Human Capital Management（Human Resource Strategy）

The company recognizes that our employees are important human resources indispensable to the realization of our management philosophy, and are capital that is the source of value creation. By actively investing in our human resources and continuously increasing their value, we aim for sustainable development of local communities and our own sustainable growth. In addition, employees are important “stakeholders,” and our management philosophy states that we will “continue to be an attractive company where employees can be proud to work”.
Based on this concept, we have established our Group Human Resource Policy, a basic policy for maximizing human capital to realize our vision of being “a solution company rooted in communities and selected as a partner to walk together” and have formulated the Group Human Resource Strategy linked with our management strategy for building the talent portfolio that we aim to achieve in the mid to long term.

We have established our Group Human Resource Policy as our basic policy r egarding the human resources of our group based on our management philosophy.

Basic Concepts

The human resources we seek

In order to realize our vision while responding to changes in the external environment, we have formulated a Group Human Resource Strategy linked to our management strategy, and are implementing measures related to human resources from a medium to long-term perspective to eliminate the gap between “As is” and “To be”.

（Excerpt from the 2025 Integrated Report）

The “Group Human Resource Strategy” covers the period up to FY2027 and has three basic themes: (1) “Human Resource Development that values the will to grow and to take on challenges”, (2) “Build an Organization that enlivens the activities of diverse human resources, and (3) Create an Environment that starts with individual well-being”.
Under these three basic themes, we will work on 10 major measures to enhance employee engagement (Total attractiveness of the company) while building a talent portfolio with quantity (number of sales personnel) and quality (solution earnings per employee), and as a result, we will aim to achieve the management target of ROE of over 9%.

In implementing measures related to human resources based on the Group’s Human Resource Strategy, we will strengthen investment in human capital, with a focus on Human Resource Development that emphasizes the development of human resources that support our solution business, as well as Build an Organization and Create an Environment.

Through investment in human capital, the Group works to increase the number of sales personnel (=Quantity) and increase solution revenue per person (=Quality) by improving skill levels, thereby strengthening solution profi tability, which is the foundation of profi tability. By strengthening training programs and self-development support, we will increase skill levels at sales branches and through inter-disciplinary learning to acquire advanced skills, we will increase the number of direct sales personnel at head offi ce and in this way develop human resources with high solution sales capabilities who have high business execution skills and advanced knowledge. Through these efforts, we aim to achieve a solution revenue per person of ¥153 million in FY2027.

At the Group, we conduct an annual anonymous employee attitude survey to periodically check the awareness of each employee and to accurately diagnose and understand the current status, strengths and challenges of the organization. We aim to utilize the results in planning and formulating management measures to improve the job satisfaction and engagement of each and every employee. The index of total attractiveness of the company (5-point scale) in the FY2024 employee attitude survey was 3.40 (up 0.03 year on year). By implementing key measures based on the three basic themes of the human resource strategy and working to improve areas that we have identifi ed as particular challenges, we will further enhance the total attractiveness of the company.

In order to realize our vision of being a solution company, we believe it is important to improve the skills and expertise of those in charge of providing solutions. Based on this concept, we will implement human resource development that links OJT and Off-JT, expanding opportunities and support for employees to take on new challenges such as open recruitment within the bank, temporary assignment to external companies, and self-development, in order to actively respond to each employee’s desire to grow.

To achieve expansion and quality improvement of solution business support, the Group has established a human resource development system that makes it easy for employees to feel their growth by visualizing their skills, linking OJT and Off-JT, and supporting individual employees in steadily acquiring and mastering relevant skills.
For “visualization of skills”, we have defined the skills required of solutions sales personnel, and at the Bank of Yokohama, we have introduced a skills certification system for the corporate and individual client divisions, while at the Higashi-Nippon Bank, we have introduced a system for measuring and evaluating skill levels in the corporate division through the assessment of specified check items.
For “OJT/Off-JT linkage”, OJT involves assigning personnel to positions where they can gain experience early and demonstrate what they learned in training, while Off-JT involves group training segmented by division and skill level taught by Financial Business School lecturers, as well as ongoing follow-up after training. Through these means, we aim to “steadily develop relevant personnel” and “increase the number of trainees to become personnel with advanced skills” who have sophisticated skills, knowledge and a wealth of experience.
In the Bank of Yokohama, we also provide opportunities to gain experience at the Apartment Loan Center and the Business Solution Center, which are specialized sales departments in the head office. The purpose of this training is to establish basic skills by putting what was learned in the training into practice. By smoothly establishing basic skills, we aim to raise the level of the provision of solutions capabilities, including by young employees. In addition, the Credit Department, an Examination Department in the head office, accepts personnel in charge of corporate and individual external relations and provides them with guidance on examination skills in an effort to improve the capabilities of those responsible for the solutions business.
As an initiative to support OJT, the Bank of Yokohama has established a system that covers all regions by assigning veteran employees as “General Managers in charge of training” to support the development of young people in sales branches. The General Manager in charge of training supports OJT in the sales branches through individual guidance, such as by accompanied visits to customers and through group guidance such as on-site study meetings according to the situation of each sales branch and young staff member. For mid-level employees, Support Team and the Project Creation Team in the Financial Solutions Department, which is the direct sales division, provide project consultation and accompanied visits. In the Higashi-Nippon Bank, we also support OJT at sales branches through direct on-the-job instruction by instructors from the Finance Business School and on-the-job training through accompanied visits in collaboration with the sales department.

The Group has introduced the “Career Innovation Support System (concurrent/secondary employment)” that allow employees to take on concurrent or secondary employment to contribute to their main job or the local community. Since the system was introduced, 22 employees have taken advantage of it. By expanding opportunities for employees to gain a variety of experience outside of banking, this system aims to encourage their self-directed career development and growth outside their existing career paths, as well as to increase the diversity and expertise of human resources, to improve operations productivity, and to reform our corporate culture.

To promote and support employees’ autonomous career development, the Group has established a Career Consultation Desk to provide consultation on career development and career paths.

In order to provide optimal solutions to the increasingly diverse and sophisticated needs of local communities and customers, it is important to be an organization where diverse human resources can maximize their individual abilities. To achieve this, we are enhancing our recruitment efforts, upgrading our talent management systems, promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and encouraging the active participation of senior personnel. By doing so, we aim to create an environment where a diverse range of talents can thrive.

The Group believes that local employment and procurement play an important role in building amicable relationships with the countries and regions in which it operates and contributing to sustainable development. At our overseas sites, we proactively hire local personnel who are familiar with the customs and needs of the region, and as of April 1, 2025, the number of locally-hired employees stood at 54. For locally hired employees, important matters such as labor standards regarding working hours, wages, etc. as well as the need for compliance are translated into the languages used at the overseas sites, such as English and Chinese, and communicated to all employees to ensure their understanding. In addition, we are actively promoting foreign personnel to management staff positions, and as of April 1, 2025, there were 13 foreign nationals in these positions.

Through our special subsidiary, Hamagin Business Challenged Co., Ltd., the Group aims to support the independence of people with disabilities and realize an inclusive society. We are working to create a workplace environment that supports the active participation of employees with disabilities by sharing information with employees through the “Hama Challenge Plaza” information tool, and by holdingstudy session with outside lecturers for the human resources division and managers who have subordinates with disabilities. As of the end of FY2024, the Group’s employment percentage of people with disabilities was 2.54%.

In order for each and every employee to utilize his or her full potential, it is essential to have a vibrant organizational culture and a work environment in which employees can work with peace of mind and in good mental and physical health. We foster an organizational climate and workplace environment that starts with the wellbeing of each and every employee and their diverse values and lifestyles.

Based on the concept of career ownership, the Bank of Yokohama has established a “Career Design Portal” on its intranet to enable each and every employee to design their own careers independently. The portal collects and consolidates information on various policies, systems, examples of career paths, and other reference material that can be used in crafting one’s career designs, thereby improving accessibility.
In addition, since managers are required to have the skills to support their subordinates in realizing their careers from the perspective of increasing the value of human capital, we are working to improve managers’ management and coaching skills through training and selfdevelopment programs for managers.

The Group has introduced a human resources evaluation system covering all employees, including part-timers, as a mechanism for improving motivation among employees and invigorating the organization, as well as for developing human resources and cultivating abilities through support for the realization of employees’ career visions. The evaluation system is implemented and operated by rewarding the expression of abilities through human resource evaluations and bonus evaluations in a single fiscal year and transfers, promotions, and promotions in the medium- to long-term. When the personnel system was revised in FY2024, the evaluation system was extensively revised in order to realize fair and equitable evaluation and treatment, to improve the satisfaction of the person being evaluated, and to provide a more balanced evaluation. After the revision of the system, we are working to spread the awareness of the new system, such as by conducting evaluator training for all line managers.

"The Group has always endeavored to treat all employees, including part-timers, fairly and equitably, regardless of personal attributes such as seniority and gender, in accordance with the level of responsibility based on the difficulty, scope, and role of the job, as well as their contribution to business performance. For three consecutive periods since FY2023, we have revised salaries (base pay increases) in light of rising prices and other factors. Bonuses are also paid to employees, including part-timers. Furthermore, we are committed to complying with laws and regulations regarding minimum wage and equal pay for equal work for all employees, and these policies are clearly stated in our internal regulations and other relevant documents. In FY2025, the Bank of Yokohama introduced a share delivery system, which makes use of an ESOP Trust, for executive employees. We have introduced this system to grant the Company’s shares as part of our efforts to strengthen investment in human capital, further raising the awareness of eligible employees to contribute to the medium- to long-term enhancement of corporate value and to enhance the growth and willingness to take on challenges of all employees."

The Group encourages participation in childcare regardless of gender by developing and encouraging the use of various leave systems, including male childcare leave, special leave for when a spouse gives birth, and leave to support work-life balance that can be taken when a child has a school event.
In particular, efforts are being made to raise awareness of men's participation in housework and childcare, which is the foundation for promoting women’s participation in the workplace. In FY2024, the percentage of men taking childcare leave across the three Group banks was 104.5%.
In addition, in order to prevent employees from having to leave their jobs to take care of elderly family members and to help employees balance work and fertility treatment, we are working to raise employee awareness through training programs and the use of such tools as guidebooks and video content. In this way, we are developing a system that enables employees to achieve work-life balance according to their individual circumstances.
In November 2024, the three Group banks joined forces to hold a holiday nursing care seminar in an online format, as part of a Group-wide initiative.

In order to establish flexible and diverse work styles and improve well-being by having each and every employee practice a balanced work style regardless of time or place, the Group has established a telework work system, clarified rules, introduced satellite offices, and implemented a “Refresh Month” (in August and February). In addition, we visualize total working hours and have introduced a system to ensure adequate time between one work shift and the next in order to raise awareness of more efficient work styles.

The core Group companies have various welfare systems in place to support the diverse working styles of individual employees. For example, as childcare support systems, there are programs to help employees who have taken childcare leave return to work, reduced working hours systems, support systems for employees with children entering elementary school, and childcare support systems. While the scope of use varies depending on the type of employment, some systems are available to all employees,including part-timers, such as various leave systems to support employees who need nursing care and the provision of welfare facilities. Through these welfare programs, we are promoting the creation of an environment where employees can work with peace of mind and health.

In order for each employee to reach his or her full potential, the workplace must be a healthy place with a high level of psychological safety.The Group uses one-on-one meetings to provide opportunities for superiors and subordinates to discuss everything from work-related concerns to private matters without hesitation, and to ensure psychological safety by building mutual understanding and trust between superiors and subordinates. In addition, the Bank of Yokohama provides opportunities for managers to educate themselves and learn about the significance of psychologically safe and practical ways of communication by inviting external lecturers.
Moreover, the Group clearly states in its employment regulations that all forms of harassment are prohibited. The Group is working to prevent and appropriately respond to harassment by providing training for all employees on harassment prevention and training for managers on how to report and respond to harassment, by establishing internal and external “harassment consultation offices” for sexual harassment, bullying, harassment related to pregnancy, childbirth, childcare leave, nursing care leave, etc., and SOGI* harassment, and by establishing an internal reporting system (hotline).
Furthermore, we have established a consultation service for employees to discuss matters related to balancing work with childcare and nursing care, as well as matters related to diversity, equity, and inclusion regarding themselves and their surroundings, and we are widely promoting the development of a workplace environment that ensures psychological safety.
The contents of consultations are kept confidential, and a system is in place to protect the privacy of the consultants and other parties involved.

As part of our efforts to respect human rights, the Group identifies human rights issues through human rights due diligence as stipulated in the human rights policy and we evaluate issues that have a negative impact on the human rights of employees based on the content of various consultation desks and results of questionnaires, and other factors. Furthermore, to prevent and mitigate negative impacts on human rights, we conduct awareness-raising training and workshops to deepen correct knowledge and understanding of human rights. We are also working to raise employee awareness of the importance of respecting human rights by soliciting slogans related to human rights awareness and presenting awards for outstanding work.

In the Group, in order to ensure that the employees are financially independent and can work with peace of mind, we have introduced the “defined-contribution pension plan (401k)”, “employee property savings plan”, and “employee stock ownership plan” as systems to contribute to the systematic asset building of our employees, and through various training programs and information provision, we support our employees in deepening their understanding of asset building and engaging in their own asset building. As of March 31, 2025, 75.7% of the Group's employees were covered by the Employee Stock Ownership Plan, a special incentive program that began in FY2023 and continued in FY2024.
Each of these financial well-being initiatives reflects management's desire for employees to work together for the sustainable growth of the Group from the same perspective as other stakeholders such as customers, local communities, shareholders and investors.