Personnel Strategy

Basic Approach to Human Capital

Our basic approach is the DeNA Promise, and we respect and celebrate diversity and commit to personnel growth.

Focus Investment for Human Capital
・Hiring talent who can drive change that expands DeNA’s potential
・Incubating talent through setting stretch goals with a 50-50 chance of success and bold delegation of authority
・Providing commensurate compensation and further opportunities to excellent personnel

At DeNA we have the DeNA Promise within our Value as our basic approach to human capital. We respect and celebrate the diversity of our employees and are committed to developing a workforce that will be active and contribute to society both within and outside of our company by making the experience with us irreplaceable for all employees involved and enriching their individual lives and careers.
We define diversity as bringing different strengths and multiple perspectives to the organization based on each individual's background, experience, skills, and personality, and we have introduced various measures to attract such diverse human resources and provide them with opportunities and venues to make the most of their individuality.

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Focus Investment for Human Capital

Talent Acquisition

We do not try to gather talented people around a business–rather, we believe that businesses are born around talented people. We want to be the best possible workplace for people who are independent thinkers that do not bow to authority and if anything enjoy overcoming a good challenge. To ensure that our hiring gets the best possible results, DeNA's executives and other ace-level personnel in the business divisions are taking the lead in recruiting activities. To strengthen our team that shares a base of common values while also welcoming unique team members, we are endeavoring to expand our working styles. Of course this includes not only hybrid work, but also allowing side jobs and other initiatives to proactively expand the methods available to bring highly skilled engineers and designers onto the team. We are also focusing efforts into owned media and YouTube branding initiatives. Our newly begun distant location hiring has brought on seven talented engineers over the course of a year.
Further, we leverage the DeNA alumni community to offer chances for former employees to come back, and in this way we secure talent who are ready to hit the ground running.

DeNA Hiring Open to All Ages and No Application Timeframe Restrictions
At DeNA, we believe that the various experiences of each individual can be utilized in our business. In light of the fact that nowadays people are free to study abroad, start their own businesses, and engage in a variety of other personal activities, we believe that making the point of graduation from university or graduate school the only opportunity to find a job is not conducive to making the most of diverse experiences. Therefore, DeNA's new graduate recruitment activities are open to applicants regardless of age, educational background, or work experience. We also do not limit the application period to a specific time, but rather open our doors to a wide range of applicants at any time.

Human Resource Development
For human resource development, we have introduced our own in-house recruiting system (OpenQuest) to support employees' autonomous career development, and we are building a place where employees can take on challenging and rewarding work through the latest HR technology and management enhancements.

  • Introduction of the Group Executive System In FY2022 we introduced the Group Executive System to allow executives to incubate business leaders and enhance our organization as a part of a broader approach to promote further expansion of our business areas.
  • Building and Enhancing Talent Pool
    We are working to build and enhance a layered talent pool to create a similarly layered organization that serves as the foundation for strong businesses. Potential Group Executive candidates from across the DeNA Group are selected for strategic incubation, and the directors and HR Unit coordinate to create a stretch management and incubation plan for candidate growth. We also work to establish a growth environment and give support by providing opportunities for dialogue with management, conducting management, training, coaching training, and 360 degree feedback to enhance our management that makes the most of diverse human resources, among other initiatives.
    In addition to that, we also have support to incubate a layer of highly capable talent who have potential, with a view to funneling them into the pipeline for future leader candidates as part of our layered organization. Our base is independent career formation, and we encourage growth through placements based on the person’s career path, as well as training, opportunities for dialogue with management, and internal networking, among other efforts.

Human Resource Placement
In terms of human resource allocation, we are actively transferring core personnel so that they can experience various businesses. We also have various systems in place, such as the "Shake Hands System," which allows employees to transfer regardless of the wishes of their current department if the general manager of the other department (the host department) agrees, the "Cross Job System," which allows employees to concurrently work in other departments for up to 30% of their work time at their own request, and the "Side Job System," which allows employees to work outside the company on the side. In FY2023 we had 20 positions that were filled with internal candidates leveraging these opportunities.

  • Role of the HRBP
    DeNA has diverse businesses, and each business has differing business models, meaning that the characteristics we need in our personnel and the potential issues that can arise all differ as well. To address this, in 2014 we set up HRBPs to take charge of the human resource strategy in each business department. The HR Unit handles matters that cross the whole organization, such as labor and salary calculations, as well as new grad hiring, and then there are HRBPs set up in each department. The HR Unit fulfills the role of directing long term company culture and enhancing our fundamentals, while the HRBPs focus on the issues in their business departments from an HR perspective, and collectively this provides the environment for our businesses to grow.
    The HRBPs contribute to business results by providing support from both a people and organizational perspective for business department heads, based on the business strategy
  • Leveraging People Analytics
    We take the results of organizational surveys, pulse surveys, etc., as well as business results and analyze them together with evaluation results and other data to provide indications about what organization is needed for business results and what factors are needed for employee growth, among other insights.

Training and Support Systems

We promote employees' skill development and career development based on the characteristics of their job type and position. One initiative that has been continually held is DeNA University, where employees with specialist knowledge can share that with all employees. There is also selection training for those in the business leader layer.

New Manager Training
Training is provided for newly appointed managers. The training is designed to deepen understanding of what is expected of a manager at DeNA and their role to maximize the results of the department and deliver Delight beyond imagination. In addition, we provide training necessary for management on a wide range of topics, including basic management knowledge, evaluation, people care, labor relations, mental health care, and harassment.

Engineer In-House Study Session
DeNA holds many in-house study sessions on specific technical areas, such as iOS/Android, including "TechTalk," presentations on technology for the entire DeNA Group. Many of them are not closed to individual departments or teams, and anyone can join and see the materials. There is also a follow-up system for starting new study groups, and active study groups are held by active engineers.

Career Consultation Service
To support the development of employees' abilities and careers, we have established a Career Consultation Service. Employees can discuss any concerns, anxieties, or questions they may have about their careers with counselors. The counselors do their utmost to address the concerns and anxieties of employees who come in so that they can visualize their own career path, thereby helping each individual to independently create their own career.

International Academic Conference Participation Support Program
This program enables employees to participate in international conferences, seminars, forums, and exhibitions around the world at company expense in order to gain access to the world's most advanced information. Four times a year, employees themselves can select which events they would like to participate in. They make proposals based on the benefits of their participation to the company and their own motivations, which are then reviewed.

Evaluation System

At DeNA, we use our evaluation system to promote the growth of each and every employee by showing the steps of growth and helping them build their strengths. We built our evaluation system based on our values, and we evaluate both recent results and mid to long term contribution. We reward major achievements dynamically, clarify each employee's growth vision and steps, and promote growth by incorporating mechanisms to create and develop strengths.
We have defined 2 courses with separate grades for each level to clearly indicate expected roles and results, and promote human resource development by evaluating employees based on two axes: demonstrated ability and results.
The compensation system reflects the evaluation in accordance with overall company results as well as the abilities and results demonstrated by each employee, and rewards significant contributions dynamically. The evaluation system covers regular employees of the DeNA standalone entity and a portion of regular employees of DeNA Group companies.
For fixed-term employees, the evaluation also reflects the two axes of recent results and basic work approach. We also have a system in place to convert to permanent employee status and encourage career growth.
Evaluations are conducted twice a year, regardless of employment type, and are thoroughly reviewed within the organization to which the individual belongs to ensure that the individual's contributions are accurately reflected in the evaluation. The results of the evaluation are then communicated to the individual by the manager of their organization.
Also, once a year we present awards to employees who achieved spectacular results during the year.

Corporate Culture

In order to create an organization where DeNA Quality and the DeNA Promise are disseminated and put into practice, DeNA implements an onboarding program to support employees who are new to the organization so that they can play an active role as quickly as possible.
In addition, to create an organization with a sense of solidarity through dialogue and interaction, we conduct status checks twice a year by means of an organizational status questionnaire to which all employees answer anonymously. Through this questionnaire we check that each organization is in good shape. In FY2023 we had a 97% average answer rate. Also once a month we have monthly questionnaires that all employees answer anonymously to share their on condition, and this information contributes to ascertaining the status of our organizations and employees.
We also organize employee sports viewing events and promote a hybrid work style that combines office work and remote work. Training & support programs