Policy and Strategy
IINO Group Human Resource Policy
At the IINO Group, the IINO Group Sustainability Policy states that "The IINO Group respects the human rights of all people, strives to raise awareness of human rights, and prohibits any discrimination on unreasonable grounds." Furthermore, "The IINO Group will develop an environment in which diverse human resources can play an active role and promote efforts to ensure that each individual maintains good physical and mental health." In addition, our mid-term management plan places the creation of social value by overcoming the materiality as a key strategy. We believe that cultivating, retaining, and utilizing talented human resources is an essential foundation for overcoming the materiality, and we are working to enhance our training programs while developing a workplace environment conducive to a diverse range of human resources.
We are creating employment opportunities not only in Japan but also overseas through initiatives such as employing local staff from Singapore and neighboring countries at our Singapore subsidiary; providing scholarship programs and onboard training opportunities in the home countries of our seafarers-Korea, the Philippines, India, and Myanmar; and appointing employees from the countries of origin of our seafarers.
Our Corporate Philosophy and the IINO Group Sustainability Policy have been translated into English and published on our corporate website to communicate and inform our Group employees working around the world.
Shipping Business
Basic Views in Shipping Business
IINO Group regards safety as the foundation of its business operations. The key to ensuring safety in the Shipping Business is the seafarers who work on board. Securing and training seafarers is an important initiative for the Group to become a resilient organization, and the Company is promoting the following measures to cultivate human resources and develop a comfortable workplace environment.
Basic Views in Onshore
In line with the human resources policy set by the Company of "Management in small numbers," "Promotion of motivation enhancement and activation," and "Viewing each person in detail," we are actively tackling personnel and career development in consideration of each individual employee's needs and aptitudes, while also giving them a wide range of knowledge and experience to enable them to boldly challenge themselves in a new age.
Real Estate Business
Basic Approach to Real Estate Management
In managing the Real Estate Business, the Company endeavors to step up its efforts concerning human resources toward the realization of a sustainable society. The IINO Group practices strict office management designed to provide those working in offices with a safe and healthy environment, prohibit forced labor and child labor in keeping with the Labor Standards Act, and thoroughly eliminate discriminatory practices in employment as set forth in the IINO Group Sustainability Policy.
Initiatives
Development of Human Capital in the Onshore
Developing a Comfortable Work Environment
As measures aimed at seafarers, we implement a number of initiatives to improve and support the working environment for seafarers who conduct operations away from family on ships that are active 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Measures to improve and support the working environment
| Management of labor and rest time | To secure adequate rest time, the vessels managed by the Group have management systems to track labor and rest time online, and rest time for the crew is monitored and managed. |
|---|---|
| Measures to prevent overwork | Crew workloads are controlled by monitoring labor and rest time for the crew on each ship and implementing measures such as providing additional crew members in cases where overwork is projected. |
| Installation of ship-based Wi-Fi | Each ship has ship-based Wi-Fi environments installed that can communicate at all times, providing an environment where the crew can utilize their own smartphones to communicate with family and friends via emails, chats, and SNS. |
| Family invitations to ships | We have systems in place to provide support for travel expenses and lodging for crew family members to visit the crew onboard when ships enter port. |
| Crew mental care | In a shipboard environment, where work, private life, and rest are confused, it is necessary for seafarers to be able to mentally switch between work and rest. To ensure that mental health does not deteriorate due to stress, the Company conducts training and practice through our occupational physicians on board for crew and managers in areas such as stress understanding, self-care, response to mental deterioration, and line care*. |
* Mental health measures in which managers take the initiative to grasp and improve the work environment through communication with employees.
Implementing Technical Training and Safety Training
To operate vessels with safety and efficiency, we implement technical training, certification training, and technological improvement training for seafarers, held by various equipment manufacturers, and strive to improve individual knowledge and skills. The whole crew needs to work as one to achieve the safe operation of ships, and we emphasize mutual understanding and building relationships among the diverse seafarers working on ships and incorporate training related to cross-cultural understanding, harassment prevention, and mental health. These training exercises are managed with a training matrix, and seafarers are able to receive education and training at the appropriate times that are relevant for their positions.
Sea-shore Job Rotation to Foster Maritime Technology Experts with Comprehensive Skills
To develop maritime technology experts with comprehensive abilities not only in maritime vessel operation abilities but also in areas such as vessel management and technical support for new businesses, the Company conducts job rotations periodically for seafarers to serve in onshore duties. Additionally, to foster maritime technology experts with global sensibilities, we also conduct placement to overseas offices.
Initiatives to Hire Talented Human Resources
In our Short-sea/Domestic Shipping Business, we have traditionally recruited licensed seafarers who graduated from advanced courses at maritime high schools, as well as holders of maritime licenses who graduated from maritime training institutions nationwide. However, in response to demographic changes and the resulting shortage of seafarers in domestic shipping, we are actively recruiting general-course graduates of maritime high schools who have not yet obtained maritime licenses, as well as personnel who have taken early retirement from the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. We secure the sea service experience required for obtaining maritime licenses through onboard work on our operating vessels. In addition, together with maritime licenses, we also support the acquisition of Hazardous Materials Handling Licenses, which are required to handle dangerous goods on small gas carriers. Through these efforts, we train seafarers in-house who are expected to assume senior positions in the future.
Furthermore, as there are only three educational institutions nationwide where ship cook qualifications can be obtained, the shortage of ship cooks has become significant. To address this issue, we recruit graduates of general culinary schools and holders of chef licenses, and train them in-house to become qualified ship cooks. We are also working in cooperation with other shipowners to establish a collaborative framework for mutual training, by placing onboard seafarers who do not yet hold qualifications as Hazardous Materials Handling Supervisors in order to secure the necessary sea service experience.
As a further initiative going forward, we are considering strengthening our in-house training by utilizing the Seafarer Recruitment Support Program of the Japan Seafarers Employment Promotion Center (SECOJ), a public interest incorporated foundation, and recruiting students from general universities and high schools.
Enhancing Human Capital On Shore
Developing a Comfortable Work Environment
Employment regulations that comply with various laws and regulations
The IINO Group has established employment regulations that comply with the Labor Standards Act and various other laws and regulations. Specifically, the payment of overtime allowances to employees who have been working beyond scheduled working hours and statutory working hours, the granting of annual paid leave, the designation of statutory and non-statutory holidays, and provisions to verify the age of new hires are among the provisions set forth in our employment regulations.
Enhancing systems to promote work-life balance
From an ESG investment perspective, companies are encouraged to develop and utilize diverse human resources, including female employees, and to respond to this challenge in more visible ways to promote the long-term growth of the business. Active staff involvement is essential to the sustained growth of IINO Group over the long term. We are expanding the systems to promote work-life balance to create workplaces that encourage employee motivation while also enabling people to balance work with family commitments.
To create a workplace that is supportive and inclusive for employees balancing work with childcare, eldercare, or other family responsibilities, we have introduced and continuously expanded a range of flexible working arrangements and support programs. These initiatives include a remote work program; a paid leave system that allows leave to be taken in one-hour increments; flexible start-time (staggered working hours) arrangements; reduced working hours options; a Job Return Program (re-employment program); partnerships with on-site childcare facilities; access to online medical consultations in obstetrics/gynecology and pediatrics; company-sponsored babysitting services; and subsidy programs for housekeeping and childcare-related services.
In addition, in October 2025, we introduced a new Support Allowance designed to ease the additional workload of employees who assume responsibilities for colleagues taking childcare or caregiving leave, while also expressing our appreciation for their cooperation. Through these initiatives, we are fostering a workplace culture in which both employees taking leave and those providing support can collaborate with confidence and peace of mind.
Re-employment Initiatives
Since April 2006, the Company has established Mandatory Retiree Part-Time Employment Regulations to set regulations for the working conditions and employment of mandatory retirees who are re-employed as part-time workers. This system ensures that mandatory retirees who wish to continue employment can be re-employed up to the age of 65.
In June 2020, we introduced a Job Return Program to rehire employees who had left the company due to childcare, caregiving responsibilities, a spouse's job transfer, or similar life circumstances. Building on this initiative, in April 2025 we removed restrictions on the reasons for resignation, further evolving the program into a framework that enables anyone to pursue a fresh professional challenge. Through this expanded program, we provide individuals who wish to continue their careers with opportunities to rejoin the company and once again play an active role.
Initiatives to Prevent Discrimination and Harassment
As measures to prevent discrimination and harassment, we have established regulations concerning the prevention of harassment and other inappropriate conduct, conduct harassment prevention workshops once a year, have eliminated fields where applicants indicate their gender in the hiring process, and implement wage systems that eschew discrimination on the basis of gender or academic history.
Human Resource Development Initiatives
Providing Opportunities for Self-Realization: Personnel Evaluation System
For personnel evaluations, IINO LINES has introduced a goal management system as a mechanism to manage the achievement of organizational goals. Under the system, supervisors and individual employees discuss and set individual goals aimed at achieving the organizational goals in each fiscal year, bringing actions aimed at achieving organizational goals into alignment between the organization and employees. Every fiscal year, employees meet with their supervisors to self-assess their progress towards the set goals and draw attention to the areas they think deserve recognition, and after employees have been evaluated by their supervisors, the evaluations are finalized by a Personnel Evaluation Council. Feedback interviews are then conducted by supervisors to make each employee aware of their performance. The results of evaluations are not only reflected in monthly salaries and bonuses but also impact early advancement to managerial positions and other career aspects. This system invigorates individual employees and encourages their growth by providing opportunities to achieve goals and experience development through work.
Additionally, as a part of engagement efforts, each year, we ask all employees to submit self-reports, which are reports submitted to the Human Resource Department on the status of their assigned work, the workplace environment, the desire to be transferred, future direction, and so on. From the perspective of medium-to-long-term human resources development and organizational operation, this gives the Company an understanding of each employee's future career and the direction in which they will demonstrate their abilities, and we do our utmost to support and guide employees so that they can achieve the careers they have envisioned.
Initiatives for Human Resource Development
In Strengthening Human Capital, a key strategy of the mid-term management plan, we aim to increase employee engagement and achieve both improved corporate performance and employee self-fulfillment by focusing on investment in human resources to secure and develop a diverse workforce by improving the workplace and working environment, and by promoting a human resources strategy to provide opportunities for each employee to demonstrate his or her abilities and to properly evaluate their achievements.
We have designated the number of employees with short-term overseas training or overseas experience as a KPI, with a target of increasing this figure to 75 by the end of FY2025. In FY2024, three employees participated in short-term overseas training programs, and together with overseas experience, the total number of employees with overseas experience reached 66 as of the end of FY2024. We consider the development of global human resources to be an important issue for the expansion of our global business, and we resumed the short-term overseas training and onboard training programs that were suspended due to COVID-19. In Japan, we are enhancing our training programs using e-learning tools, such as online business English conversation programs and business courses to improve management and administration skills. In addition, we support employees' autonomous skill development through an incentive program for acquiring public qualifications.
In addition, we offer the following human resource development programs tailored to different career levels and specific themes.
Data List (Training Hours / Career Development-related Data)
Promoting Diversity in Personnel
IINO Group Human Rights Policy prescribes that we will not discriminate on the basis of nationality, race, and other attributes, and we strive to promote diversity among our human resources. Approximately 1,520 of the IINO Group's seafaring employees, including onshore employees and fixed-term seafaring employees (as of FY2025) are made up of a diverse range of races and nationalities, mainly those of Asian descent from South Korea, the Philippines, Myanmar, and India. Moreover, at our local Singaporean subsidiary, which handles the chemical tankers operations, we employ a mostly Asian staff including Singaporeans, Indians, and Indonesians in addition to Japanese. As a human resources measure to support the global business expansion at overseas sites, we foster the development of Japanese employees who are able to succeed overseas while also hiring and strengthening the development of local staff of various nationalities. We have also introduced a highly transparent personnel evaluation system. Going forward we will continue to hire human resources with an emphasis on ability without regard for race or nationality, and promote the diversification (both in terms of people and their abilities) of employees and officers.
Promotion of Women's Activities
As of March 2025, 32 female career-track employees work at the Company. Across the entire IINO Group in FY2024, 19.0% of our workforce is female and 23.7% on a non-consolidated basis. While the percentage of female employees in managerial positions in FY2020 was 1.4% on a non-consolidated basis, as of the end of FY2024, this figure was 5.1% due to the appointment of new female managers and other activities. Aiming to further increase the percentage of female employees in managerial positions, we have set the ratio of female employees in career-track positions (candidates for management positions) as a KPI, with the goal of raising the ratio from the current 17.7% to 20% by the end of FY2025. As of the end of FY2024, the figure stood at 19.4%. We hope that incorporating diverse perspectives and values will give rise to new ideas and spur innovation. We will continue to increase the ratio of female candidates for management positions and promote the advancement of women in the company. In addition to gender, we are actively recruiting a wide range of diverse human resources in terms of age, race, nationality, values, and work experience.
Promotion of Non-Japanese Employees to Management Positions
Currently, the Company employs two non-Japanese employees, and we continue to actively focus on recruitment to further enhance diversity. Across the Group, there are 68 non-Japanese employees, of whom 13 hold management positions. Going forward, we will continue to promote employees based on ability, without regard to race or nationality, with the aim of exceeding our current level of representation.
Promotion of Mid-Career Hires to Management Positions
As of the end of March 2025, employees hired through mid-career recruitment account for 40.0% of all management-track employees recruited mid-career, and they play an essential role in supporting our business operations. In addition, mid-career hires represent 11.4% of all managerial positions across the company. By further strengthening our mid-career recruitment efforts, we aim to increase this ratio beyond its current level.
* Figures for women, non-Japanese employees, and mid-career hires include employees seconded to group companies.