Fair evaluation and compensation; appointment and selection independent of seniority

Mizuho publishes the "Human Capital Report" to comprehensively explain how we will create value together with our customers, the economy and society through "Enhancing Human Capital" and "Transforming Corporate Culture". For details on our various human capital initiatives.

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Human Capital Report

Details of employee evaluation and scheme for supporting employee development

CANADE, launched in FY2024, is an HR framework designed to further motivate all employees and promote their growth by providing compensation commensurate with their roles and achievements. Specifically, with the introduction of CANADE, we moved to a role-based wage system in which salaries are determined by the difficulty of an employee's role and the degree of responsibility held. Additionally, we removed the department or branch performance from the factors that determine bonuses. Now, bonuses are determined by the entire group's performance as well as the individual's achievement of personal goals and contribution to business performance.
Under the CANADE framework, we can appoint and select the most suitable talent for achieving business strategies, regardless of seniority or years of experience. Business divisions began flexible personnel appointments at their discretion in FY2024, the first year of the CANADE framework. At the same, we advanced initiatives for sustainable enhancements to our organizational capabilities, such as intentionally assigning important roles to early-career and mid-level employees from the perspective fostering the next-generation of leaders.
The introduction of role-based compensation has allowed us to offer competitive renumeration to mid-career hires. This has increased our presence in talent markets, specifically markets for expert talent in specific fields.

Details of employee evaluation and scheme for supporting employee development

Specific mechanisms in the employee evaluation system

Mizuho's evaluation system is an opportunity for our employees to reflect on their actions and performance, with one aim being to tie this reflection to growth. Specifically, we conduct two types of annual evaluations — performance evaluations and action evaluations — for all employees. The evaluations include feedback to the individual on their specific performance as well as their strengths and areas for improvement. They also include dialog regarding action plans toward building careers.

Performance evaluation

Performance evaluations involve employees setting their own personal achievement targets, as part of their organization's targets/goals and in view of their role, at the beginning of the term and then evaluating their level of achievement at the end of the term. In this system, each individual's achievement of their targets leads to their organization realizing its targets and goals and, thus, increasing the overall corporate value of Mizuho.
To ensure our employees are comfortable that the evaluations will be fair and to enable them to move ahead with initiatives that contribute to their organization, we put priority on dialog between employees and managers, so they are on the same page at the beginning of the term regarding specific achievement levels. Frequent, effective, and flexible dialog between employees and managers continues throughout the term toward the achievement of personal targets. Routine communications are established to check the progress toward targets and to consider improvements to task execution.
 

Action evaluation

Action evaluations assess employees' capability to carry out their role without assigning rankings. The evaluations include the individual's knowledge, skills, and specific abilities and how well the individual puts Mizuho's Values, based on the corporate identity, into practice. Action evaluations are combined with growth communications, which take place at the start and mid-point of each term, as described below, to provide opportunities for growth. The evaluations also assess how well our employees follow compliance rules as they perform their duties, as a means of instilling awareness of and adherence to legal compliance in daily operations. The actions and level of compliance of individuals determined through the action evaluations are factors in determining their role-based compensation for the following fiscal year.

Feedback

Mizuho shares feedback about the evaluation results with our employees to ensure they feel the results are fair and lead to their further professional development. After the annual evaluations, managers provide feedback to all their team members on the evaluation results, the rationale behind the results, and the individual's strengths and areas for improvement. This includes dialog directed at encouraging further growth by the employee. We also conduct employee surveys to collect feedback from our employees and to improve the quality of organizational operations. The surveys allow us to ascertain how well the feedback was implemented and how our employees feel about the evaluations and the feedback process. The survey results are shared with department / branch managers. Aside from conversations at the beginning and end of each term, routine communications take place with our employees regarding task execution and achievement of personal targets as well as their personal development and careers.

Results of employee survey on feedback

As a result of ongoing improvements to the feedback sessions, the survey results showed an upward trend in FY2025.

Systems to support employee growth

Mizuho intentionally creates routine opportunities for managers and their team members to talk to encourage our employee growth. We also make use of 360-degree feedback to encourage middle managers to adapt their mindset and actions.

Communication for employee/career talks

The CANADE HR framework emphasizes employee growth through the development of necessary knowledge, skills, and specific abilities and through independent career-building. To better realize career independence, we have set up opportunities for dialog between individuals and their managers that are principally focused on their growth. Specifically, the employee and manager agree on an action plan based on the individual's strengths and areas for improvement at the start of the fiscal year. Then, over the term, PDCA cycles are put in effect by means of frequent communications during the fiscal year.
Annual career talks are also held as part of Career Development Management mentioned in the previous chapter (see page 13). During career talks, the employee and manager find agreement on self-awareness and career aspirations, which can lead to personnel allocations and training.

360-degree feedback

Adaptation in mindsets and actions by middle managers is critical to Mizuho's growth, as middle management is at the heart of organizational operations and is the main entity that drives employee growth. To this end, Mizuho employs 360-degree feedback to give middle managers an opportunity to reflect on their own strengths and weaknesses. This leads to managers putting Mizuho's Values into practice through improvements in their management skills and daily work execution and through changes in their mindsets and actions.