Encouraging self–driven action and strengthening expertise to support the co–creation of value with clients and society

Our people are the greatest driving force behind Mizuho's continued provision of value. In order for each employee to play an active role to the fullest extent possible, they must have the autonomy to continue to challenge themselves and grow, and the expertise to create new value together with clients and society.

How do Mizuho employees become self–driven?

Employees aim to develop careers that enable them to utilize their own values, ways of thinking, strengths, and individuality. The company is responsible for valuing the narrative of each individual, supporting employees' career development, and raising their motivation for growth.

Joint pursuit of individuality by employees and the company

Employees can demonstrate their maximum potential when they take pride in their work and contribute in their own way. However, it can sometimes be difficult for people to see what their potential is. At Mizuho, each employee forms a career that is uniquely their own by ascertaining their own qualities and values through the three steps of "knowing oneself", "thinking about one's career together with the company", and "creating one's career together with the company".

Specifically, employees and the company (managers and HR) engage in dialogue to share goals to aim for and areas of expertise that should be enhanced. The company then provides appropriate feedback. This kind of communication happens at least once every three months.

Managers provide employees with the information they need to develop their careers and opportunities for growth according to their career stage. In addition, the Human Resources Group has specialized career advisors who provide advice according to each employee's situation and career orientation. We call this series of initiatives of getting to know oneself and building a career together "career development management".

Number of career design training sessions

HR management that expands one's growth and active areas

In Japan, for many years we conducted HR management based on job tracks, under which "generalist track" employees engaged in all kinds of work and "operations specialist track" employees mainly engaged in work in specific fields. This was abolished in fiscal 2021.

By eliminating the barrier of job track classifications, all employees can enhance their expertise and gain opportunities to play an active role based on their own abilities and pace of growth. As a result, employees are working more passionately than ever before to improve their own value through their work; for example, employees who were formerly classified under the operations specialist track have transferred to offices outside Japan at their own request and are expanding their areas of activity.

Various mechanisms to support employees who take on challenges

Mizuho actively supports employees who learn and take on challenges on their own.

The internal job posting system broadly recruits personnel within the group who have certain skills and experience, as well as personnel who are more passionate than anyone else about acquiring skills and experience. In order to enable employees to learn about job duties in areas with which they may not have contact on a daily basis and pursue new possibilities, we are providing introductions about the duties of each department and holding round–table discussions with employees who have utilized internal job postings. In fiscal 2021, approximately 1.5 times as many employees as in fiscal 2019 utilized internal job postings.

We also have a system in place to support employees who are taking on challenges in different areas while continuing their current work.

Under the internal/external concurrent assignment system, about 20% of employees' working hours are in positions at other departments within the group and, in some cases, at other companies. For employees, it is an opportunity to develop skills and abilities that cannot be acquired only through their primary duties, and to gain new awareness about their work duties. 

The part-time work system, which allows employees to start their own businesses or run their own businesses outside of working hours, has been utilized approximately four times more compared to fiscal 2019. Also, employees who want to devote themselves to learning outside of work, e.g., attending schools such as graduate schools or external programs, have been taking advantage of the self-improvement leave system.

Number of applicants for internal job postings

Number of uses of each system (cases)

Dialogue–oriented evaluation cycle to further increase motivation for growth

We are ceaselessly developing employees' motivation to grow by instituting periodic reviews between managers and employees about employees' goals, achievements, strengths, and challenges. As part of effectively going through the evaluation cycle from setting goals to performance review, feedback, and setting new goals, Mizuho places an emphasis on dialogue between managers and employees. Rather than focusing only on what employees were able to do, through periodic reviews managers and employees confirm the growth of employees' abilities and expertise, including what employees were unable to do. Mizuho then reflects this fairly in compensation, transfers, and promotions.

The role of managers is key for increasing the effectiveness of the evaluation cycle. We hold human resource management training aimed at improving the listening ability of managers, increasing the quality and quantity of dialogue, and cultivating the skills necessary to become a good coach.

How are Mizuho's employees enhancing expertise needed to drive business?

The development of digital technologies and the growing awareness of sustainability in society are creating new business domains for Mizuho.
Essential to advancing these businesses is to have personnel with a combination of expertise. Mizuho conducts strategic HR in line with the business strategies of each domain, such as securing, developing, and appointing personnel from a medium- to long-term perspective.

Developing employees to form a highly specialized group of professionals

Each business domain requires different types of expertise, and the development methods are not the same. We make visible the skills and experience that individuals should acquire and, through planned placement and training, develop personnel with expert knowledge in each domain. For example, in the digital domain, Mizuho Research & Technologies and Mizuho-DL Financial Technology are at the core of our efforts to strengthen our personnel. Furthermore, we are implementing personnel exchanges with leading companies in the digital field and have introduced an incentive program to enhance the digital literacy of all employees. Under our policy of aggressively allocating corporate resources to personnel development, we will increase the amount of funds dedicated to training by 1.5 times compared to fiscal 2021.

Total expenses for training held by the Human Resources Group (JPY 100 million)

Creating synergy between different domains

As part of this development, we are transferring employees to areas other than those in which they have mainly gained experience. This has led to employees discovering new possibilities for themselves and refining their expertise by taking a look at themselves from a different perspective. Additionally, the intermingling of expertise in different domains sparks "chemical reactions" and creates synergies that transcend business domains.

Specifically, personnel exchanges between IT system user departments and development departments are the cornerstone to realizing IT system development that balances system quality and the ability to respond to business needs. Synergies between customer divisions and consulting divisions additionally provide opportunities to create new financial products and services.

Mid-career hiring to expand expertise and diversity

We are actively recruiting mid-career candidates, including talent from other industries, in each business domain, beginning with the digital domain. Such people, by becoming new members of Mizuho, not only spread new knowledge and insight to the employees around them, but also have many positive effects on the diversification of values and perspectives, the fostering of a new corporate culture, and the development of new business.

Number of mid-career hires in the digital domain

Developing management leaders who will drive business and bring growth for the future

Securely retaining management leaders who bring together each business domain, anticipate the times, and realize growth for the future is a key topic for Mizuho.

In the development of management leaders, we select candidates for each business domain. Operating officers—which were newly established in fiscal 2021 and are positioned at one level below executive officers—assume greater responsibilities in their respective business domains and are working on challenging missions that they have set for themselves. In fiscal 2022, 37 new operating officers were appointed (including four women and five with non-Japanese nationality). These operating officers are gaining experience in business domains that are new to them and participating in management study sessions hosted by the Group CEO and an external management leadership development program in order to broaden their insights and enhance their perspectives. The target of these programs has been broadened to also include candidates for operating officer positions.