Empowering employee career development for shared growth

Supporting self-directed career development

For a future of health, wellbeing and financial protection. The Sompo Group strives for this future by aligning each employee’s purpose—in life and work—with the company’s purpose.

To give employees better control of their careers, we at Sompo Japan have introduced the Job Challenge Program, allowing employees to apply for departments and positions regardless of where they are and what they currently do. The program is headlined by the Challenge Course, which helps employees acquire new strengths to advance their careers. Other choices include the Remote Challenge Course, which uses remote work to broaden an employee’s scope of responsibilities, and the Intern Course, which offers six-month assignments in other departments. The Job Try Course allows employees to work fully remotely in an entirely different part of the business.

Additionally, there is the Career Course for specific specialists and the Elder Course which gives retired employees the chance to come back and take on new challenges by leveraging their extensive professional experience.

Separately, the New Graduate Job Challenge Program is also available for employees who join us fresh out of school, designed to better match existing skills and experience to their departments of choice, rather than the more common Japanese practice of placing them in departments solely at the company’s discretion.

Tackling challenges through remote work

Sompo Japan employee Natsumi Yoneyama used the Remote Challenge Course to pursue a new career path. She strongly desired to be involved in corporate governance and compliance which is handled by a department at the headquarters in Tokyo. However, as a regional employee based at a sales office in Miyagi Prefecture, transferring to the department Tackling challenges through remote work.

Sompo Japan employee Natsumi Yoneyama used the Remote Challenge Course to pursue a new career path. She strongly desired to be involved in corporate governance and compliance which is handled by a department at the headquarters in Tokyo. However, as a regional employee based at a sales office in Miyagi Prefecture, transferring to the department would have required a difficult relocation, taking her away from other personal responsibilities in Miyagi. Yoneyama nevertheless was intent on broadening her perspective and used the program to tackle the challenge of a new and unfamiliar career in compliance.

Yoneyama says that this was possible through the Remote Challenge Course. She initially felt uneasy about building trust and handling complex tasks remotely. But with support and understanding of colleagues in both Miyagi and Tokyo, she was able to get up to speed quickly.

Through hands-on remote work, she has gained specialized legal knowledge. She has also leveraged her experience in frontline operations through her work in sales to become a bridge between head office and field offices. Today, she also provides support to new hires.

Here’s what Yoneyama says of this new way of working.

Being able to take on a wide range of work without changing my living environment has been a huge source of motivation. Working remotely has given me more time for hobbies and recreation. When I return to the front line, I hope to give back by being able to clearly explain head office communications and instructions from a legal perspective and by sharing the experience I’ve gained.

Natsumi Yoneyama
Compliance Department

Given the opportunity to expand her potential and enrich her work and private life, Yoneyama embodies the new way of working that the Remote Challenge Course promotes.

Broadening career vision through challenges

Emi Oda, who worked in sales in Hiroshima Prefecture, wanted to open up a new career path for herself. Through the Intern Course, she temporarily transferred to the Culture Transformation Department.

Oda had begun to feel that the experience she could gain further on the front line in a sales office was limited. Wanting to build her confidence through experiencing a variety of roles in the company, she chose to leverage the Intern Course. She says that the course’s six-month time frame was particularly appealing.

The course shifted her role from passively executing tasks in line with company policy to proactively and responsibly formulating and implementing policies across the organization. The experience made her appreciate the importance of thinking and communicating from multiple perspectives.

Working with head office members in diverse roles gave her opportunities to experience the depth of the work and to expand her vision for her career. Since returning to the front line, she is increasingly approached by colleagues for advice regarding the Job Challenge Program.

Oda speaks highly of the value she gained from taking on this challenge.

The experience was a major turning point for my career. I hope that my willingness to tackle this challenge encourages colleagues who are considering taking their next step forward.

Emi Oda
Fukuyama 1st Sub-Branch,
Hiroshima Branch

By broadening her perspective and influencing people, Oda represents exactly what the Intern Course was designed to achieve: a virtuous cycle of challenges, taken in short manageable bouts.

Establishing fulfilling workplaces

The value of the Job Challenge Program goes well beyond job transfers. Each employee’s self-directed choice in taking on the challenge of change deepens their sense of the meaning of their work and leads them to a stronger sense of fulfillment.

The program also brings many benefits to host departments, including greater mutual understanding between teams through personnel exchanges, the ability to plan and drive initiatives rooted in front-line realities, and enhanced organizational flexibility and adaptability.

Guided by a commitment to valuing and nurturing people, Sompo Japan will continue to support career development that ensures that each employee becomes who they want to be. We will, in short, foster a virtuous circle where individual challenges strengthen the organization as a whole.