Autonomous Career Formation

Our Policy and Approach

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Our business environment is changing rapidly. To respond flexibly to these changes, it will be critical for diverse human resources to demonstrate their abilities fully.
At the same time, it is essential to strengthen our organizational capabilities so that we can leverage individuals with extensive expertise and continue adapting to changes in the future.
Enhancing talent and organizational capabilities will bring about innovations, which in turn will offer new value to our customers and society.
We expect this will contribute to increasing the NTT Group's corporate value. Furthermore, we aim to create a virtuous cycle where employees work feeling excited about such outcomes, which lead to greater engagement.
Based on this view, we implemented various transformations in fiscal 2023.
At their core is autonomous career formation (career ownership). Through this scheme, employees will be able to grow their skills and strengths and choose organizations and jobs where they can make use of those abilities.
Moreover, it is crucial to create a more enabling work environment for such motivated employees. Through these continuous transformations, we will work to attain employees' self-realization and the Group's business growth.

Targets and Performance

Sustainability Indicators

^(17-1)Boundary：Companies covered by the employee engagement survey
(NTT, NTT DOCOMO(including NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS), NTT East, NTT West, NTT DATA Group, NTT Urban Solutions, NTT Anode Energy, and their designated subsidiaries)

^{(18-1)、(18-2)}Boundary：NTT(including subsidiaries under ownership), NTT DOCOMO (including NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS and NTT DOCOMO SOLUTIONS), NTT DATA Group (including NTT DATA and NTT DATA Inc.), NTT East, NTT West, NTT Urban Solutions (including NTT Urban Development and NTT FACILITIES), NTT Anode Energy

^(18-3)Boundary：NTT, NTT DOCOMO (including NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS and NTT DOCOMO SOLUTIONS), NTT DATA Group (including NTT DATA), NTT East, NTT West, NTT Urban Solutions (including NTT Urban Development and NTT FACILITIES), NTT FINANCE

^(18-4)Boundary：NTT, NTT DOCOMO (including NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS and NTT DOCOMO SOLUTIONS), NTT DATA Group (including NTT DATA), NTT East, NTT West,NTT Urban Solutions (including NTT Urban Development and NTT FACILITIES), NTT FINANCE, NTT Anode Energy, NTT TC Leasing and NIPPON CAR SOLUTIONS (including employees on secondment from the company)

^(18-5)Boundary：NTT, NTT DOCOMO (including NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS), NTT DATA Group (including NTT DATA and NTT DATA Inc.), NTT East, NTT West, NTT Urban Solutions (including NTT Urban Development and NTT FACILITIES), NTT Anode Energy

Main Initiatives

Career Development Support System

System for Managers

To break away from annual and seniority-based systems and create and expand opportunities for employees to challenge themselves, we introduced a job-based personnel salary system for all managers in October 2021. This allows for flexible placement of the most suitable talent in roles and positions necessary for achieving our strategy, which will maximize our organizational performance.
The promotion rate of managers (the percentage of managers who were assigned at a rate exceeding previous promotion speeds during the July 2025 personnel transfers) was 15.3%.
We are steadily breaking away from annual and seniority-based systems and transitioning from placing the right person in the right job to finding the right job for the right person. We will continue our efforts to ensure that suitable talent is placed in roles and positions necessary for our business growth.

System for General Employees

To enable employees to pursue and achieve their career visions more autonomously, we have changed to a system that prioritizes the acquisition of expertise rather than years of service, age, or years of experience. Specifically, we have established 18 specialized areas attuned to external markets, as well as "grading standards" that clarify the required expertise and level of action for each area. In addition, based on these "grading standards," we have implemented an absolute evaluation system that allows high-performing employees to be duly recognized, abolished the minimum years of service required for promotions, and established a system in which employees are promoted and paid according to the degree of expertise they have acquired and demonstrated.
The promotion rate of general employees (the percentage of employees who were promoted at a rate exceeding previous speeds during the October 2024 promotion of general employees) was 15.3%, indicating an increase in employees undertaking autonomous career formation and challenges.
Moving forward, in every phase--from recruitment and development to placement--we will continue with operations that emphasize specialization, thereby facilitating the autonomous career development of our employees.

Helping Employees Develop their Abilities

In addition to Group training and on-the-job training to enable employees to gain necessary skills in various fields of business, we provide many other opportunities for employees who are eager to get ahead, including e-learning, distance learning, in-house certification of skill levels, and support for external qualifications.(In addition to full-time employees, we provide temporary employees with on-the-job training and skills training that is immediately useful in work.)

We have also introduced a Group-wide talent management system to create an environment that enables employees to play a more active role in developing their careers, and we recommend training courses that would be effective in achieving their career goals.

Status of human resource development: Education (per employee)

We actively support employee career development in various ways, including having superiors hold personal talks with their subordinates at the start, the middle and the end of the fiscal year to review performance and career plans, and holding management training for employees tapped for promotion.

In particular, we have created a curriculum for nurturing experts in the security field given the heightening security risks of recent years, and we offer leadership development and a personal network building training curriculums to around 400 carefully selected general managers and section managers.

With an eye on the further globalization of our operations, and to nurture personnel capable of performing in global markets, we also send employees to study at overseas graduate schools or participate in our overseas work experience programs.

Systematically Fostering the Next Generation of Management Personnel(NTT University)

Amid the ever-changing business environment, we operate NTT University as an initiative for fostering a diverse range of management personnel who possess broad perspectives and experience and are filled with the ambition to lead the world. In addition to the Next Executive Course (NEX) aimed at those striving to be promoted to executive officers within five years, in July 2023, we launched the Future Executive Course (FEX) aimed at potential future executives.
Applying meritocratic principles, we select personnel regardless of their years of service or age who are committed to becoming executives, and we support their growth as management-level personnel. Centered around difficult assignments that entail solving critical and challenging management issues, NTT University also provides a mentoring program that offers opportunities for learning and insights through dialogue with current executives, as well as external conferences, seminars, training, and other selective support programs.

Nearly 180 students at NEX (approximately 25% of which are women) and nearly 320 at FEX (approximately 30% of which are women) are working toward becoming next-generation management. Of the 170 fiscal 2022-2024 NEX graduates, 70 have already been appointed as directors or executive officers.

CX Transformation Personnel Training Program

The NTT Group has positioned customer experience (CX)-related business as a potential growth area, and aims to intensify the training of personnel who can thoroughly understand issues from a user-centric perspective, and plan and implement CS solutions that create new brand experiences. To this end, we are implementing a personnel training program to promote CX business across the NTT Group.

This program focuses on the acquisition and enhancement of skills essential for CX business, including consulting skills such as listening, problem-solving, and hypothesis design, as well as user research skills, customer-centric CX service creation skills, and communication and execution skills for agile environments.

Performance in fiscal 2023：39 employees at 13 companies (Training Satisfaction 87%)
Performance in fiscal 2024 First Half：35 employees at 11 companies（Training Satisfaction 92%）
Performance in fiscal 2024 Second Half：38 employees at 15 companies（Training Satisfaction 94%）

A Training Environment for Employee Career Autonomy

NTT Group companies provide training programs aimed at employee career autonomy. A selection of them are as follows.

NTT DOCOMO Elective Training

There are nearly 700 training programs available to support the growth of every employee.　 Employees are free to choose courses that meet their career plans and skill improvement goals, including those that focus on business skills, expert skills, leadership, and more.

NTT DOCOMO docomo academy

This in-house university run by DOCOMO offers half-year programs that allow students to engage in creating business propositions that they are passionate about. Lectures by experts in diverse fields, one-on-one support by unique mentors, and group work that includes members of all ages and positions, allows students to expand and elevate their views, and cultivates creativity.

NTT West Career Design Support

Employees and the Company are partners in building careers, and we fully support employees in achieving self-actualization. Interviews help employees to give shape to their careers, and a wealth of training and distance learning options help them polish the required abilities and practical skills, and opportunities to put skills into practice are provided according to employee careers. Training opportunities include skill building programs, support for external qualifications, in-house skill certification systems, industry-specific training, career design interviews, and career consulting.

The Company won the Good Career Company Award 2024 Grand Prize (Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Award) sponsored by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

Employee Social Gathering Program

We provide programs for employee social interaction between NTT Group companies as well as inside companies. A selection of them are as follows.

NTT Group Employee Interaction Program

NTT Group companies recruit participants for junior leader training (mainly those in their twenties) and business leader training (mainly those in their thirties) every year from within the Group to foster a sense of belonging and unity among young employees and to broaden their views and strengthen leadership skills. Participants are all volunteers. These training sessions offer the opportunity to interact with employees that they usually do not see in the course of daily business. In addition to training, we offer fieldwork engaging in social issues to solidify themes.

(Satisfaction level: 96% for junior leader training, 97% for business leader training)

NTT DOCOMO Manager Meetup

This co-learning venue is open to all DOCOMO Group managers. Listening to lectures by prominent figures and sharing concerns and initiatives leads to new understandings and allows managers to build a personal network with one another, and attending the meetup offers chances for learning and dialog.

Digital Personnel Training Efforts

NTT offers multifaceted support for employees to help deal with climate change and rapid changes in the industrial structure. Systematic reskilling courses on cutting-edge technologies such as AI are offered in-house to facilitate smooth transitions to new business domains for employees. As of fiscal 2024, 67,000 people took the introductory AI program. By fiscal 2025, we aim to have 100,000 students.

NTT Group companies also provide training programs aimed at digital personnel training. A selection of them are as follows.

TSUNAGU Conference

This event puts employees taking the initiative in DX measures at Group companies in the spotlight where they introduce examples of initiatives, share challenges in promoting DX, and help the entire Group get excited about DX.

NTT DOCOMO Data-driven Personnel Training Program

This program aims to train personnel who can autonomously handle data-driven tasks. There are different course levels for docomo DATA X Camp, docomo DATA X Camp Select, and docomo DATA X Camp Essential, allowing participants to learn according to their desired data usage level in a classroom setting, via hands-on tasks, and on-the-job training.

NTT East Digital Personnel Training

This program trains staff to use both "domain skills", which are suited to overall work at NTT East Japan Group, and "digital skills", which are essential for promoting DX. The Digital Personnel Certification Program was launched in October 2022 with a new definition of six digital skills: DX Consultant, Data Scientist, Cloud Engineer, IoT/Wireless Engineer, Application Engineer, and Security Engineer. There are also four levels of Digital Personnel attainment: Digital Meister, Digital Expert, Digital Specialist, and Digital Assistant.

Examples of Cultural Education

We held an online seminar for managers entitled "Promoting Neurodiversity for Facing Diversity and Working Together" to help foster the appropriate mindset, knowledge, and methods for such a work environment.

Career Consulting

We offer career consulting services where employees can talk to professional career consultants for advice on their own growth and achieving their career vision. We also provide support in the form of career formation and career autonomy not only using outside consultants, but also NTT Group employees who are nationally certified career consultants.

NTT Group Alumni Initiatives

The NTT Group operates an alumni community for human resources who have left the Group. We implement workshops and other activities in order for them to find others they can create value for society with through a new kind of relationship that is not bound by employment. Through such activities, we aim to promote the creation of new business opportunities and open innovation unconfined by the NTT Group's areas of business.

Resignee Transition Support System

Employees voluntarily resigning to become independent, open a business, or transition to another company outside the NTT Group (age 45 to 55 with 10 or more consecutive years of service), are eligible to take up to a three month leave of absence. During the leave of absence, total salary is paid at an equivalent of 80% of normal salary.

Expanding Opportunities for Challenges

NTT Group Job Board (job posting system)

The NTT Group Job Board supports those who voluntarily want to take on new challenges upon being transferred, with ongoing recruitment opportunities available in a timely fashion. There were about 1,500 applications during the year from April 2024 to March 2025, with nearly 800 employees successfully being recruited in-house.

In-house Side Jobs (two jobs)

To foster skill development and independent career growth, we have introduced a system of side jobs (two jobs). This system allows employees to allocate a portion of their work hours to tasks in other departments while maintaining their responsibilities in their current roles. We will continue to promote an environment that fosters proactivity and self-growth for employees within the NTT Group.

Goal Management

Based on the organization's business plans and other guidelines, the NTT Group sets appropriate behaviors and performance levels for each qualification rank, and establishes goals for the year. Timely reviews are conducted if organizational goals require modification, or if focus areas need to be changed.
Goals are set based on the organization's business plan and are cascaded down from superiors. Specifically, supervisors clarify and explain their organization's business plan and their own personal goals, whereupon employees set their own goals based on them. In the case of managers, their specific job descriptions are also considered.
Supervisors conduct goal alignment discussions with employees in goal-setting interviews, and upon reaching agreement, approve the goals for the fiscal year.

Regular Personal Interviews with Superiors and Human Resources Managers

NTT Group employees meet regularly with their superiors and human resource managers for personal interviews to ensure that they share the same perception as their superiors regarding performance targets and the processes required to achieve them, to share thoughts on areas that can be improved, and to discuss career paths and personal growth.

Individual meetings with supervisors consist of one-on-one meetings held as part of daily process management as well as "goal-setting meetings," "mid-year meetings," and "review interviews." All serve as opportunities to check daily work progress and share and discuss work-related issues.

The goal-setting meetings are held to discuss goals for the current fiscal year and provide necessary advice.

The mid-year meetings are for examining the results of the fiscal year's first half and the degree of goal achievement and for discussing issues to be addressed in the second half.

And the review interviews are an opportunity for supervisors and their subordinates to review results, performance, and the processes for achieving targets, and for supervisors to provide advice and motivation for further improvements and growth.

The implementation of these interviews is managed so they are held without fail, except when vacations or leave prevent them from being held in the allotted time.

Skill Mapping and Encouraging and Supporting Acquisition of Qualifications

Each Group company sets up a unique program of skill mapping based on the characteristics of their respective business operations and conducts human resources training according to those categories.
Companies measure the level of each employee according to the mapping, identify the number of employees who are qualified for each level, and measure the status of implementation. Specifically, the process is operated as follows:
(1) Designate areas of expertise according to the expert skills required by each operation;
(2) Define and certify levels according to the skill set for each area of expertise; and
(3) Develop a PDCA cycle based on the employee's own career plan, supported by supervisors and the organization.
The NTT Group also encourages employees to acquire qualifications related to their respective duties, including major qualifications that are in broad demand in the ICT industry such as Professional Engineer, Information Technology Engineer and Certified Information Systems Security Technology Professional qualifications, and we intend to boost the number of qualified employees.

Appropriate Evaluation and Evaluator Training

In performance evaluations, individual targets are set based on organizational targets, and the employee is assessed based on their level of achievement and level of action contribution.

Evaluations are determined in three stages: the primary evaluation, in which the superior (e.g., the section manager in charge) serves as the primary evaluator to determine the degree to which the employee achieved their work and demonstrated behaviors; the secondary evaluation, in which the general manager or other manager in charge serves as the secondary evaluator to confirm that the evaluation is appropriate in terms of actual performance and behaviors; and the evaluation finalization, in which the head of the organization confirms and provides approval regarding whether the results for all employees in the organization are consistent with the degree of achievement of the organization as a whole.

In this way, we work to prevent evaluation errors resulting from subjectivity or arbitrariness on the part of evaluators.

We provide employees in evaluator positions with evaluator training (e-learning) and new manager training as well as our Human Resources Evaluation Manual as part of our efforts to further improve the fairness of evaluations and employee satisfaction.

Employees being evaluated are trained on how to undergo evaluation and set targets, and receive a handbook explaining the evaluation and target-setting process, access to online educational tools to promote understanding of the HR and pay management systems, and a collection of high-performance model examples.

Fair Evaluation and Compensation

In our employee qualification system, the NTT Group puts priority on performance and sets behavior and performance targets tailored to each qualification rank. By steadily and accurately carrying out a series of evaluation processes that feedback evaluations based on these targets, our personnel system promotes autonomous and independent work by employees

Rather than having each company operate its own mechanisms for human resources management and development, we operate an all-inclusive system for managing employees' placement, building skills, evaluation, rating and payment, centered on an employee qualification system that indicates our expectations in terms of behavior and performance according to the employee level. (Evaluation system applies to 60% of the NTT Group.)

To ensure that each business is developed smoothly, it is important to place the right personnel in the right places so that every employee can display their fullest potential.

Therefore, we periodically rotate personnel on the basis of each employee's overall skill development and career plan decisions.

Multifaceted Evaluation

In each Group company, as part of management training, a 360-degree multifaceted evaluation is implemented for managers, involving the individual, their superiors, peers, and team members.
In this evaluation system, a multifaceted assessment is conducted of key managerial qualities such as visioning, coaching, and leadership, and the results are communicated to the individual. In addition to quantitative scores, qualitative feedback is required that identifies strengths to enhance and weaknesses to improve. This approach helps managers to recognize the discrepancy between their own self-evaluation and external evaluations, encourages them to be aware of the attitudes and behavior expected of them, and promotes improvements in their awareness and behavior.

Evaluation of the Organizations

At the NTT Group, we have set employee engagement as a key indicator for the sustainability KPIs in order to improve engagement across the company. Efforts are made within each organizational unit to elevate employee engagement (measured by the proportion of positive responses) compared to a base year at key companies.
Moreover, to ensure strong organizational commitment to employee engagement, we have incorporated it as an indicator for executive compensation, and also set it as a criterion for the performance bonuses of all management staff.