the world at Link and Motivation Group, we have designed various systems with the expectation that our employees will grow at four times the speed of the rest of the world. We believe that incorporating messages on what we consider most important in our personnel systems in ways like these enables us to increase engagement as we conduct management.
Purpose
Use rules as parameters for making the most of the skills Link and Motivation requires and increasing sympathy with our philosophy
Measures
Evaluation System
Objective
Encourage human resources to have a sense of satisfaction with their own growth through evaluation and personnel systems
Outcome
We maintain a high rating of 4.5* out of 5.0 points in the “fair evaluations” category on OpenWork, one of Japan’s largest online employee review platforms.
*1 Online review data for Link and Motivation Inc.
*2 As of March 2025
Quarterly Evaluations
Based on the idea that short-span cycles are important for growth, we share a unique perspective of time in which three months everywhere else is one year for the Link and Motivation Group, and so we set milestones every three months. Our aims are to create an environment where employees can maintain a high level of motivation as they continue to grow, and to conduct business with a sense of speed. Specific organizational operations conducted four times a year, at three-month intervals, include management of business results, target setting, personnel evaluation, promotion or demotion, and payment of bonuses.
Stretch Goal Evaluation
Targets are set along two axes in order to cover not only performance, which indicates the degree of contribution to the company’s business results and the employee’s organization, but also a stretch goal, which indicates the degree of individual growth. These targets are used in going through the PDCA cycle.
Data Highlights
Average Individual Evaluation Score
The average evaluation score is nearly 10, indicating a balance between the company’s expectations and employee generation of business results and growth.
Compatible Work
Objective
Use the features of both office work and telework to improve work productivity and engagement
Outcome
We have increased productivity While maintaining a high level of engagement.
We used the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to introduce a new way of working we call Compatible Work, in which we schedule days for working in the office and teleworking days for each team to create the most suitable operations for them.
Office Work
Employees work in the office once or twice each week.
We make the most of the characteristic features of office work—cooperation, chance occurrences, emotion and logic, and sympathy—by holding meetings where indepth discussions are required, kick-off and end-of-period meetings that generate a sense of unity, and consultations with new members that foster mutual understanding, among other activities.
Telework
Employees telework three or four times each week. In addition to providing time for individual work such as preparing materials, we make the most of the characteristic features of telework—concentration, planning, rationality and synchronization—by holding meetings to share details from Group Management Committee meetings, regular consultations with members, and in-house training sessions with numerous participants, among other activities.
Survey on Compatible Work
We conduct surveys of managers as needed to design the optimal work style for the current situation.
Comments from Participants
Ownership System: Employee Stock Ownership Association
Objective
Encourage employees to become shareholders so each employee commits to the growth of the Company and their own individual growth as an owner
Outcome
The membership rate for the Employee Stock Ownership Association is 95.3%, a high level that fulfills our objective
An employee stock ownership association is a system in which employees regularly acquire company stock to help them build assets over the medium to long term.
In addition to this benefit, we hope that this opportunity fosters a sense of ownership among employees as members of the Link and Motivation Group.
Incentive System
We have introduced an incentive system in which the Company adds a uniform 10% incentive when employees purchase Company shares. We recommend holding stocks for the long term with the aim of creating the following cycle.
Seminar for Employees
The Board of Directors of the Employee Stock Ownership Association conducts an internal briefing on financial results after the earnings announcement in order to enhance employees’ sense of ownership. This provides an opportunity for two-way communication, including a question-and-answer session with senior management.
Comments from Participants
"The briefing was easy to understand even for a beginner like me. I now have a much better understanding about financial results!"
"Hearing directly from the management team helped me to better understand their way of thinking!"
In 2024, the childcare leave utilization rate for eligible employees was 100% for women and 37.1% for men.
We will continue working to create a supportive workplace where employees can thrive regardless of life events.
Life Event Support
Objective
Build better relationships between the company and employees by supporting individual work styles according to employees’ changing situations
Outcome
The number of employees choosing flexible work styles has increased yearly, and 166 employees took advantage of work style options in 2024.
Work Style Options
This system allows employees to temporarily change their work style due to childbirth, childcare, caring for an elderly relative, injury, illness or work-related accidents. Employees can use the program for childcare until the child’s graduation from junior high school. At the same time, we also reassess expectations based on changes in work performance.
Employees can choose from various options for working days and working hours, and the number of employees who use the system has been increasing year by year.
Childbirth and Childcare Support
Although the Link and Motivation treats its employees the same regardless of gender, childbirth is an event unique to women. We have established various support programs to give female employees the sense of security they need to give birth, return to work, and thrive in the workplace.
We have also established programs to support the involvement of both male and female employees in the care of their children.
In 2024, the childcare leave utilization rate for eligible employees was 100% for women and 37.1% for men. We will continue working to create a supportive workplace where employees can thrive regardless of life events.
Data Highlights
OzaSanta Presents for employees’ children
OzaSanta, played by Chairman and Representative Director Ozasa Yoshihisa, delivers presents to children of Group employees to show our gratitude to the families who support them. OzaSanta gave presents to 377 kids in 2024.
"Because of my family circumstances, which include providing childcare and nursing care, I have been able to work more productively using telework."
"Face to face, it is easier to pick up on changes in motivation than when communicating through a screen, so I would like to increase the number of days in the office when working with new employees."