Professional Development
In line with its Basic Policy on human resources (HR), INPEX implements initiatives aimed at developing employees who embody the Company’s desired qualities, support positive organizational culture, and contribute to the medium- to long-term growth of its workforce. In addition to providing training on the knowledge and skills required for each job grade and managerial position, we also offer business training for personnel to acquire specialized knowledge and business skills for the energy industry. Specific leadership training has also been developed to strengthen management skills of global-level leaders. This includes programs focused on cultivating internationalism, strengthening leadership and management capabilities, as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) training to enable participants to work and produce results with diverse workforce. We also conduct age-specific career workshops and implement a fast-track selective program for chosen employees, to support early career development. Through these training programs, we can not only provide employees with the necessary business knowledge and skills, but to also cultivate an awareness of their own growth. In this way, we aim to support the performance and growth of program participants and contribute to long-term success and development of the organization as a whole.
In FY2023, a total of 564 employees participated in our leadership development and related programs, including next-generation leader selection and development.
Approach to HR Development (extract from the employees’ guidebook)
Human Resource Development for Younger Employees
The first three years of graduate employment in the Company is a designated development period for these young employees. During this period, we implement various measures that enable them to acquire the basic skills needed to operate and grow in the workplace, while taking ownership of their careers.
In FY2023, we provided new employees with a joint three-week group training program for all job categories, aimed at equipping them with the necessary mindset and skills needed as a member of the workforce.
After the group training, we conduct regular pulse surveys and counseling sessions with external experts alongside additional role-specific development programs. During the first three years of the graduate program, we provide continuous workplace adaptation assistants and personal growth support, along with yearly follow-up training for all work categories.
Support systems have also been implemented tailored to each work category-specific development program. This includes a mentoring system (for technical employees) under which support is provided by veteran employees, and an on-the-job system (for office workers and some technical employees) under which guidance is provided in each workplace.
Alongside these support systems, we offer assignments to our young employees for practical training at our offices and operational sites in Japan and overseas. Our main focus is to develop a workforce capable of playing active roles across global operations.
In addition to the above, we provide medium- to long-term development opportunities to foster skilled and autonomous engineers capable of working collaboratively with engineers from other fields. By implementing development pathways starting from their third year, our objective is for them to develop their own areas of specialization by their sixth year.
Supporting Career Autonomy for All Employees
To encourage employees to take ownership of their careers, we provide a range of training opportunities tailored to each employee’s individual desire to learn. This includes personal development programs and business knowledge training (free choice of e-learning courses). We also conduct career workshops for employees aged 30, 40, and 50 years providing them with opportunities for self-reflection and assessing their career experiences.
In FY2023, we established an internal Career Support Desk. The purpose of this support desk is to offer employees career guidance through interviews with career consultants who have nationally recognized qualifications. At the same time, we conduct career awareness surveys for all employees and undertake initiatives to encourage and enhance career development while regularly monitoring trends in career awareness within the Company.
Selective Development of Next-generation Leaders
In FY2021, we launched our Breakthrough Leadership Program (BLP)1, a selective leadership development program for non-managerial employees. By identifying and nurturing individuals with the potential to become the next generation of managers, we aim to develop autonomous and transformational leaders who will assume leadership roles within the Company in the future. Additionally, in FY2022, we launched the Advanced Leaders Program (ALP)2 aimed at empowering and strengthening leadership abilities for our existing executives. Both selective programs are open for employees to self-nominate, with those most likely to be self-driven next-generation leaders being selected for participation. In FY2023, the third year of the BLP, a total of five participants were selected from among the 51 new manager applicants.
In Australia, we launched a leadership development program in FY2022 with team leaders and managers participating in a training program aimed at further improving the qualities and behavioral attributes expected of leaders.
1 Breakthrough Leadership Program (BLP): A program lasting up to five years and tailored based on the experiences of each selected employee to accelerate their development, and fast-track their employment as managers, by strategically and deliberately subjecting them to an intensive series of challenging assignments (including more sophisticated tasks, leadership positions, and jobs at different departments) over a short time frame
2 Advanced Leaders Program (ALP): A program to develop next-generation managers with strong foundations and rich ideas, through participation in management and business programs in Japan and overseas, learning of the latest information and trends to acquire skills for identifying issues, and engagement with employees from other companies
Leadership Development
We incorporate individual and group capability development plans into our leadership development program for non-managerial employees to improve their motivation for personal growth and execution of their duties. After appointing executives, we provide group training programs with 100% attendance required by applicable executives. Programs include new executive training in scenario and business planning, new manager training in HR evaluation and feedback, and new general manager training in vision-making. In FY2023, we also began a 360-degree feedback program for all members of management up to and including the President and CEO. The objective is to encourage self-reflection and behavioral changes through feedback from peers about one’s own performance.
Case study: Developing leaders in Australia
Introduced in 2022, Leading@INPEX is our primary leadership development program for Australian-based personnel. The program has been designed to create a culture in which people: are empowered, accountable and authentic; maintain a value focus; build strong relationships; and consider the big picture.
The program consists of several elements:
- A leadership framework that outlines six core capabilities for all leaders and expectations of behaviors.
- Three one-day leadership modules—Leading Teams, Leading People, and Enabling People and Removing Barriers.
- A 360-degree feedback program, to focus on individual development for leaders, and to provide consolidated data on strengths and opportunities for INPEX leaders. This data will inform the content of future training modules, and provides individuals with feedback to prepare their development plans.
- Bi-annual Leader Forums attended by up to 100 leaders each time, providing opportunities for leaders to learn from external key-note speakers, hear from our most senior leaders, and build relationships with each other.
- A Business Advisory Group consisting of 30 individuals of different role levels and types, who review and provide feedback on the elements of the program.
In addition, we provide devices and teaching materials to reinforce the key models and tools taught in the program, such as desk flipcharts. We also offer an intranet platform called "Leader Hub" specifically designed for program participants.
More than 390 personnel from a cohort of 426 have participated in the Leading@INPEX program to date.
In addition, we have introduced two new leadership programs:
- A Leading Change training program, targeted at leaders and any individuals who lead a project, with the aim to assist them to manage, communicate and embed change effectively.
- A recently piloted two-day Emerging Leaders program, targeted at future leaders to prepare them for their first leadership roles at INPEX.
More than 100 personnel have participated in the Leading Change program, and close to 100 nominations have been made for the Emerging Leaders program, which formally rolls out in 2024.
By supporting the continued development of leadership skills and attributes in our managers, team leads and aspiring leaders, we support these personnel to build and guide strong and productive teams, and create an engaged workforce who feel happy to work at INPEX, thereby maximizing our retention of core skills, business stability and productivity.
Our key means for measuring the success of the Leading@INPEX program is a bi-annual employee engagement survey (Check-in Survey), which provides an engagement score for the overall INPEX Australia business, as well as at departmental level, and feedback on the effectiveness against the six core capabilities of the Leading@INPEX program. Pleasingly, our survey participation rate improved by 30% and our employee engagement score increased by 5 points on our first survey in 2022, and we maintain a lower attrition rate than many of our industry peers.