Key Point of President's Regular Press Conference

Key Point of President's Regular Press Conference

March 2022 Regular Press Conference : President Hayashi's Message

March 23, 2022
Chubu Electric Power Co.,Inc.

  • First of all, the Chubu Electric Power Group has been supplying electricity to the Eastern Japan area to the maximum extent possible due to the power crunch since the earthquake off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture on March 16. Yesterday, we provided TEPCO Power Grid with 300,000 kW of electricity from 7:00 a.m. throughout the day until midnight.
  • The power crunch alert for the Eastern Japan area was lifted by this morning, but the situation remains unpredictable.
    The Group will continue to cooperate with related organizations to the maximum extent possible and make firm efforts to ensure a stable supply of electric power in the Chubu area.
  • I will be discussing the following matters today:
    • New Ways of Working of our Group
    • Recruitment Plan for FY2023

New Ways of Working of our Group

  • First, I would like to talk about the new ways of working of our group.
  • Under the Chubu Electric Power Group Management Vision 2.0, the Chubu Electric Power Group is committed to reforming its business model to create new services based on the value demanded by customers and society, and to deliver them together with energy.
  • In order to accomplish this transformation, it is essential to improve the quality of work and the growth and success of each of our diverse human resources, and we believe that the penetration of "new ways of working" that enable flexible work styles is indispensable to achieve these goals.
  • The Group has been working on both physical and non-physical measures to improve the environment for the penetration of new ways of working. Today, we would like to introduce the details.
  • The spread of COVID-19 triggered a major change in the way we work, as we scrutinized our previous work practices and took stock of our operations while incorporating telecommuting and online conferencing.
  • In order to ensure that this momentum does not remain transitory but takes root in a corporate culture that leads to the improvement of work productivity as well as the realization of a rich and fulfilling life, we have been working to improve the environment and review work styles by focusing on the three reforms of "systems and infrastructure," "awareness," and "work”.
  • On "reforms of systems and infrastructure," the company has not only introduced the systems such as
    • elimination of core hours during flexible work hours,
    • intermittent work system that allows temporary interruption of work for childcare or nursing care, and
    • partial remote work combining telecommuting and on-site assignments within a day,but also developed infrastructure such as 
    • enhancing the communication environment to support remote work and introducing tools to facilitate dialogue among employees.
      The Company has been developing infrastructure such as the following.
  • These changes in systems and infrastructure have eased restrictions on time and place, leading to more flexible work styles, and the company evaluates these changes as having produced some positive results which shows approximately 80% of employees responding in an internal survey that their life/work balance and working environment have improved.
  • As part of efforts to "change awareness," 1-on-1 meetings between supervisors and subordinates have been held to address the lack of communication that has accompanied with the establishment of flexible work systems, including remote work.
  • Through these efforts, we are working to enhance communication between supervisors and subordinates more than ever before, to eliminate anxiety caused by the lack of face-to-face contact and to ensure that subordinates have opportunities to gain insight into their own growth.
  • As part of our efforts toward "work reform," we have been promoting the digitalization of decision-making operations and have achieved the digitalization of all three Chubu Electric Power companies' decisions, except for those restricted by systems or laws and regulations. In addition, we are in the process of digitizing internal documents excluding approval forms with the aim to abolish the stamping of all forms.
  • We believe that these efforts have contributed significantly to the establishment of new ways of working, as business processes have been reviewed and made more efficient.
  • While promoting flexible work styles as described above, the Group has a large number of employees engaged in field work at front-line business sites to ensure stable energy supply even as the spread of COVID-19 continues.
  • As a new way of working for such employees, we are using ICT technologies to reduce the number of attendance at the sites and improve the efficiency of on-site operations, for example, by monitoring equipment operation and work status remotely through cameras and sensors.
  • The Group offers these initiatives using its technology and expertise to municipalities and corporate customers as a service and will continue to actively develop these services to help solving issues faced by communities and businesses.
  • We have also begun to address issues arising from the spread of new ways of working.
  • While new work styles such as remote work and telecommuting provide flexible ways to use time that contribute to life/work balance, opportunities for physical exercise through commuting, field assignments, and business trips have decreased, further increasing the importance of personal behavioral habits to improve health.
  • To address this issue, this fiscal year we distributed wearable device to employees to visualize their own lifestyle data such as the number of steps they take and the amount of sleep they get.
  • We believe that knowing quantitative data through the use of the device will encourage employees to change their own behavior toward health improvement and help them establish a continuous exercise routine.
  • We believe that the introduction of these new work styles described today will certainly change the attitudes and behaviors of our employees.
  • From now on, the Human Resource Strategy Office, which will be established next month, will take the lead in deepening and expanding new work styles, creating an environment and culture in which each and every employee can work energetically, and the entire company will work together to realize Management Vision 2.0.

Recruitment Plan for FY2023

  • Next, I would like to talk about the recruitment plans of the three Chubu Electric Power companies for FY2023.
  • In order to steadily implement each business plan toward the realization of Management Vision 2.0, the three Chubu Electric Power companies have decided to increase the number of new hires in FY2023 by approximately 80 from 457 planned for the previous fiscal year to 540, including regular hires for new graduates and career hires for the purpose of acquiring immediate workforce.
  • We plan to hire 400 new employees, an increase of 9 from 391 planned for the previous fiscal year, from the perspective of securing personnel over the medium to long term, taking into account changes in the business environment, such as the transition to a decarbonized society and the progress of DX.
  • As for career recruitment, we plan to hire 140 people, more than double 66planned for the previous fiscal year, from the perspective of aggressively securing human resources who will work actively in new growth areas, such as further expansion of renewable energy, including offshore wind power development, and acceleration of DX promotion.
  • Securing excellent human resources is an important element in realizing the human resources strategy set forth in Management Vision 2.0. We will continue to strengthen our management base and achieve sustainable growth by utilizing the respective characteristics of regular and career hires to employ the human resources needed for the growth and transformation of our group in a timely manner.
  • This ends my presentation.

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