• Approach
• Human Resource Development Initiatives
• FY2024 Training Data

To execute our business strategies and achieve our plans, we need to embed purpose and the Epson Way throughout the workforce. We need people who understand and embrace the strategic goals set forth in the corporate vision. We need people who have a broad perspective, professional expertise, and the ability to quickly adapt to change. We need people with a customer perspective who can take initiative and autonomously create customer value.

Epson wants its people to shape their own careers and continue to grow over the long term. To this end, we provide on-the-job training (OJT) and, on top of that, specialized training and education tailored for different echelons. We also provide opportunities for challenges, such as reskilling, rotation, and internal recruitment, so that employees can better respond to changes in the internal and external environments. In addition, we are working to develop human resources who can play an active role globally in order to put us in the best position for success from a global perspective.

Epson aims to be a company where people can develop their careers autonomously and continue to grow over a long-term time horizon.
To support the career development and growth of each employee, we have created a training system concept using the "Will, Can, Must" framework. It consists of three major training categories: (1) age- and rank-based career training, (2) echelon-based training, and (3) skills training and reskilling support. By linking training and systems to "Will, Can, and Must" respectively, we aim to enhance the effectiveness of learning and increase employee satisfaction and motivation for growth.

(1) Career Training by Age and Level

Epson is continually working to create an organization where people can grow, and we support employees in building careers that give them a sense of accomplishment and growth.
In addition to developing the skills to quickly respond to shifts in business strategies and changes in the environment, we also provide "Lifetime Career Support Training" (LTCS) tailored to each age group and rank at each age milestone, so that employees can think about the career they want to pursue from a medium- to long-term perspective and take the initiative to work towards achieving that goal.

●Fiscal 2024 results
LTCS50UP training (for company-wide aged 55): 381 people (total of 773 people by fiscal 2024)
LTCS50 training (for company-wide aged 50): 325 people (3,197 people by fiscal 2024)
LTCS40 training (for company-wide aged 40): 175 people (2,041 people by fiscal 2024)
LTCSA30 training (for employees around 30 years old): 159 people (196 people by fiscal 2024)
LTCS introductory course (conducted as part of new employee training) 377 people

Interviews with Third-year Employees

The Human Resources Department interviews young employees who joined the company right out of school and are in their third year with the company to help them quickly improve their effectiveness and to encourage retention. The goal is to enhance the engagement of individuals with their work and workplace by listening to their concerns regarding their job, work environment, and personal career development, and by providing support, including within the workplace.

(2) Echelon-based Training

Managers and Leaders
Supervisor management and communication in the workplace play an extremely important role in ensuring that employees thrive and grow.
For managers, we provide a variety of content to learn management skills through training for new managers, department managers, and 1 on 1 communication training, as well as through partnerships with external organizations.
Before being appointed to a managerial position, employees are required to take a "Management practices course" to understand the roles and acquire the requirements of the "business axis" and "behavioral axis" required for managerial positions.
The "Business Axis" is training in skills to correctly understand the objectives of management strategies and respond quickly, flexibly, and appropriately to changes in the internal and external environment, while the "Behavioral Axis" is training in skills to develop and support the growth of team members by deploying the roles to be played by organizations and individuals to realize strategies and assigning the right personnel.
We also offer F1, F2, and F3 training as selective training programs.
In F1 training, candidates for the next board of directors learn skills to become managers with other candidates at the same level. F2 training is for general managers and section managers to acquire practical skills to become the next generation of business managers, and F3 training is a practical training program in which participants learn the basics of business and actually make business proposals. Through these programs, the next generation of leaders, including those of group companies, are being developed.

New Employees
Epson positions the first year of employment as a period of training for new employees to acquire a basic attitude toward work and how to perform their work.
During the first three weeks after joining Epson, group training is provided to new employees at Epson Group companies in Japan to help them acquire the following

Understand and practice the behavior expected of Epson employees.
∙ To learn the attitude and mindset of manufacturing, which is the foundation of "saving, small, and precise technology.
To realize the importance of working together as a team.

(3)  Skills Training and Reskilling Support

Our reskilling efforts are designed to support employees' desire to continue to grow and develop their careers autonomously, as well as to enhance their skills and strengthen their ability to respond to change.
Based on the acquisition of business core skills such as basic OA skills, logical thinking, and dialogue skills, we offer a wide range of specialized training programs tailored to the job and position.
We also support skill development through individual self-development by providing external training sites and subsidizing qualification acquisition and correspondence courses.

Trainning System 

Epson operates globally, with R&D, production, and sales sites around the world. More than 80% of our revenue and 70% of our employees are overseas. We send young employees to live and work at our overseas affiliates to gain work experience and develop cross-cultural competence, so that they can be active on the global stage in the future. (Overseas Trainee System)

Although the program was temporarily suspended due to COVID-19, it resumed in FY2022 for the first time in three years, and 27 employees were dispatched in FY23 and 26 in FY2024.

Number of Employees Assigned to Overseas Training Programs

Epson emphasizes job rotation as a way to broaden the range of skills, experience, and knowledge of employees so that they can continue to grow and shape their own careers, better adapt to internal and external environmental changes, and contribute to the effective and efficient operation of the value chain. We have set a rotation rate target of 15% or more. Rotations have been made a requirement for promotion and an objective in management evaluations. We are also systematizing training for personnel moving into new roles.
In addition, we have positioned the internal recruitment system as an important means of developing human resources who are willing to take on new challenges, broaden their perspectives, and enhance their skills by experiencing a wide range of work and workplaces.

Rotation Rate

Internal Recruitment Results

Epson has used a management by objectives system for more than 30 years. All employees are subject to the system. Managers and their subordinates work together to set objectives on which they can both agree. Progress toward the objectives is periodically reviewed, end results are evaluated, and new, higher objectives are set. The management by objectives system is itself an on-the-job human resource training system. It is a win-win development cycle in which individual growth leads to the growth of the organization and the company.

The world is at a turning point. The very structures that have supported society and industry are changing. The global environment, energy, resources, human capital, and geopolitical risks are all factors that are causing the change. In this environment, it is important to maximize the use of limited energy, resources, and human capital to achieve sustainable growth. To realize this, Epson will provide new optimal solutions for industry and society by combining its precise technologies and knowledge gained in the field with its efficient, compact, and precise technologies and philosophy. An important part of this will be the development of engineers and technicians who have inherited Epson's efficient, compact, and precise technologies and who will support the manufacturing value chain.

Monozukuri Juku (the manufacturing school) plays this role. It holds more than 300 training sessions a year for the development of engineers. These include training in mechanical drafting and measurement, which are necessary for the production of equipment, as well as training for acquiring mechanical processing skills.
In addition, to develop engineers who will promote automation, we provide our employees with opportunities to learn by offering basic mechatronics training, in which they learn elemental technologies such as pneumatic and electrical control and basic device assembly and adjustment, as well as more practical training courses such as FA robot training, image processing training, and mechatronics practical training.
In addition to developing engineers in Japan, we are also developing leaders in manufacturing and machine maintenance at our overseas affiliates by providing them with training programs based on those in Japan. In addition to local education, we are also using a remote training system that was established during a time when overseas business trips were difficult to provide the necessary training in a timely manner. Through these efforts, we are promoting optimal human resource development and improving the process control level of each overseas affiliate to enable them to respond to company-wide production strategies such as decentralized production.

Epson, a manufacturing company, utilizes WorldSkills training to cultivate "top-tier skilled workers*1" who have acquired the knowledge and skills necessary for manufacturing at an early stage. Trainees can challenge WorldSkills up to two times consecutively, starting from their second year with the company, and aim to acquire national-level skills through short-term intensive training. The competition events include categories that can be applied to actual work, such as "precision equipment assembly," "plastic molds," "mechatronics," "electronic equipment assembly," "autonomous mobile robots," "web design," "watch repair," and "IT network system management," with 10 to 15 people participating in the national competition each year.
New employees assigned to Monozukuri Juku as WorldSkills trainees experience the fundamentals of manufacturing through activities such as filing and sawing, while also learning basic knowledge of mechanics, electricity, and other fields specific to their respective trades. In addition to the daily trade-specific training, three intensive training sessions are held annually to improve physical fitness and set goals, fostering a sense of camaraderie within the team.
Furthermore, with the national competition in mind, we conduct joint training sessions with other companies participating in the WorldSkills competition, and actively promote the acquisition of national qualifications such as "Machine Processing Technician," "Electronic Equipment Assembly Technician," "Web Design Technician," and "Watch Repair Technician." After completing WorldSkills training, trainees undergo applied training to shift from the basic skills cultivated during the WorldSkills training to skills for product manufacturing, and are then transferred to business divisions. They receive high praise from their receiving companies for exceeding expectations in terms of performance.
^*1 Skilled workers who have the ability to break precedents and create innovative technologies and systems.

*Number of participants by the end of March 2025 (Seiko Epson Corporation and domestic affiliates)

Training by Echelon

* Data for participation in training courses by echelon at Seiko Epson Corporation are current as of March 31, 2025.
* Those who have not yet taken the training are scheduled to take it in FY2025
* SSF is senior staff (team leader level, not position)

Training Hours

^* Hours spent by Seiko Epson Corporation regular employees in group training and in taking online courses