Section 3

Basic Axes

Basic Axes

Strategy 2 Creation of a comfortable working environment for diverse human resources by advancing DX

Enhancement of Human CapitalSpecific initiatives and measures•We Aim to Enhance Our Corporate Value by Investingin Human Capital (Human Resources)
Investing inpeople leads
to employee
satisfaction

Skylark Group sets out “Positive Work Environment/Employee Engagement”
among the values that we hold dear. Under this, all of our employees cooperatewith colleagues to create a positive workplace.
We believe that investing in human capital (human resources) enhances
the motivation of employees which in turn enhances the quality of service,generating a virtuous cycle that also boosts corporate profits by satisfyingcustomers.

Companyearnings grows,
so a wage
increase ispossible

Kouzou Nishida

Managing Director of Human Capital Management Division,
Chief Health Officer (CHO)

VirtuousCycle
Whencustomers aresatisfied, priceincreases areaccepted

Satisfied
employees
provide better
product andservice•	Development of video manuals	Creation of multilingual
educational tools

In February 2016, we received “Kurumin” certification as acompany that supports child rearing. We areworking to create a structure that flexibly adapts
to childbirth and other life stages.

Major Indicators
Ratio of womenin managerial
positions

KPI

working-age population in Japan, securing talented humanresources is an essential factor for growth. While shortages ofworkers exist, there are also cases in which people motivated towork after raising children are unable to find desired employment.
To meet such latent needs, we will create jobs and provide astable working environment around the country.
To address the logistics industry’s “2024 problem” of limits ontruck driver working hours, we made early revisions to our driver
personnel system and wage regulations, creating a structure bywhich foods are safely and reliably delivered to all Skylark Group
stores every day.

2050

30%

50%

Percentage of womenamong new employees
Total number of newemployees
Total number of female
new employees
Ratio of womenPart-time worker hiring
Following the downgrading of COVID-19 to a Category V
infectious disease, both job applications and hirings have beenstrong, trending at around 150% compared to the previous year.

■ Store part-time workers
retention rate (%)■ Number of store part-time workers■ Store part-time worker hiring,compared to previous year (%)

70

35

200

6030

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

12.9%

13.7%

14.0%

13.7%

14.1%

15.2%

60.7%

61.0%

61.3%

61.2%

62.5%

61.6%

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

427

427

261

126

242

217

151

174

94

52

93

115

35.4%

40.7%

36.0%

41.3%

38.4%

53.0%

Notes: • Items with asterisks are for the consolidated Skylark Group• Items without asterisks are for Skylark Holdings Co., Ltd. and Skylark Restaurants Co., Ltd.

Strategy 4 Promoting employment of people with disabilities
The employment rate for people with disabilities in 2023 was2.85%, higher than the legally mandated rate. The numberof persons with disabilities working in Skylark Group wasapproximately 630 as of April 2024.

See

Full-time employee hiring
Hiring of full-time employees has returned to the level prior tothe COVID-19 pandemic. In FY2023, the Group as a whole hired
306 persons (including 182 new graduates), with the ratio ofwomen exceeding 50%. We also actively hire “second-career”
employees in their 40s to 50s after raising children, with 20
people in that age range joining the company in 2023.	Introduction of at-table payment	System for ushering customers
to tables upon entrance

Specific initiatives and measures	
Flexible modified working hours system (4-12 hours of work perday, 7-12 legal holidays per month)•	Special leave of one or more days is available for childcarerelated purposes•	
Shortened working hours for childcare is available through the6th year of elementary school•	
Employment categories with or without relocation nationwide
can be flexibly selected•	
A child-rearing support allowance (10,000 yen/month perdependent child) is available

Percentage of women among
full-time employees*
Ratio of women amongemployees*▶For the graph data on employment of people with disabilities:

Strategy 1 Securing human resources••           (FY)2030

HR strategies
Skylark Group executes HR strategies aligned with ourmanagement strategy, cooperating with the HR departmentsof Group companies. Our Group companies also conclude
collective agreements with our labor union, which stipulates
labor-management relations and personnel/working conditions.
We hold regular council meetings and liaison meetings by Group
top management and the executive members of the union tomaintain and improve trouble-free business operation andworking environments based on mutual understanding andrelationships of trust and cooperation.
Amid a low birthrate, aging population, and declining•Strategy 3 Promotion of participation by women

GovernanceIn our governance related to human capital, through the Group Sustainability Committee we continuously formulate company-wide policies,goals, and measures related to human capital; identify, monitor, and regularly review material issues (materiality); and construct and maintaina promotion structure, all under the supervision of the Board of Directors. Our structure further incorporates reports to the Board of Directors,
as well as suggestions and advice from the external perspective of outside directors who participate as advisors.

•		Introduction of floor service
Introduction of new POS cashrobots
register system•	
Coordination between floor service •	Expanded introduction of selfrobots and order terminalsservice cash registers•

P72

Specific initiatives and measures	
Placement of a guidebook that incorporates case studies usingeasy-to-understand comic-book format•	
Introduction of practical training at about 180 support schools
nationwide•	
Establishment of a consultation desk for the employment ofpeople with disabilities•

Strategy 5 Promoting employment of the elderly
In January 2019, Skylark Group raised the age limit for parttime workers from 70 to 75. About 1,000 people between theages of 65 and 69 currently work in the Group. In September
2015, we raised the retirement age for full-time employees from60 to 65, the same as for part-time workers. We are working torealize a society in which the elderly can work in good health, agoal promoted by the government. On October 3 in Shinjuku andOctober 18 in Hachioji, over 120 people took part in restaurant
work experience events that we took part in.

Senior Work EXPO2023,
held by the Tokyo
Metropolitan Government

150

Skylark Group booth
offered work experience infamily restaurants.

1005025Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May. Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec.
(2023)

43

Skylark Group Integrated Report 2023

50
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May. Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec.
(2023)

Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May. Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec.
(2023)

Decorating and serving a pudding sundae

Customer service experience
Skylark Group Integrated Report 2023

44

Section 3

Strategy 6 Promoting employment of non-Japanese human resources
About 2,800 non-Japanese employees from 26 countries
work across Skylark Group. Under the Vietnamese technicaltrainee program that begun in 2016, about 260 people,
including those with specific skills, currently work at our foodand logistics factories. We actively hire non-Japanese nationals,
including persons with specific skills at our stores and persons
from Taiwan on working holidays.
Item2021

2022

2023

Ratio of non-Japanese employees in Japan

1.9

1.9

2.5

Number of non-Japanese employees in Japan

1,953

2,000

2,831

Note: For Skylark Holdings Co., Ltd. and Skylark Restaurants Co., Ltd.

Specific initiatives and measures
Establishment of a recruitment website for non-Japaneseapplicants using simple Japanese• Establishment of a new training center; use of collective
interviews by non-Japanese interviewers, orientation, andinitial training for non-Japanese human resources• Creation of multilingual educational tools•

Major Transformation to Individual Store-CenteredManagement
Skylark Group is undertaking transformation to create a virtuous cycle of corporate growth based on employee
satisfaction, with a change in course from cost-control centered management under the past deflationary
environment to individual store-centered management.

Details of reform initiatives aimed at store-centered management

Key features
We conduct these group interviews primarily in the Tokyo metropolitanarea, with about 115 new non-Japanese part-time staff joining thecompany in four months• We foster a sense of security during interviews and when employees
join the company, through communication with instructors conversant
in non-Japanese languages• Horizontal connections among applicants are also created, whichleads to a sense of security and improved retention rate
• Participants of these training sessions come from over 15 countries
including Nepal, China, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh•

1

Change of store P/L to accounting P/L
directly linked to company performance4

Introduction of a point system asincentives for part-time workers

2

Reform of our evaluation system

5

Enhancement of education and training

3

Reforms related to store working hours

6

Reduction of store manager work

7

Introduction of a performance incentivesystem

Introduction of point system for part-time workers
For part-time workers who work on Saturdays, Sundays, andholidays or during busy times, we have introduced a systemthat lets the workers earn points usable within the Group. By

Initial training at the Ichigao Training Center (with store assignments made after initial training)

Basic Axes: Enrichment of Human Capital

boosting part-time workers’ engagement and enhancing thequality of our services and products, we aim to increase sales
and maximize earnings.

Enhancement of education and training
Strategy 7 Improving work engagement
Since 2022, we have conducted regular employeequestionnaires on workplace environment and jobs, with the aimof utilizing the results for developing human resources and making
workplace environments comfortable for all.
In 2023, we introduced engagement surveys to assess
current conditions and issues related to employees’ jobsatisfaction, purpose, happiness, fulfillment, stress, and otherfactors, and to connect this to sustainable growth for individuals
and organizations. We have also introduced Meeting For You,
one-on-one meetings held for subordinates between superiors
and subordinates, as a means of strengthening communication
between the two groups.

Introduction of a performance
incentive system

Strategy 8 Promotion of health management
From our conviction that Group company employees
continuing to work vigorously in a state of good physical andmental health will help us in fulfilling our corporate philosophy,
we are working to strengthen health management. Under
the leadership of top management, we appoint workplace
department heads as Health Promotion Leaders who strive forhealth maintenance and promotion as their duty.

We have conducted a Quit Smoking campaign since 2014,
steadily reducing the number of smokers. We distribute smoking
cessation aids and use a smoking cessation app as specificactions, and continue to work toward our goal of zero smokers
in 2050.

■ Promotion structure for health management

50■ Percentage of smokers company-wide (%)

ChairmanPresident

40.8

Skylark Group Human Capital Management DivisionGroup company
human resources
departments
Rollout of the same
standards as
SKYLARKHOLDINGS,
etc.

45

Strategic
Partnership Team

Health andLabor Team・Leave of absence,・Drafting of healthreinstatement
management policies
interviews
・Occupational healthand safety
・Restrictions on work
management
・Encouragement ofregular health・Labor management,
checks, etc.
etc.

Skylark Group Integrated Report 2023

39.2

38.0
32.1

32.7

30

29.9
24.8

200

Skylark Group
Health Insurance
Association・Health check andmedical examination
management
・Specific health careguidance
・Prevention of serious
illness・Health education andawareness-raisingetc.

A system that gives back a percentage of achievements to sales
divisions (teams) that achieve targets

We will introduce a performance incentive system aimed at
the sharing of know-how for the enhancement of sales and QSC
within sales divisions, through sales divisions working to achieve
profit as a team. Doing so, we will achieve our company-wide
operating profit targets.

We believe that teamwork between sales departments andenhancement of team performance overall will result in good
services and products being provided in our stores, which willallow us to win support from customers in each region, leading
to sustainable corporate growth.

Effective use of annual income barrier support packages

20.9

10

Executive Officer, Human Capital Management Division
CHO (concurrently the Director of the Health
Insurance Association)customer's point of view, good orientation methods to welcome
new employees, and handling apologies. We also hold study
sessions for managers to enhance stores’ capabilities, andconduct learning sessions on understanding accounting P/Land effectively conducting evaluation interviews.

45.940Directors/
SeniorManagementMeetingEmphasizing human resource development, we hold onlinetraining (“good service study sessions”) for managers andpart-time workers across all brands. In 2023, around 35,000
people took part. In 2024, we started with an Annual Policy
Statement Conference for part-time workers in January, andhave continued to conduct monthly training on thinking from a2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022 2023 (year)

In response to policy introduced by the government, weinvestigated cases of adjustment of work for reasons of anannual income barrier. We identified individuals’ possible
working hours up to the limit imposed by such barriers, andheld discussions with the individuals. Through this, we were able
to increase working hours by 12,000 hours for 1,015 people inNovember alone.

We held in-house study groups on annual income barriers
at all offices to enable employees to work beyond such limits
through the effective use of annual income barrier support
packages. A total of 28 events were held, with participation
by about 3,000 employees. New enrollees in social insurance,
particularly housewives, are at a level significantly higher than150% that of the previous year.

Risks, indicators, and targets
Major Indicators

KPI
2030

2050

Percentage of smokers

10%0

Average overtime hours

20 hours or less0

Paid leave acquisition rate

80%

100%

Percentage of employees
receiving regular healthcheck ups

100%

100%

Risk management
We regard the management of proper working hours and theelimination of harassment as key matters related to risk. Since
2018, before the establishment of limits on working hours on
April 1, 2020, we have set our own limits of less than 80 hours
per month (including work on days off) and an average of 60
hours per month (also including work on days off). Starting in2022, we provide all store managers with training on correcttime and attendance management once every two months, andcontinue education and supervision for managers to ensurecompliance with laws and regulations. We are working to create
safe and secure work environments through the joint effortsof labor and management. In March 2021, we issued a “Joint
Declaration by Labor and Management on the Prevention ofHarassment.”
In the area of risk management involving human risks, theGroup Risk and Compliance Committee identifies the risks to beaddressed and re-evaluates these once a year.
Skylark Group Integrated Report 2023

46