Talent Management Strategy

Basic Policy for Our Talent Management Strategy

A Focus on Cultivating Jigyoin with a Pioneering Spirit and the Ability to Think While Taking Action

Based on our Management Philosophy, we have established a Personnel Philosophy of “Cultivating personnel who challenge themselves and think while taking action.” We have defined “creating a rewarding workplace” as a key issue and are promoting a Talent Management Strategy that is in line with this goal. We do not use the word jugyoin, the standard Japanese word for staff, but rather prefer jigyoin, meaning an independent and virtuous employee. Each worker sets aside the employee’s mindset and instead adopts an entrepreneurial mindset and commits to achieving ambitious results. As the business environment undergoes intermittent change, we are working to secure diverse talents who can respond to these changes in a nimble manner and create an environment where they can thrive. We will also continue to produce jigyoin through optimal talent allocation and promotion based on assigning the right people to the right jobs at the right pay. To translate individual abilities into robust organizational capacity, we will strengthen the management ability of managers to identify and utilize individual strengths. At the same time, we will raise awareness that they are participants in management so they share the same values as our shareholders and create social and economic value.

Overview of Yamazen’s Talent Management Strategy

Personnel Philosophy & Talent Management Policy to Support “Management of Fostering Personnel”

To cultivate jigyoin with a pioneering spirit and the ability to think while taking action, our core competence, we have established a Personnel Philosophy of “Cultivating personnel who challenge themselves and think while taking action” and a talent management policy of “Employees challenging themselves. Thinking while taking action.” This supports jigyoin in thinking for themselves and practicing autonomy in the workplace to tackle ambitious goals and overcome difficult tasks. By combining learning from workplace experience with training based on our Talent Development Framework (p.49), we will rigorously develop individual abilities and foster a corporate culture that produces jigyoin consistently.

Action Plan for Fostering Personnel: “With All of You”

Initiatives in the Previous Medium-Term Management Plan (STEP 1)

• Initiative１　Introduction of Multi-Track HR System

The managers can choose between a management position (personnel specializing in management within their organization) and a professional position (personnel who create results by leveraging their specialized expertise), creating a multi-track system that allows us to assign the right people to the right jobs at the right pay based on individual strengths. Bringing out the full potential of the diverse abilities and skills possessed by individuals will help create new added value.

• Initiative２　Launch Initiatives to Increase the Variety of Roles of Women in the Workplace

We integrated career-track and non-career-track positions so that all employees can challenge themselves and think while taking action to achieve results. Leaders who will serve as the next generation of management have emerged among former non-career-track employees and are increasing annually to help cultivate core next generation talent.

Focal Points in the New Medium-Term Management Plan (STEP 2)

In our previous medium-term management plan, we focused on establishing a foundation where “highly capable, diverse human resources who can produce results” could thrive. In our new medium-term management plan, we will transition to STEP 2 of “Management of Fostering Personnel,” focusing on the autonomous growth support stage. During this phase, we will effectively utilize the systems introduced in STEP 1 to ensure that diverse human resources are allocated appropriately and able to grow, thereby creating new added value through talent development and organizational enhancement.

Talent Development/Organizational Enhanement

• Evolution of the Talent Development Framework

• Establishing a Talent Development System That Provides Opportunities

Initiatives

Talent Management Based on Management & Business Strategy

• Launch of Career Change Criteria

For positions as managers, we have established new age limits for appointments according to job title as well as new removal criteria. By operating a multi-track personnel system with management and professional courses, we will assign the right people to the right jobs at the right pay, promote young talent based on careful assessment of their abilities and skills, drive organizational renewal, and enable sustainable growth and development.

Initiatives to Increase Awareness of Participation in Management

• Introduction of the J-ESOP System

To raise awareness of contributing to medium- to long-term performance improvement and increased corporate value, we have introduced a performance-linked stock compensation system for directors and other executives.

Furthermore, to improve awareness of participation in management among employees and help them to share the same values as our shareholders, we introduced a new employee stock benefit plan (J-ESOP) for managers in April 2025. This system aims to encourage employees to take on challenges at a higher level and reward their achievements. At the same time, we anticipate that it will raise employee interest in improving stock prices and business performance, contributing to even higher work engagement.

• Yamazen Employee Stock Ownership Plan

The Yamazen Employees’ Investment Association, our employee stock ownership plan, is our fifthlargest shareholder as of the end of March 2025, with a 3.84% shareholding ratio. The participation rate has steadily increased in recent years, contributing significantly to raising employee awareness of participation in management. This is helping form the foundation for employees to take greater interest in company management, clarify objectives from a management perspective in their routine work, and cultivate an attitude of thinking proactively and taking initiative.

Information current as of October 2025

Diversity

Promotion of Diversity & Inclusion

Yamazen vigorously promotes Diversity & Inclusion initiatives as a management strategy based on its Management Philosophy of “Management of Fostering Personnel (To make active use of personnel, and to foster independent and virtuous employees).” By proactively recruiting and developing the skills of human resources who possess a wide variety of knowledge and experience, and by providing them with opportunities to play an active role, Yamazen is working to create an environment in which all employees, regardless of gender, can develop their own expertise and eagerly participate while maximizing their skills, and aims to be an attractive company that is even more rewarding for our employees.

Promoting Women’s Careers

General Employer Action Plan Based on the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children and the Act on the Promotion of Women’s Active Engagement in Professional Life

1. Plan Period

Three years from April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2028

2. Company Issues

• Work assignments for women are biased
• There are challenges in creating employment conditions conducive to work-life balance

3. Goals, Initiative Details, and Timeline

Goal 1: Transfer women to new positions to expand work domains (100 women over three years)

Goal 2: Decrease monthly average overtime hours by 10% or more annually to create a better work environment

Goal 1: Initiative Details and Timeline—Starting April 2025

• Identify issues and consider measures for expanding work domains, and establish systems to monitor implementation status and systems for reporting to board members.
• Using talent management, map and pool female candidates for management positions and conduct planned HR development and appointments.
• Monitor improvements in DE&I survey scores.

Goal 2: Initiative Details and Timeline—Starting April 2025

• Implement workplace-specific work reduction initiatives under the command of top management.
• Share effective initiatives across the company.
• Improve the take-up rate for flextime and change employee attitudes to achieve more efficient working styles.

Initiatives

• Establish Area-Based Career-Track Positions

• Leader Training Program for Next-Generation Women Leaders

Since FY2023, Yamazen has conducted the Leader Training Program for Next-Generation Women Leaders, a three-year program with approximately 30 women leaders participating. In the first year, participants acquired business knowledge on career building, logical thinking, finance, strategy, leadership, and more, while the second-year program, the Management Academy, featured group work based on that knowledge. Each group identified management issues for the Company, held discussions, and presented solutions to management. This training not only enhances the skills of female employees but also serves as an opportunity for management, who participate as observers, to gain deeper understanding of the importance of promoting the variety of roles of women in the workplace. We also promote the recognition and promotion of female management candidates by informing all employees of the content of this training program on the internal intranet and internal newsletter.

• Introduction of the Team System