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

^(18-1)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)

^{(19-1)、(19-2)}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

^(19-3)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

^(19-4)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)

^(19-5)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

Overview of initiatives

The NTT Group supports the autonomous efforts of employees to form their own careers through implementing systems, conducting evaluations, engaging in skill development initiatives, and providing opportunities for employees to develop their skills and take on new challenges, so that every employee can improve their own strengths and expertise and take on the challenge of forming a diverse career that contributes to business growth. Our main initiatives are organized into three areas: (1) establishing foundations for systems and evaluations, (2) supporting learning and growth, and (3) expanding opportunities to take on new challenges and make career choices.

Support for autonomous career formation

The NTT Group develops human resources training systems that make use of tools such as OJT, group training, e-learning, career consulting, leadership development, and digital personnel training to improve employee expertise and support the autonomous efforts of employees to form their own careers.
We also implement various interaction measures to promote co-learning and networking among employees, in supporting the autonomous efforts of employees to learn and take on new challenges.

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.

1-1 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 2026 personnel transfers) was 16.9%.
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 2025 promotion of general employees) was 15.2%, 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.

1-2 Management by Objectives and Evaluations Based on Continuous Dialogue

The NTT Group conducts goal-setting meetings, mid-year meetings, and review meetings, and engages in continuous dialogue with employees through daily one-on-one meetings.
We strive to conduct evaluations that are highly fair and transparent, and that help both individuals and teams to deliver results, through such means as implementing management by objectives (MBO) based on fiscal year targets, conducting 360-degree feedback evaluations for managers, and making use of engagement indicators at the organizational and team levels.

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. Once an individual's goals have been set, their performance is evaluated based on the achievement of these goals. 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 supports all full-time employees by covering fees for examinations, renewals, and training related to external qualifications aligned with their expertise, promoting the development of professional capabilities.

1-3 Fair Evaluation and Compensation

The NTT Group manages evaluations, ratings, and compensation together as a whole, taking into account factors such as the role required of the employee, the difficulty of the work, results and performance, and the level of expertise demonstrated. We aim to provide compensation that helps support the growth of our employees and their willingness to take on new challenges by appropriately reflecting the results and actions they demonstrate in relation to their duties and roles, rather than relying heavily on years of employment or age. Evaluation results are reflected in monthly performance-related allowances as well as semiannual performance-based bonuses.

Evaluation results are reflected in promotions, salary increases, and other forms of compensation, and are also used in providing feedback to employees in order to clarify how they should develop further expertise and skills. Placement, skill development, evaluations, ratings, and compensation are linked together to help support the autonomous efforts of employees to form their own careers and to train and place personnel required for business growth.

We also strive to manage evaluations and compensation fairly by taking into account factors such as duties, roles, results, performance, and the level of expertise demonstrated, without relying on attributes such as gender, age, or nationality. We work to improve the objectivity and transparency of our evaluations by clarifying each system's underlying concept and evaluation criteria, confirming evaluations at multiple stages, and conducting training for evaluators.

● Appropriate Evaluation and Evaluator Training

The NTT Group has clearly defined the process from goal setting to evaluation finalization, in order to appropriately evaluate the results and actions of employees for further growth. We provide opportunities for employees and their superiors to continuously confirm expected roles, progress, and results through goal-setting meetings, mid-year meetings, review meetings, and daily one-on-one meetings, in addition to management by objectives (MBO) based on fiscal year targets.

Evaluations are confirmed at multiple stages (primary evaluation, secondary evaluation, and final evaluation) and are conducted based on actual results and actions. We also maintain a Human Resources Evaluation Manual, conduct training for evaluators and newly appointed managers, and aim to increase understanding of evaluation criteria, improve how goals are set and feedback is given, and increase the quality of dialogue during evaluation meetings, in order to minimize evaluator subjectivity and discrepancies in evaluations.

Evaluator training covers such topics as understanding systems and evaluation criteria, clarifying expected roles when setting goals, considering evaluations based on actual results and actions, key points in minimizing evaluation errors and unconscious bias, and how to provide feedback that will lead to employee growth. For newly appointed managers, we confirm content for putting evaluation and training into practice together, covering topics such as awareness of roles when acting as an evaluator; how to conduct goal-setting meetings, mid-year meetings, and review meetings; and how to confirm progress and motivate employees during daily one-on-one meetings.

Additionally, we conduct 360-degree feedback evaluations on managers and make use of engagement indicators at the organizational and team levels to help improve individual results, team contributions, and management actions. These initiatives allow us to increase the fairness, objectivity, and transparency of evaluations and to help individuals grow autonomously and organizations deliver results.

● 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, team members, and others. Management actions and team involvement are difficult to assess through evaluations from superiors alone. Obtaining feedback from multiple perspectives on these qualities helps managers to become more aware and improve the quality of their actions.

During multifaceted evaluations, the actions required of a manager are evaluated, such as visioning, coaching, leadership, member training, and team management. In addition to quantitative feedback provided through evaluation scores, individuals are also provided with qualitative comments concerning strengths to enhance and other areas of improvement, in order to understand the gap between how managers see themselves and how others see them, and to improve management skills.

● Evaluation of the Organizations

The NTT Group views employee engagement as an important sustainability KPI and continues to implement initiatives at the organizational level aimed at improving the positive response rate in major Group companies. The results of engagement surveys are utilized to help determine the strengths and challenges of each organization, improve workplace environments, revise management actions, and improve organizational management.

We also view improving employee engagement as a key issue for management. We include this among the performance indicators used to determine executive compensation and also reflect it in the bonus evaluations for all managers. In addition to individual performance evaluations, we have implemented a system that links initiatives aimed at improving the engagement of the organization and team with evaluations, ensuring that managers continue to focus on each member's fulfillment and sense of growth, as well as the team's ability to deliver results.

2-1 Helping Employees Develop their Abilities

The NTT Group develops human resources training systems that make use of tools such as OJT, group training, e-learning, career consulting, coaching/mentoring, leadership development, and digital personnel training to improve employee expertise and support the autonomous efforts of employees to form their own careers.
We also implement various interaction measures to promote co-learning and networking among employees, in supporting the autonomous efforts of employees to learn and take on new challenges.
Concerning our investment in human capital, we continuously monitor input indicators (such as training time and training investment amount) and outcome indicators (such as the number of successful internal public solicitations, exceptional promotion rate, number of career support meetings, and engagement), and continue to improve our initiatives while confirming that they lead to greater business competitiveness, the creation of innovation, and increased productivity.

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.)

To further enhance professional expertise, the Group supports employees' pursuit of advanced qualifications and degree programs through reimbursement of course fees. Subject to certain requirements, financial assistance is available for MBA programs offered by graduate schools and business schools, helping employees strengthen both specialized expertise and management knowledge. In addition, selected employees are provided opportunities to study at graduate schools and business schools in Japan and overseas, fostering talent with advanced management capabilities and global perspectives.
Beyond the acquisition of management knowledge, Group companies also provide a variety of support programs tailored to their respective areas of expertise. For example, NTT, Inc. supports employees seeking to advance their cybersecurity expertise through graduate study at designated graduate schools.

Additionally, we introduced a Group-wide talent management system to allow 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)

Concerning the results of our investment in human capital, we confirm information such as the amount invested and time spent training in education and career development, the number of successful internal public solicitations, internal human resources mobility through NTT Group Job Board and NTT Group Job Scout, appointment and exceptional promotion of specialized personnel, use of career formation support, and employee engagement, and continue to verify results to ensure that our investments contribute toward increasing business growth and corporate value.

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.

2-2 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.

NEX is available to general managers, while FEX is available to section managers and candidates for section manager positions. In order to promote earlier appointment, we expanded eligibility for FEX to managers and candidates for manager positions. This has expanded opportunities for younger employees, and the average age of students (at the time of enrollment) is now 49 for NEX and 41 for FEX. Currently, approximately 190 students at NEX (25% of whom are women) and approximately 300 at FEX (approximately 31% of whom are women) are working toward becoming next-generation management. Of the 233 fiscal 2022-2025 NEX graduates, 105 (24% of whom are women) have already been appointed as directors or executive officers.

2-3 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

We view digital personnel training as directly connected with enhancing customer experience, promoting DX, and streamlining or advancing business at each company. By utilizing what employees have learned in training and sharing this with the entire Group through case studies and community activities, we aim to transform learning into business results.

● (Reference) Examples of Group Company Initiatives

2-4 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.

3-1 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 and Leadership Development 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, strengthen leadership skills, and develop the ability to proactively identify and solve challenges while driving change in collaboration with others. All full-time employees of NTT Group companies are eligible to apply for these programs. 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.

3-2 NTT Group Job Board (Public Solicitations) and NTT Group Job Scout (Selective Recruitment)

NTT Group Job Board is an internal recruitment system that helps employees to visualize open positions within the Group, allowing them to apply for positions based on their career goals and expertise. The goals are to expand opportunities for employees to proactively take on challenges and to dynamically place human resources required for business strategy within the Group. There were 1,374 applications over the one-year period from April 2025 to March 2026, with 757 people recruited internally.

NTT Group Job Scout is a system that presents new job opportunities to employees with skills or experience required by an organization, so that the organization does not have to wait for employees to apply. It takes into consideration employee career design information, experience, and expertise, and suggests posts important for business strategy along with individual opportunities to take on challenges in business growth fields, in order to connect the human resources needs of organizations with the career growth of individuals.

When used together, these systems expand opportunities for employees to take the initiative in taking on challenges and for organizations to attract strategically important human resources, increasing the mobility of human resources within the Group. In addition to promoting the optimal placement of employees in a way that makes use of their individual areas of expertise, this also contributes toward building a human resources portfolio for business growth.

3-3 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.

3-4 Support Programs to Expand Career Choices

We have established a variety of programs so that employees can make proactive career choices based on their own values, strengths, and stage of life, including career consulting, the opportunity to build internal and external connections, and career transition support.
In addition to helping employees grow and take on challenges within the NTT Group, we provide comprehensive support for the autonomous career formation activities of our employees, including conducting activities outside the company and building ongoing relationships with NTT Group alumni.

● Consulting support for considering career paths (career consulting)

We provide employees with opportunities for career consulting so that they can evaluate their experience and strengths, determine the types of careers they would like to pursue, and make proactive career choices. These specialized consultation sessions cover not only growth in the employee's current position but also seek to clarify the employee's vision of their future career and actions aimed at the next challenges the employee wishes to take on.

● Building connections, including activities outside the company (initiatives for NTT Group alumni)

We continue to build ongoing relationships with former NTT Group employees and build networks for sharing diverse knowledge and experiences inside and outside the company. By building connections with alumni, we aim to expand the career potential of employees, provide opportunities for co-creation, and create new value for the NTT Group.

The NTT Group operates an alumni community for former NTT Group employees. We implement workshops and other activities in order for them to find others they can create new 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.

● System to support taking on new challenges outside the company (resignee transition support system)

Employees sometimes decide to make proactive career choices and take on the challenge of transitioning to a new field, working independently, or starting a new business outside the company. We respect these decisions and have established a system to support these individuals. We take a broad view of the career potential of each individual and support their autonomous career formation efforts in a manner that goes beyond their work within the NTT Group. The specific conditions and support offered by the system are finalized after checking the latest information on our internal systems before publication.

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.