Case Study - Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company
Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company is a life insurance company with a long history and tradition stretching back approximately 140 years. It was established in January 2004 through the merger of Meiji Life Insurance and Yasuda Life Insurance.
In 2017, we established a new corporate philosophy, the "Meiji Yasuda Philosophy," which aims to provide customers with "permanent peace of mind" and to become "the most people-friendly life insurance company that continues to earn the trust of its customers and be their continued choice."
As part of our human resources strategy, we established an in-house university called "MY University" in 2020 with the aim of supporting each employee's independent skill and career development, and are working to strengthen our dual ladder to systematically develop both management and specialist talent to support the Group's management.
We spoke with Mr. Ishida, Mr. Ishikawa, and Mr. Umeda from the Human Resources Department/Human Resources Development Group about what goes on behind the scenes of the system that supports Meiji Yasuda Life's human resources strategy.
*Department names are as of the time of the interview in February 2023.
Our human resources strategy is positioned as personnel management reform, and we are working on human resource development along three axes: long-term career development, developing human resources who can embody the Meiji Yasuda Philosophy, and supporting the success of each employee.
Among these, we believe that the most important thing is to develop human resources who can embody the Meiji Yasuda Philosophy.
Before founding MY University, education was mainly face-to-face or in-office, such as group training and video training using the company's internal network. However, as online work and teleworking rapidly became more widespread during the COVID-19 pandemic, it became necessary to adapt to the changing environment and the company began to seek new ways of providing education.
The challenge at the time was to create an environment where employees could learn anytime, anywhere from their personal devices without using the company's internal network.
I feel that I have been able to lay the foundation for a desire to learn.
When it comes to studying or self-improvement, many employees, including myself, were unable to do so after work or on the weekends. However, by opening "MY University" on the SmartSkill Campus, we can now access it anytime, anywhere from our smartphones and watch short videos of around 10 minutes, creating an environment where employees can make effective use of their spare time, such as commuting time or waiting time, to study .
The number of faculties at MY University has increased since its inception, and the number of students enrolled has also been growing.
The vision of the Meiji Yasuda Philosophy
Please tell us about the Meiji Yasuda Philosophy and your human resources strategy.
Please tell us about the role of "MY University" in the Meiji Yasuda Philosophy.
The in-house university "MY University" was established in 2020 as a fundamental framework for human resource development.
Within our company, we define two types of personnel: "management personnel" who acquire broad and multifaceted knowledge and qualities to manage, and "expert personnel" who have specialized knowledge and skills in a specific field. The role of "MY University" is to provide a place for each type of personnel to grow and aim to play an active role, and we are preparing the necessary content for this purpose.
For management talent, there is the "Faculty of Business Administration," where our executives and advisors can talk about their experiences in person or watch videos. For specialist talent, there are "11 specialist faculties," where specialist talent who are actually active within the company serve as professors and lecturers, and deliver live lectures or can be viewed on video.
In addition, we have the Faculty of Business, where you can learn about current trends and business skills, and the Faculty of Digital Transformation and IT Literacy, where you can learn Digital Transformation and IT skills, creating a platform that serves as the "first stop" for education.
Challenges faced when establishing "MY University"
What challenges did you face when you founded MY University?
Why did you choose SmartSkill Campus to set up "MY University"?
The first is that it is very secure in terms of security. When using a new external network, we take time to check various security features, but your company (REVIC Global) already had a track record of doing business with us and there were no operational issues, so we were able to introduce it smoothly.
Secondly, our requests were met precisely, and we were able to move forward with the establishment of "MY University" in the direction of what we wanted.
The third advantage is that you can post your own original videos. At "MY University," we ask your company (REVIC Global) to produce videos for many of our courses, so we are now able to post a wide range of content.
Effects after the establishment of "MY University"
What effects have you seen from establishing "MY University"?
Please let me know if you have any specific stories to share.
A more personal story: when a fellow employee asked me for a vague question about how to tackle digital transformation, I introduced him to the College of Digital Transformation and IT Literacy. Rather than suddenly starting something difficult, I feel that the scope of the initiative is gradually expanding by using MY University as a springboard.
In addition, our company is promoting the acquisition of IT Passport, and by now being able to take certification courses through SmartSkill Campus, we have achieved our goal of 2,000 new acquirers this fiscal year (2022).
What efforts are you making to ensure that "MY University" takes root and takes root within the company?
There are three main measures.
The first is to prepare faculties and content that match the careers employees want to pursue and the skills they want to acquire. As for the content of the lectures, I think that the content allows employees to imagine specific careers, as the lecturers are not external lecturers but people who have actually mastered the field within the company. In addition, in fields that change quickly, such as DX and IT, we thoroughly grasp the situation and trends of the world and update the content. Your company (REVIC Global) introduces us to new content every day, which is very helpful.
The second is to raise awareness of "MY University" among employees who are not familiar with it. Our company has designated the first business day of each month as "MY University" day, and is working to increase the momentum for self-improvement throughout the company. On "MY University" day, we release new content and actively disseminate information, working to create opportunities and habits for learning.
Thirdly, we have made it a pre-requisite for junior staff members to watch the content of "MY University" in their hierarchical training. Young staff members are at a particularly important stage in their career planning, so we have incorporated such content into our training programs. In these cases, rather than suddenly attending lectures at the training center, they are given the necessary knowledge in advance, which increases the effectiveness of the training as an opportunity to think about their careers.
About REVIC Global's solutions
What do you think about REVIC Global's services after actually using them?
The first advantage is the generous support provided in terms of operations.
When I first started using SmartSkill Campus and was unfamiliar with how to use it, I remember that even though the manual was posted on the website, they explained how to use it to me carefully even when I contacted them by phone. After the explanation was over, they also sent me an email with instructions on the relevant parts of the manual, and I am very grateful for the kind and considerate support they provided to us.
When we want to do something like this, we ask SmartSkill Campus to help us pick out several ways to achieve this from the wide range of functions it offers, and then we can make the best choice by considering the cost and ease of participation.
Furthermore, when we discussed how we could create an environment where it was easy for employees to take the courses, we also expressed a desire to one day be able to take the courses via an app*, and they have begun development of this.We are very pleased to be able to receive a service that meets our needs.
*Available from June 2023
The Meiji Yasuda Philosophy embodies our desire to provide "firm peace of mind, forever." We aim to be "the most people-friendly insurance company" by valuing the bonds we have with our various stakeholders, including our customers, local communities, future generations, and coworkers.
The Meiji Yasuda Philosophy is positioned as the overarching concept of our company's policies and regulations - "Who we are, what we aim for, and what we value" - and it acts like a compass, allowing us to return to it in our daily work and consider whether our own actions and efforts are correct.
Please let us know if there are any faculties that you are particularly interested in.
As is a current trend in the world, the "Department of Digital Transformation and IT Literacy Liberal Arts" is a new field established this year (2022) and has attracted a lot of interest from staff, especially young people. I feel that their thinking is expanding beyond the traditional task of compiling and analyzing data to thinking about how to utilize and incorporate it into business.
In that situation, we consulted with your company (REVIC Global), with whom we were already using educational content, and learned that there was an educational platform that could be accessed from a smartphone at home, and that's how we came across SmartSkill Campus.
Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company
Developing human resources who can embody the "Meiji Yasuda Philosophy"
Establishment of in-house university "MY University"
Company Name
Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company
Industry
Insurance
Number of people
Approximately 14,000 people
assignment
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Creating an environment where you can learn anytime, anywhere
