Social | Talent creativity
Talent Creativity Enhancement

The Group strives to enhance corporate value by added value creation that is aligned with its business strategy. At the same time, we are promoting our talent strategy aligned with the business strategy, as the axis of our talent strategy, which allows diverse talent to shine through spreading success and gaining confidence of individuals. In aiming to achieve the “2030 Long Term Strategic Aspiration”, we have been advancing various initiatives for enhancing the productivity and creativity of each and every employee as the driving force for transformation with improving management, working and business quality as our top priority in seeking to accelerate our transformation through “focus more on value creation” as part of our “respect for being on-site (Genbutsu-Genba)” worldwide under the Mid Term Business Plan (2024-2026).

We began experimenting with “Talent creativity” as a benchmark reflecting such initiatives in 2023, and we have accordingly introduced “Talent creativity” as a global management KPI in the Mid Term Business Plan (2024-2026). Our basic approach to “Talent creativity” involves reinforcing talent investment to increase added value and create a virtuous cycle of value creation. We set “Talent creativity KPI” as one standard as a global company and is working on issues by region / by country while tracking global progress through its KPI (adjusted operating profit (value added) divided by talent investment (sum of labor expense, training and development expense, and welfare and benefit expense)).

Talent Creativity KPI

* Throughout this page, “Bridgestone” or “the Company” refers to Bridgestone Corporation, while “the Bridgestone Group” or “the Group” refers to all Group companies.

In order to navigate the challenging business environment brought about by the acceleration of structure changes in the automotive and tire industries, the Group positions 2025 as “the year of emergency and crisis management.” With its aim of enhancing productivity and creativity even amidst a challenging business environment the Group will take “Decisive Action after Thorough Planning (Jukuryo-Danko),” which is one of the concepts of the “foundation” set forth under the Bridgestone Essence (corporate philosophy) in each of our respective roles by tackling challenges squarely with a proper sense of urgency. Furthermore, we are promoting our talent strategy aligned with our business strategy in placing emphasis on ensuring that each and every employee engages in value creation while embracing and embodying the Bridgestone DNA in terms of its “Focus on quality”, “Respect for being on-site (Genbutsu-Genba)”, “Being attentive and supportive of customer problems”, and championing a “Challenging spirit”.

The Group has set “Create good business quality” as our top priority of the Mid Term Business Plan (2024-2026) as a foundation for value creation. The Group seeks to reinforce management, working and business quality worldwide in striving toward innovation and continuous improvement in alignment with Bridgestone’s unique Deming Plan. The Deming Plan was formulated in the 1960s toward receiving the Deming Application Prize and was given to companies that demonstrate distinguished and comprehensive quality management. This Deming Plan reflects the Bridgestone DNA.

The Group seeks to improve management, working & business quality by carrying out various initiatives, “Deming Plan re-energizing initiative (management, working and business quality improvement)” and “training in place of founding (Kurume visit)” for encouraging employees to embrace the Bridgestone DNA and promoting behavioral transformation. Also, the “Bridgestone NEXT 100” program has been established for developing the next-generation of global management leaders in serving as a crucial aspect of passing the Bridgestone DNA to the next generation as well.

The Group works toward achieving “a strong Bridgestone” and “reinforcing earning power” by navigating a challenging business environment. Reinforcing earning power hinges on enhancing productivity and creativity (Talent creativity) of each and every employee. Accordingly, we conduct Bridgestone-like talent development and establish workplace environments in seeking to strengthen the Bridgestone DNA while ensuring that growth of the Group and that of each and every employee go hand in hand. Specifically, we value the concept in the “foundation” of respect for being on-site (Genbutsu-Genba) across Bridgestone’s broad business portfolio in ensuring that diverse talent takes initiative with respect to their own careers. As such, we are accelerating various initiatives by putting a focus on developing talent that proactively takes on value creation challenges (support for taking on challenges and achieving growth), and on establishing workplace environments that promote both engagement and better workplaces (developing opportunities for diverse talent to shine).

Furthermore, the Group will work on strengthening the premium tire business, which is “produce and sell” Dan-Totsu products as a core business while also enhancing the solutions business, which is to “amplify value” during the customer “use” phase of our Dan-Totsu products, as a growth business. By deepening the linkage between the premium tire business and the solutions business, we aim to create new social and customer value believing that this will lead to sustainable growth while enhancing the Group’s corporate value. To achieve that, we believe it is important to be attentive and supportive of problems encountered by society and our customers and provide solutions in that regard by combining the strong real such as the Group’s Dan-Totsu products and operational excellence on-site with digital power. We will strive to develop digital and solutions talent that embodies Bridgestone’s unique approach in order to accelerate such “real x digital” capabilities, thereby facilitating new value creation.

Through such initiatives, we aim to build a foundation toward the “True Next Stage” in 2026 by achieving “a strong Bridgestone” capable of adapting to change and reinforcing our earning power.

The Group’s foundation for corporate management is the notion of “Safety First, Always,” as set forth in its Safety Mission Statement. Given that this is an expectation of our customers and other stakeholders, we are promoting activities for improving the working environment to ensure that each and every employee is able to work in a safe workplace with peace of mind based on the Safety Mission Statement. This is essential in ensuring industrial safety and hygiene with respect to the Group’s employees and contractors through the application of stringent safety standards.

Supporting self-directed career development

The Group supports all employees in their efforts to develop their self-directed careers. Across the Group’s operations, employees are encouraged to have career and development plans that they work towards in collaboration with their supervisors and leadership teams, and the Group supports all employees in completing meaningful and rewarding work. Specifically, we have introduced periodic career development interviews and multidimensional evaluations including 360-degree evaluations etc. in order to encourage and promote a culture of appropriate and open feedback.

In addition, the Group implements Management by Objectives and similar systems in order to enhance organizational performance through supporting employee development and growth. In Japan, we set performance goals once a year for managers and twice a year for staff, and promote a process for achieving these goals through regular meetings and dialogues with their supervisors during the term.

The table below reflects the percentage of employees regularly receiving performance reviews and career development interviews (assessments).

The percentage of employees receiving regular performance reviews

The percentage of employees receiving regular career development interviews (assessments)

* The Company promotes appropriate process toward addressing the target which is set annually for managers and biannually for staffs while having periodic mid-term interview.

Providing learning opportunities for a wide range of employees

The Group will continuously invest in talent development for employees to increase their capabilities, grow their careers and encourage them to stay with Bridgestone long term on a Group-wide basis, while taking into account circumstances in respective regions and countries. We believe such initiatives will lead to promoting employees’ continuous learning and a workplace culture for growth toward creating a learning organization. In addition, some activities to promote employees’ learning initiatives are implemented region by region.

In 2024, the Group invested a total of 3,113,511 hours on employee training across the organization. This is equivalent to an average of 27.7 hours (3.7 workdays^*) per employee per year.

* Converted to 7.5 hours per day as working hours.

Supporting employees motivated to take on challenge and achieve growth

The Group has been making progress in developing “opportunities for diverse talent to shine and take on various challenges,” as part of its approach to enhancing a “challenging spirit”. This is especially true in the exploratory business where, in addition to forming alliances with external partners, the Group has established a corporate venture, Softrobotics Ventures. Softrobotics Ventures brings together diverse talent with an entrepreneurial spirit to create new businesses from scratch to take on the challenge of early commercialization with respect to the notion of “Bridgestone’s new challenges utilizing our expertise in R&D of rubber materials soft robot hand with just the right grip supporting the lives of individuals through the power of rubber.”

The Group encompasses a wide range of business domains, including premium tires, solutions, and diversified products, spanning the entire value chain from upstream (raw materials) to downstream (sale and services). Meanwhile, the Group believes that embodying the notion of a "challenging spirit" through active engagement is essential to providing further value to its stakeholders, irrespective of the business domain and value chain. The Group launched its “Genba (on-site) 100-Day Challenge Program” from Japan in 2023 and subsequently expanded to BSAPIC (Asia-Pacific, India and China) in 2024. This program involves investigating, verifying, improving, and addressing on-site challenges and hypotheses established by participants on site either within or outside their country. We will further extend the reach of the program globally in the future and take initiatives to encourage even more employees to take on challenges and create further challenge culture.

Leadership training

As the Group builds a more advanced “glocal” management structure, developing the next generation of management leaders is a business imperative. Management leaders should be equipped with both business expertise and cross-cultural leadership capabilities with the aim of supporting future sustainable growth and greater corporate value.

As the Group pushes forward with leadership development by region and country, we have also been developing the "Bridgestone NEXT100", a program to develop the next-generation of management leaders. This program nominates approximately 100 individuals globally each year (30 in Japan, 30 in the Americas, 20 in Europe, 20 in Asia / divided into three levels of Next, Advancing, and Developing Executive) to take part in this program and the individuals participate in a town hall meeting with the Global CEO, Executive Vice President, and respective overseas Group Presidents. They also attend various management / executive meetings as well as overseas business-school training programs. Over 220 individuals have participated in this "Bridgestone NEXT100" program so far. Two participants from Next Executive were promoted to Vice President and Senior Officer in 2024. In 2025, another participant was promoted to Vice President and Senior Officer, and another was appointed as Executive Vice President and Representative Executive Officer of the Company.

Activities for promoting culture change and enhancing engagement as a foundation

The Group conducted globally unified engagement surveys^{*1 *2} in 2023 upon having positioned improvement of employee engagement as one of our key issues in globally promoting culture changes in line with the “Bridgestone E8 Commitment.” We have deepened and made progress on initiatives in part by sharing good practices from each region upon having identified global common strengths and improvement items, while respecting regional differences in cultures and characteristics.

Global common strength and further improvement items based on the result of engagement survey

1. Questions on Employee Engagement (commitment/motivation) and Employee Enablement (the right persons in the right positions/working environments to support employees) are answered using a six-point scale (Strongly Agree/ Agree/ Neutral/ Disagree/ Strongly Disagree/ Don't know or don't apply) to ascertain conditions across the company, in each department, and each workplace. The questionnaire consists of approximately 90 questions, covering a wide range of topics, including questions related to promoting employees’ motivation such as “challenging and interesting work”, “opportunities to demonstrate one's abilities” and measuring the degree of improvement in the workplace, such as “significant barriers to work well”.
2. Global response rate in the survey of 2023 : 89%

Strengthening talent that accelerates adoption of strong real x digital capabilities

The Group promotes development and acquisition of digital talent globally in order to broaden Bridgestone- like digital talent with a focus on respect for being on-site (Genbutsu-Genba), which is essential for creating social value and customer value, while also seeking to best integrate talent among Webfleet, Azuga and the Group. We seek to amplify value during “use” of tires from “produce and sell” with Dan-Totsu products as it’s a core fundamental to the Group’s strategy. To such ends, we will further strengthen globally our on-site field engineering activities to deeply understand customers’ pain points, which is our Group’s strength. With respect to talent underpinning such initiatives, we promote systematic development and acquisition of solution skills tailored to characteristics of the market and needs of each region in looking toward developing engineers equipped with a deep understanding of both product value and customer needs.

As of 2024, the Group has a digital talent workforce of approximately 1,750 people globally. Based on the concept of “faster, easier, and more accurate with larger data”, the Group will evolve value creation by combining its strong real, such as on-site capabilities that the Group has cultivated, with digital power. The Group continues to develop and acquire digital talent in various regions, with the goal of expanding to a level of 2,000 people on a global basis by 2026.

Regional initiatives

Japan

Supporting self-directed career development

In Japan, the Company provides and supports various programs and appropriate opportunities for employees to “think and design deeply” their careers, to “interact and dialogue with others” and to “act and practice” in order to promote employees’ self-directed career development.

• Opportunities to think and design deeply
  Bridgestone deploys measures to encourage and support each and every employee to foster self-awareness and take initiatives with respect to their own career. Specifically, at the training for regular new graduates, in the organizations where they are assigned, employees learn and acquire a mindset for creating results that would serve as the foundation for career development. As a follow-up in their third year after they joined the company, they are trained to consider how to build their future career through reviewing their work and growth since joining. And finally, they set goals to expand the scope of what they can/should do in the current assignment and for the future from mid to long term perspective during the program. The Company is expanding the opportunities for employees to think and design their own careers proactively through a “Self-directed Career Development Support Program” to broad generations sequentially.

• Opportunities to interact and dialogue with others
  Once a year, employees have a C&D interview with their supervisors to clarify their thoughts on their career, work style, and growth. This interview provides an opportunity for employees to deepen their understanding of themselves and to concretize their career direction, the realization of value creation within the Company, and the actions they need to take for learning and challenges.

• Opportunities to act and practice
  The Company provides opportunities for employees to apply for a transfer or to take on a different challenge to encourage talent who are motivated to try a new job type or role. This encourages and supports employees who are motivated to take on challenges and achieve growth, as well as making a continuous talent development investment such as “Genba (on-site) 100-Day Challenge Program”, “Management Challenge Program^*” and “Digital 100-Day Training^*” etc.

  • Open Posting System
    This system involves the Company clearly indicating the expectations and associated levels for positions that require challenging and diverse expertise. Employees with motivation can apply for these positions regardless of their current job title, and are considered for assignment on an ongoing basis.

  • Job-Matching System
    This system allows employees to register their unique skills and experiences, acquired both internally and externally. It matches the specific skills, expertise, and knowledge required by departments with the skills and experiences of employees and facilitates their assignment in positions where they can utilize their skills and experiences at the appropriate time.

* Details on these programs are described later.

Providing learning opportunities for a wide range of employees

The Company has established and operated the “Talent Development College” training framework, which aims to reinforce the skills (job performance and management capabilities) required of all employees, regardless of department or function, and support employees who are motivated to take on challenges and achieve growth. The training framework effectively combines learning with practice to support individuals to grow and maximize their capabilities, in turn revitalizing the organization and contributing to achievement of the Company’s business strategies and goals. Moreover, the Company assesses participant feedback and needs, and conducts annual program reviews and expansion while rigorously implementing the PDCA cycle.

In addition to company-wide training programs, sections in charge of professional training in each department equip employees with the required skills, be it relating to research and development, production technology, safety and disaster prevention, quality, environment, sales, financial affairs, intellectual property, or public relations. The major training programs are as follows:

• New employee training

  • Training for regular new graduate employee
    For new graduate employees, the Company offers around seven months of training that starts from the time they join the Company and lasts until assignment to a particular department. It is composed of basic group training sessions, hands-on learning at a factory, practical sales training, a two-month digital training course, learning of motorsports activities and training on the place of founding (Kurume visit).

  • Training for mid-career recruits
    For mid-career recruits, the Company offers orientation on the first day and two-week basic group training sessions including training on the place of founding (Kurume visit) and e-learning programs within three months.

• Supporting employees with a desire to learn
  There are learning opportunities for managers^* and staff in multiple styles. When enrolling, the course to be taken is determined based on the individual's motivation and abilities, taking into account communication with their supervisor. After completing the course, the learning is reinforced by applying it to their work. The following are the various styles of learning opportunities the Company provides:

  • Group training
    The Company offers face-to-face and online training sessions that facilitate career development and acquisition of business skills through discussions, dialogues, and role-playing with others.

  • Self-development support
    The Company provides a variety of courses, including e-learning, to enable employees to work on skill development according to their own needs and timing, such as acquiring professional knowledge, obtaining certification, and enhancing language skill."

• e-learning programs
  The Company conducts a monthly curriculum to learn repeatedly about the Bridgestone Essence (corporate philosophy), "Bridgestone E8 Commitment," and sustainability. In addition, the Company utilizes a wide range of e-learning opportunities to ensure all employees have the opportunity to learn about topics they should be aware of.

* Managers of the Company are line managers, specialists and coordinators etc.

Supporting employees motivated to take on challenge and achieve growth

Bridgestone encourages the transformation of mindset and behavior in part through the introduction of the “Genba (on-site) 100-Day Challenge Program” and “Management Challenge Program”.

• Genba (on-site) 100-Day Challenge Program
  This program allows participants to apply voluntarily to take initiative in investigating, verifying, improving and addressing on-site the self-identified issues and hypotheses either in Japan and/or overseas involving various operations (Genba). 22 people have taken part in this program so far and the places of challenge have been expanded gradually, starting with the Genba at a natural rubber farm, Webfleet Solutions in Europe, retail and logistics in 2023 and expanding to Diversified Products and Internal Manufacturing (Steel Cord).

• Management Challenge Program
  This program provides junior employees who are motivated to take on challenges with the opportunity to gain management experience early in their careers by serving in pre-management positions. 13 people in total have taken this challenge so far.

Leadership training

As for support for strengthening the foundation of management behavior, the following programs are being implemented for all line managers responsible for organizational management.

• 360-degree Evaluation
  A program aimed at strengthening management behavior by reflecting on their own leadership characteristics through multi-faceted evaluations, in order to lead the team's achievements and growth.

• Coaching Program
  A program that focuses on effective dialogue and motivation for the growth of each team member, learning "coaching" skills and applying them to support the actions and growth of the members.

Activities for promoting culture change and enhancing engagement as a foundation

We promote various initiatives for empowering diverse talent in seeking to address historical disparities in such domains as engagement and DE&I as compared to the Group’s overseas locations.

• Engagement enhancement activities
  In 2020, Bridgestone switched from using an Employee Satisfaction Survey, which measured the level of satisfaction with working environments, to an Employee Engagement Survey, which measures employees’ motivation to self-directed work and creating a sense of connection with the Company. In 2022, to more frequently implement PDCA cycles for its activities, the Company implemented a periodic pulse survey (quarterly, every four month or biannually etc) to gauge the efficacy of activities and organizational conditions. By analyzing these results, identifying issues, and making improvements - and implementing this process in line with the characteristics of each organization and workplace - the Company is independently moving forward with PDCA activities to improve engagement and create better workplaces.

  The Company conducts the initiatives to improve employee engagement for value creation as follows:

  • Workplace environment Improvement activities at manufacturing sites (Genba)
    Bridgestone’s plants have implemented and promoted continuous kaizen through small group activities and CFT (cross functional team) activities, based on the voices and kaizen proposals raised at Genba, toward promoting Suru-raku (streamlined and less burden) production. One of our initiatives to establish workplace environments for facilitating evolution of manufacturing and culture change promotion at Genba is that small group teams engage in solving challenges and improving Genba workplace by themselves with discretionary budget. The Company has reinforced employee development and opportunities for success through improvement at Genba.

  • Continuous town hall meetings
    The Company continues to provide opportunities for the management team and employees to interact through town hall meetings to motivate employees to contribute to the Company and grow, and also to reflect employees’ opinions back into corporate operations.

• Initiatives to develop a foundation for promoting DE&I
  From the perspective of promoting diversity in perspectives and better decision-making as an organization as well as expecting and facilitating all employees to support an inclusive workplace environment mutually, the Company engages in empowering women and promoting the development and assignment of female leaders. In addition, we are promoting various initiatives as a foundation for promoting DE&I, such as DE&I management workshops for all line managers (general managers and managers) and a FemTech program to address women-specific health issues using technology. For further information, please refer to the website - “Respecting diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I)”.

Strengthening talent that accelerates adoption of strong real x digital capabilities

The Company has introduced a “Digital 100-Day Training” covering a wide range of levels by having employees select a program that matches individual digital skill level since 2023. The program consists of introductory training, where participants learn basic digital literacy compiled by the Digital Literacy Council through classroom lectures, and practical training to deepen their knowledge through exercises focused on digital technologies related to their own job responsibilities. Over 1,400 people participated in this program during 2023 and 2024, according to their skill levels and their needs, and worked on enhancing their digital skills. Additionally, for intermediate and advanced levels, the Company initiated the "Bridgestone x Tohoku University Co-creation Lab" project in 2021, where employees are dispatched to Tohoku University. Through planning and developing AI and algorithms, the Company aims to cultivate "AI/Algorithm Experts" who play a core role in the solutions business and research and development, as well as "Solution Field Engineers" who can identify problems in business operations and propose solutions utilizing digital technologies."

Asia Pacific, India, and China region

Supporting self-directed career development

BSAPIC recognizes the importance of nurturing a high-performing culture where every individual's potential is realized, contributing to the group’s collective success. Central to this ethos is a robust Performance Development System (PDS), which serves as the cornerstone in driving excellence, growth, and alignment of individual aspirations with organizational goals.

During the PDS journey, managers and employees communicate and align individual goals with the organizational objectives allowing flexibility to update their goals through the year. Through continuous dialogue and feedback loops, BSAPIC prioritizes constructive coaching, empowering employees to enhance their performance and develop them to their full potential.

Career Development and Discussion (CD&D)

Embodying the BSAPIC Talent Development Approach, managers collaborate with employees to design tailored development plans that leverage a 70-20-10 framework: 70% Experience, 20% Exposure, and 10% Education. As part of Experiential Learning, employees are provided with opportunities such as stretch assignments and cross-functional projects, enabling them to expand their skillsets and broaden their perspectives. Additionally, under the Coaching/Mentoring initiatives, including networking opportunities and executive coaching, we foster a culture of continuous learning and mentorship for executives to mentor other Managers and professionals

At BSAPIC, the commitment to talent development is unwavering. Through PDS, CD&D and the Talent Development Approach, BSAPIC strives to cultivate a culture of excellence, where each individual is empowered to thrive, driving sustainable growth and success for the organization as a whole.

Providing learning opportunities for a wide range of employees

BSAPIC introduced a Training & Development KPI in 2021 as part of the suite of Management Capabilities pillar in building a strong leadership pipeline. Indirect (salaried) employees are strongly encouraged to attain a minimum of 40 training hours per year to promote a culture of continuous learning and professional development. BSAPIC reported over 650,000 total annual training hours in 2024, which was equivalent to over 34 hours per employee. This was a 22% increase of total training hours for all employees versus 2023, and an increase of 12% training hours per employee.

• BE INSPIRED campaign
  Since 2020, BSAPIC launched its BE INSPIRED campaign to promote a culture of self-paced learning through the sharing of “bite-sized” self-learning content on a monthly basis. The content of the BE INSPIRED campaign targets, soft skills and hard skills (predominantly functional domain centric) as well as leadership development and general management. It eventually evolved to leverage an e-learning system by assigning e-learning courses on a monthly basis to management grade employees to complete within their own time and speed.

• SuccessFactors E-Learning System
  Since the launch of the SuccessFactors (SF) e-Learning system across the group companies for indirect (salaried) employees in 2023, all group companies’ employees can :

  1. Access a library of more than 8,000 e-learning content (soft skills, hard skills functional and hard skills digitalization) – courses available in multiple languages allows individuals to proactively pursue their own skill enhancement and personal development in alignment with their career aspirations.
  2. Access and complete their e-learning courses of owned Bridgestone deployed e-content. It encompasses various functional domains of manufacturing, safety, quality, HR, Legal & Compliance etc. In a systematic approach, it allows the effective deployment and monitoring of its completion rate to be reported to the group.

In 2024, the BSAPIC e-learning adoption rate was 62%. BSAPIC aspires to achieve a 75% adoption rate by 2026 to build a strong PDCA learning culture for employees to upskill and reskill based on the skillsets required.

Supporting employees motivated to take on challenge and achieve growth

BSAPIC believes in the power of experiential learning that it will benefit talent the most in their development. BSAPIC started in 2024 with the Genba 100-day program focusing on the “Challenging Spirit” which encourages early career employees to continuously seek new challenges and opportunities for growth, with the key sponsorships from executives and countries’ managing director. Based on corporate philosophy, Genbutsu-Genba (decision making based on verified, on-site observation), the talent Genba assignment project aims to stretch their learning ability whilst contributing to the host country location and/ or entity. The BSAPIC Genba 100-day program covers inter-company within same country and inter-country (with Japan headquarter) as an alternative to accelerate talent development without an overseas expat assignment. The Genba challenger’s assignment project aims to provide 70% stretch experience and 20% exposure, and critically at the end of its Genba, the talent will bring back the learning to share with their group companies’ stakeholders to accelerate their business and functional growth with quality. BSAPIC will continue this initiative in 2025 and beyond.

Another signature program, Retail Tire Technician Career Pathways was implemented to develop direct (wages) employees into skills-based career options based on their career aspirations to advance into store operations and management roles. Bridgestone actively provides learning intervention on upskilling and reskilling for employees, enriching their career from “linear” to “skills-based” pathways.

Leadership training

BSAPIC provides a holistic talent development model to develop its talent as future ready leaders and to equip employees with the soft skills and hard skills required in performing their roles effectively.

• Regional New Manager Induction Program
  Designed to onboard newly hired and newly promoted key managers across the region, for talent to gain insights into Bridgestone's customer and business strategy through deep understanding of organizational culture and key initiatives for success.

• High-Potential General Management Program (GMP)
  Designed to strengthen their General Management skillsets with strong P&L acumen; equip leaders with the balance of “Knowing & Doing” - 60% Soft Skills and 40% Hard Skills. This program challenges employees’ boundaries and gain a cross-border outlook on their strategic thinking and decision making in an intense capstone business simulation in running a global corporation in a profitable manner across the entire value chain. The program has been extended to Bridgestone Japan leader candidates since 2023 for collaborative leadership development among Bridgestone EAST (Japan & Asia).

• High-Potential Management Development Program (MDP)
  Designed to build confidence and foundations for mid-level managers and professionals through greater self, team effectiveness and leadership styles to connect and communicate strategically. The program focuses on 60% Soft Skills and 40% Hard Skills with a capstone simulation to harness their confidence and foundations for quality business management and personal development. The program was extended to Bridgestone Japan candidates in 2024 for collaborative leadership development among Bridgestone EAST (Japan & Asia).

• Regional Leadership Conference
  Designed for the top 100 leaders across the region. A platform for leaders to align vision and strategy, build executive presence, strengthen strategic acumen, and enhance agility to lead with success based on external forces and internal gaps analysis.

• Top Executive Training
  Designed to ensure that existing Vice Presidents and countries Managing Directors are being trained for continuous learning. Core is developing diverse leaders as they lead the organization and are accountable for the organization’s success. Strategy is nothing without “effective leaders to execute” and “no engaged workforce without engaged leaders”.

• 360-degree review tools
  This is a tool used to measure leadership effectiveness and how participants are truly perceived by others targeting on the behaviours that need improvement and thereby improving their ability to successfully lead the organization and pave the way. The model, a combination of behavioral and business competencies – holistically measures leadership competencies required for strategic excellence, management competencies for operational excellence, business competencies on cognitive capability and behavioral competencies on emotional intelligence.

Activities for promoting culture change and enhancing engagement as a foundation

BSAPIC has been actively leading group companies’ cultural transformation and reformation and as a region engaged in measuring and enhancing employee engagement and its organizational culture through Employee Engagement Surveys (EES). BSAPIC observed progression over the last several years in its Employee Engagement Survey since 2018.

The latest results indicate that BSAPIC employees are highly engaged and enabled, show a high level of pride and commitment to the organization and enjoy an enabling environment that makes good use of their skills and abilities. These surveys serve as invaluable tools for understanding employee perspectives and driving continuous improvement initiatives across the organization in enhancing employees’ personal experience of working in Bridgestone, and serving society with superior quality. The survey results required all countries’ leaders to develop their action plans to reflect on the strengths and development areas to amplify the quality of an engaged and enabled workforce. Group companies embraced Genbutsu-genba and conducted focus group discussions cross functionally in aggregating and finalizing their group companies’ top priorities of action plans.

BSAPIC adopts an agile EES PDCA approach emphasizing the “Check” to devise and share the best practice of action plans across the region with all countries’ managing directors. This approach aims to elevate and accelerate their scores by learning from other group companies’ action plans.

Strengthening talent that accelerates adoption of strong real x digital capabilities

BSAPIC empowers employees at all levels to embrace digital technologies, technological literacy, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and big data to enhance their data-based performance and drive organizational success in their respective work areas and contributions. BSAPIC aims to equip employees with hard skills in digitalization with the goal of becoming a skills-based Bridgestone with data. In 2024, BSAPIC invested more than 10,800 training hours (versus 7,300 hours in 2023) in digital skills, such as Generative Artificial Intelligence, Data Visualization Mastery, Data Visionary Mindset, Data Essentials and Analytics, Microsoft Office Applications, and Power BI / productivity tools. This direction will continue in 2025 and beyond to level up our workforce capability (through upskill and reskill) by enabling digitalization literacy via skill acquisition that empower leaders and employees to innovate and create values.

Americas region

Supporting self-directed career development

At BSAM, we believe everyone is a leader – whether you are a leader of your work, projects, a team, or an organization, we can all make a positive impact. To that end, in 2024, we introduced a new LEAD framework for the WEST region (BSAM and BSEMEA) and regional talent portals. LEAD defines what really matters as a Bridgestone leader and guides our behaviors to deliver on our goals. The LEAD Framework empowers our employees to shape a compelling vision, drive innovation, and make informed decisions. It also helps us to foster a positive work environment, attract and develop talent, and build high-performing teams. Additionally, the regional talent portals are resource centers to support employees with their professional development.

BSAM believes its employees are the key to its success as an enterprise. To support them in delivering outstanding results, BSAM provides employees with access to a number of development opportunities and ongoing performance feedback throughout the year. To meet the needs of its evolving business, BSAM’s performance management framework called AMP (Accelerating My Performance), is designed to provide transparency and trust around the assessment of employees and the most important business priorities. Additionally, it ensures employees receive the ongoing feedback and support they need to achieve their professional goals.

Through AMP, BSAM has created an environment where employees and managers continuously communicate and share feedback to ensure employees are delivering great results and progressing on reaching their career goals. While goals should be reviewed and modified as often as needed, managers and employees typically have quarterly AMP Check-Ins to review individual performance and development goals and to discuss any changing priorities.

• Career development with more cross-region talent mobility
  BSAM continues to focus on helping leaders and employees have more robust and effective career discussions as well as more cross-region talent movement. BSAM also continues to expand its focus on succession planning, internal talent movement (talent brokerage), short-term assignments for development, and continuing to provide employees with access to a broad range of learning programs that suit both their personal aspirations and interests, and the critical capability needs of the business. The Global Short-Term Assignment Policy which was developed in 2023, coupled with our newly created WEST organization that includes the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa regions, will further facilitate more cross-region talent movement.

Providing learning opportunities for a wide range of employees

BSAM believes that investing in its employees is key to increasing their capabilities, growing their career, and staying with Bridgestone long term. In support of this goal, BSAM has provided various learning and challenging opportunities.

• 

  Adoption of LinkedIn Learning

  BSAM rolled out LinkedIn Learning to promote development and career advancement across its operations and ensure employees build the skills needed to support the business.
  Through deliberate communication and allowing greater access to learning, BSAM had over 65,000 digital learning courses completed by employees in 2022. This extensive adoption of LinkedIn Learning demonstrated that BSAM employees wanted more development to build their capabilities in support of personal and business goals. In 2023, BSAM launched a “LinkedIn to Win” learning campaign to encourage employees to complete one of the monthly recommended courses on LinkedIn Learning. These courses are available to employees 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with easy accessibility from a mobile device. This has resulted in over 3,600 active users viewing over 300,000 learning videos and completing over 43,000 LinkedIn Learning courses and almost 10,000 hours of learning in 2024.

Supporting employees motivated to take on challenge and achieve growth

BSAM is providing skills-based development to ensure employees have the capabilities needed to deliver business results. BSAM has identified development to fill critical workforce gaps and support the needs of the business. BSAM has also identified key roles for talent exchange that allows employees to explore different parts of the business between regions and work together to solve business challenges broadening their experience and enhancing their career development.

Leadership training

BSAM is focused on developing the skills, capabilities and confidence for employees to succeed. BSAM has several high potential programs for top talent that allows them to have experiences and exposure directly related to the business. In 2024, over 400 employees participated in seven accelerated and core leadership development programs. These programs included SEAL, Navigation, Ignition, Shift, Edge, Communicate with Impact, and Women Unlimited, Inc.

• SEAL (Strategic Excellence and Agile Leadership): Senior level curriculum for 10+ years of leadership

• Navigation: Mid-career curriculum for 5-10 years of leadership

• Ignition: Early career curriculum for up to 5 years of leadership

• Shift: Core curriculum for managers 3-5 years after joining the Company

• Edge: Core curriculum for managers 2-3 years after joining in the Company

• Communicate with Impact: Core curriculum for individual contributors 1-2 years after joining the Company

• Women Unlimited: Curriculum for leadership from emerging female talent to senior level executives

Activities for promoting culture change and enhancing engagement as a foundation

BSAM has been supporting and enhancing employee engagement efforts for many years through various initiatives. In 2024, a Pulse Engagement Survey was launched for the first time and run monthly with a randomly selected target audience across the region. The results were shared through a dashboard which leaders were able to use and translate into business-specific action plans to further increase their employee engagement and enablement. By listening to the views of their employees, leaders are able to focus on what really matters and prioritize activities that will make the biggest impact. We have also introduced more frequent company-wide townhalls and leader-led communications to provide more transparent and consistent communication to all employees. A major engagement driver is focusing on the communities we serve and therefore BSAM puts heavy emphasize on the importance of giving back through their United Way giving campaign which enables employees to earn extra days off in the year as well as providing additional community service activities.

Strengthening talent that accelerates adoption of strong real x digital capabilities

The vision of BSAM’s Data and Analytics team is to lead a data-driven culture built on connected solutions, unlocking social value, customer value and business value. In 2023, the team launched the combination of classroom training and an online course. They hosted an Exploring Data Literacy Workshop followed by an online Data Literacy 101 course which continued into 2024, further accelerating digital knowledge and capabilities. BSAM will continue to expand these types of digital learning opportunities to employees in 2025 and beyond.

Europe, Middle East and Africa region

Supporting self-directed career development

At BSEMEA, we believe everyone is a leader – whether you are a leader of your work, projects, a team, or an organization, we can all make a positive impact. To that end, in 2024, we introduced a new LEAD framework for the WEST region (BSAM and BSEMEA) and re-aligned our regional talent portal with BSAM. LEAD defines what really matters as a Bridgestone leader and guides our behaviors to deliver on our goals. The LEAD Framework empowers our employees to shape a compelling vision, drive innovation, and make informed decisions. It also helps us to foster a positive work environment, attract and develop talent, and build high-performing teams. Additionally, the regional talent portals are resource centers to support employees with their professional development.

BSEMEA knows the key to success is through its employees and therefore understands the need to invest in and support the development of their teams. With a focus on growing capabilities, enhancing career opportunities and increasing retention, BSEMEA has implemented various learning and coaching opportunities aligned to their 70-20-10 development model (70% learning through experience, 20% learning through exposure, and 10% learning through formal training).

In 2024, to further support a culture of continuous conversations and focus on the 70% and 20%, BSEMEA launched AMP (Accelerate My Performance). All people managers across the entire region were required to attend workshops focused on incorporating feedback and career development discussions into AMP conversations. BSEMEA will continue to embed AMP over the coming years to further enhance a culture of accountability, continuous performance and development feedback. AMP represents a shift to a more forward-looking talent management strategy that aligns with BSEMEA’s evolution toward a more agile, sustainable enterprise. With AMP, BSEMEA aims to increase retention, development and recognition to keep up with employee expectations, and it allows employees to take more ownership over their own development.

Providing learning opportunities for a wide range of employees

BSEMEA aims to be a learning organization. This means providing the opportunity for all employees to learn across the business and scaling learning solutions that meet the needs of our teams. Local Learning and Development teams offer specific learning opportunities tailored to local needs for each business / function, and therefore the Learning & Development (L&D) Center of Excellence (COE) offers more scalable learning opportunities which includes:

• LinkedIn Learning
  BSEMEA has used LinkedIn Learning for more than four years as the external content library. In 2023, BSEMEA launched a weekly LinkedIn Learning challenge recommending courses linked to specific skills for all BSEMEA employees via their internal communication channels and randomly selected winners who completed those courses. These campaigns have further expanded the adoption. In 2024, BSEMEA merged with the BSAM LinkedIn Learning portal allowing for a more consistent and enhanced learning experience for all employees. The new portal allows for easy access to more than 24,000 learning courses and videos 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and accessibility from a mobile device. In 2024, this resulted in more than 4,000 LinkedIn Learning course completions and over 3,600 hours of learning. With the enhanced platform and accessibility, BSEMEA hopes to increase utilization rates through various learning campaigns and education series in 2025.

• GoFluent
  BSEMEA launched GoFluent in February 2023. BSEMEA offers free online language courses to all employees (including operators and contractors) to allow them the opportunity to develop and practice their language skills in 19 different languages. Employees have spent more than 3,500 hours on language learning in 2024.

• Mentoring
  BSEMEA offers a mentoring platform for employees to request mentors across the business to support their career development. Training is regularly conducted for both mentors and mentees to ensure both roles know what to expect from the relationship, tips for making it successful and guides on how to use the platform. In 2024, 120 employees were trained on being a mentor or mentee.

Supporting employees motivated to take on challenge and achieve growth

BSEMEA is committed to developing talent for the future and fostering employees' engagement by ensuring they are enabled with the skills, resources, and appropriate development. BSEMEA provides employees with a wide variety of experiences and challenging opportunities where they can gain new skills, collaborate with different individuals and teams, own their personal journey, and build a career that is meaningful for them and for Bridgestone. BSEMEA believes that the richest learning is experiential.

Leadership training

BSEMEA is focused on assessing and bridging identified talent gaps and aims to enhance its business performance by investing in its employees. As such, in 2023 BSEMEA launched a new leadership curriculum, Lead4Success, to enhance leadership skills for people leaders focusing on self-awareness, learning agility, influencing and communication skills. In 2024, 125 managers participated in this leadership program.

BSEMEA also values the impact that diverse teams bring to solving business challenges. To further support this, they created an internal Women’s leadership program called Women in Motion with the aim of improving Bridgestone‘s business results by leveraging gender diverse approaches to solve business issues. In 2024, 88 female employees participated in one of the nine cohorts, enhancing their leadership capabilities, building self-awareness, and learning new tools to support their professional development.

Activities for promoting culture change and enhancing engagement as a foundation

BSEMEA has been supporting and enhancing employee engagement efforts for many years through various initiatives. In 2024, a new Pulse Engagement Survey was launched and run monthly with a randomly selected target audience across the region. The results were shared through a dashboard which leaders were able to use and translate into business specific action plans to further increase their employee engagement and enablement. By listening to the views of their employees, leaders are able to focus on what really matters and prioritize activities that will make the biggest impact. We have also introduced more frequent company-wide townhalls and leader-led communications to provide more transparent and consistent communication to all employees.

In several functions and businesses across BSEMEA, the Culture of Accountability program was launched in 2023 to improve business results by focusing on culture shifts required to get us there. This included better collaboration, more focus on the customer, and simplified processes. Throughout 2024, various activities happened at local levels to further enhance these areas, supporting a positive shift in culture.

In manufacturing, a structural cultural change management program has been implemented over the last years, which is named “B-ME” (Bridgestone Manufacturing Excellence) which has resulted in well-trained and empowered employees, autonomous teams and significantly better operational results. The “B-ME” program continues to be impactful in the development and empowerment of manufacturing employees. The expansion of this program will continue.

Strengthening talent that accelerates adoption of strong real x digital capabilities

BSEMEA drives its digital transformation journey and creates the culture for better use of digital technology and tools. In 2024, there was a heavy focus on enhancing the knowledge and skills around using Office 365 and AI to enhance productivity, effectiveness and efficiency in work. With the everchanging landscape in this area, there will be continued focus on these topics to further accelerate adoption and strengthen digital capabilities in these areas.

BSEMEA has introduced an online e-learning authoring tool called Flowsparks and allows SMEs in different locations to create their own online content. Allowing the local teams to have access to create their own content, enables more intentional and specific learning needs to be addressed while also then sharing that learning across multiple countries for a shared experience. This has been used in the B-ME program and several other locations to support onboarding and also updating employees on changes in policy and guidelines, as well as to create awareness and share updates on DE&I and sustainability etc.

As of November 2024, the Group has 95 production sites worldwide. The Group understands it is essential to maintain and improve product quality across all these sites. As such, the Global Manufacturing Education Centre (G-MEC) in Japan works with the personnel development organizations at the Strategic Business Units (SBUs) and worksites in every region (Japan: J-MEC; China: C-MEC; Asia: APIC-MEC; North America: NA-MEC; South America: LA-MEC; Europe: E-MEC; and Turkey: BRISA-MEC) to develop key manufacturing personnel known as “masters” at each SBU and worksite. In doing so, the aim is to develop personnel who can implement uniquely Bridgestone manufacturing techniques across the world.

Number of masters (as of December 2024)

Japan

The Company framed the Health Management Policy in 2020 to realize both a fulfilling life for individuals and the corporate philosophy. We are promoting various measures to maintain and improve the “mental” and “physical” health of employees, including self-care support and comfortable workplace in order to encourage and support individual health management more actively.

Also, every site in Japan has a health promotion officer or nurse, public health nurse, or other health professional who can organize a mental health team. It provides counseling services and education systems under the guidance of an industrial physician. In addition, we take active actions to ensure that the workplace improvement PDCA cycle functions effectively.

With respect to improving and enhancing employee engagement, the Company introduced an Engagement Survey in 2020 and started Pulse Surveys in 2022. The Company has been moving forward with PDCA activities by analyzing the survey results on a company-wide, departmental, and workplace basis, identifying issues and making improvement, while working together with engagement key persons assigned by each division, to create a better workplace environment where diverse talents can work with engagement.

Asia Pacific, India and China region

BSAPIC is committed to making employee health and well-being a top priority with the philosophy “Safety First, Show Care and Stay Connected”. This approach has been fully embraced by regional group companies in all 12 countries and regions where BSAPIC operates. It remains a cornerstone to drive performance while strongly promoting employee well-being and improving work-life balance.

Building on this foundation, BSAPIC introduced a regional Hybrid Work Framework in 2022, allowing each group company to localize implementation according to the dynamic needs of their respective countries and sites. This flexibility ensures relevance and resilience in a fast-changing world of work. To further support employees, Meeting Management and After Working Hours Communications guidelines were rolled out across group companies. These initiatives reinforce support for employees’ work-life balance and well-being.

Recognizing the value of the hybrid work model in enhancing employee engagement and supporting well-being, BSAPIC's group companies have committed to maintaining it. By offering employees the flexibility to work both remotely and on-site, BSAPIC reaffirms its commitment to fostering a supportive and inclusive workplace culture.

Americas region

BSAM is dedicated to fostering a culture that prioritizes well-being, addressing the diverse needs of its teams to help them flourish. By actively listening, communicating frequently, forming strategic partnerships, and continuously evolving, BSAM provides robust resources, comprehensive benefit programs, and education opportunities that support employees’ emotional, physical, and financial well-being.

In 2022, BSAM established a Well-being Task Force to gather feedback from well-being champions across the organization, aiming to further enhance the programs. The team collaborates with Bridgestone employee resource groups (ERGs) and vendors to offer webinars on various topics, including women’s health and wellness, family forming, suicide awareness for military members and veterans, and more. BSAM has expanded its Well-being space by introducing new benefit programs that support the physical, emotional, and financial well-being of its employees. Each quarter, BSAM highlights a different well-being topic, providing employees with tools and resources to improve their wellness. From proactive health engagement and stress management to crisis and legal support, retirement planning, and saving for a child’s college tuition, BSAM offers a wide array of tools, resources, and partnerships to meet employee needs.

In 2024, BSAM further expanded its initiatives in the U.S. by increasing paid parental leave and implementing a company-paid long-term disability benefit. The company introduced a plan design change to make one of the medical plans more affordable and eligible for tax friendly reimbursement account participation and enhanced its prescription drug plan. Holistic health sessions were added through a current vendor partnership. BSAM also launched a cancer care program and introduced a cardiovascular app supporting the heart health of employees. Additionally, the company focused on financial well-being, expanded ERG partnerships, collaborated with the Bridgestone WEST Well-Being Team, launched Well-Being Moments, and supported local well-being fairs. In Latin America, BSAM began implementing monthly tips communicated in Spanish and Portuguese via email to better support employees in the region.

Furthermore, BSAM launched a Well-Being Toolkit in 2024, centralizing a collection of content for well-being events. These tools are designed to help business partners and employees focus on their overall well-being, educate them about corporate benefit offerings, and promote healthy living, financial stability, and informed benefit choices.

Europe, Middle East and Africa region

BSEMEA recognizes the importance of well-being for both its employees and the organization as a whole. In 2024, BSEMEA developed or strengthened several programs aimed at enhancing productivity and boosting engagement, while supporting employees' mental and physical health through targeted initiatives and advice.

The Employee Assistance Program is a voluntary, work-based initiative offering free and confidential assessments, short-term counseling, referrals and follow-up services to employees facing personal and/or work-related challenges. Topics include emotional support, physical coaching and practical assistance (such as dependent care, legal and financial issues, and daily living problems).

BSEMEA has a robust Health & Safety Management system in place, guided by our Safety Mission Statement – “Safety First, Always” – to manage material impacts on our workforce. We take pride in our zero-accident culture and structured approach to safety, industrial hygiene and ergonomics. All our plants in EMEA are certified to the ISO 45001 health and safety management standard, which helps manage compliance and fosters a culture of continuous improvement.

The Health and Safety Management Policy applies to all BSEMEA employees, contractors, visitors and businesses where BSEMEA operates, as well as any due diligence procedures for new business assessments through mergers and acquisitions. The policy covers compliance with health and safety-related laws and regulations, risk assessments to identify and mitigate workplace risks, investigation and implementation of countermeasures to prevent recurrence, training and education for safety awareness and safe behavior, and continuous improvement through internal and external audits.

Finally, our BSEMEA Engagement Pulse survey asks questions and quantitatively measures key drivers of our company culture in four areas — well-being, engagement, culture, and collaboration — which drive targeted actions for improving lower-scoring items. In the two years since adopting this approach, we have seen a positive impact on well-being across various employee groups. One concrete example of this in action: based on the Pulse feedback, BSEMEA initiated its well-being programs, with a structured action plan focused on psychological well-being, social well-being, physical well-being and workplace environment. Several in-person and online activities, events and conversations with internal and external experts were organized in 2024, with hundreds of employees participating and reporting high satisfaction. A virtual library with extensive reading and video content was also uploaded to our intranet and remains accessible to all employees.

Initiatives for work style reform

In Japan, Bridgestone complies with the Labor Standards Act by working to reduce overtime and encouraging employees to take their annual holiday leave. In order to achieve a flexible work style, the Company has implemented various systems such as flextime, a discretionary labor system, telework, and hourly-based paid leave. Furthermore, the Company engages in enhancing face-to-face communication during work time, aiming for further talent development and working, and business quality improvement based on the Bridgestone DNA in terms of “Focus on quality”, “Respect for being on site (Genbutsu-Genba)”, “Being attentive and supportive of customer problems” and championing a “Challenge spirit”. The Company aims continuously to achieve both enhancing productivity and creativity and creating value, and actively promotes the pursuit and realization of flexible, effective, and diverse work styles.

In Japan in 2024, the rate of employees taking annual paid leave was 88.1%, with an average of 17.6 days.
(In 2023, the rate of employees taking annual paid leave was 87.3%, with an average of 17.5 days.)
The Company also has a program requiring employees working more than a fixed number of hours to consult with industrial physicians to help maintain good health and prevent long working hours and health risks caused by overwork.

Total annual hours worked^* 1,922 hours (FY 2024)　 (1,941 hours in FY 2023)
Annual overtime hours worked 196 hours (FY 2024)　 (216 hours in FY 2023)

* Total annual hours worked = (Annual regular hours worked) + (Annual overtime hours worked) - (Annual paid holidays taken) - (Other holidays taken)

Bridgestone also takes measures to prevent excessive working hours and achieve a flexible work style:

• The Labor Union, through the activities of the Working Hours Committee and other committees, shares with the Labor Department the existing issues and activities to improve the situation.

• Bridgestone sets targets for annual leave days taken and monitors results.

• Bridgestone holds seminars about work-life balance.

• Bridgestone implemented a telework system in 2011.

• Normal working hours were reduced from 8 hours to 7.5 hours, reducing total work time since April 2017.

• Bridgestone has introduced a system that allows employees to take annual paid leave for 5 days (40 hours) per year on an hourly basis in 2021.

• Bridgestone abolished “core time” in the flextime system in 2024.

Employee benefits

The Group respects and encourages flexible work styles by offering benefits such as hybrid work schedules, childcare facilities in some locations, paid parental leave, and family care and/or volunteer leave above the legally required minimum in many locations including Japan, Asia-Pacific, India and China, Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa.

In Japan, the Company’s employees can make use of company housing, dormitories, rest homes, congratulations and condolences programs, programs for mutual support during natural disasters, childcare and nursing care support programs, asset formation support programs, housing loan programs, and various group insurance programs. Moreover, employees can also join the employee shareholding association to invest in both the Company’s and their own long-term futures. The Group is also working to systematically improve workplace welfare facilities, including sports facilities, cafeterias, shops, and break rooms, and some can be utilized after retirement.

Patent Compensation System

To boost its employees’ desire to develop new ideas, and to encourage new inventions that contribute to the advancement of its technological strategies, Bridgestone has set up the Patent Compensation System. Based on this system, employees are appropriately rewarded with the equivalent profit when the Company obtains the rights to receive a patent, etc, from the employee’s work.

Ensuring pay equity

The Group’s talent strategy is centered on “creating a place where diverse talent can shine”. As the foundation for this, the Group ensures pay equity and designs its compensation programs to be competitive in each market based on regional and country-specific labor market trends and best practices.

In Japan, Bridgestone’s compensation program establishes salaries according to "role and responsibilities," "ability to demonstrate," and "achievement and growth," and the same compensation program is used for all employees regardless of their characteristics. Compensation levels are based on a survey conducted to ensure a competitive position in the market in talent acquisition and retention, and salary revisions are considered including their necessity each year based on social trends and other factors in Japan. In determining compensation for employees who are represented by labor unions, the Company holds labor management negotiations with the Bridgestone Labor Union every spring, and revises employee salaries in accordance with agreements reached. The Company holds labor management negotiations to maintain and ensure market competitiveness of its compensation levels, which are based on enhancing productivity and creativity, and to establish a compensation system that supports employees who are self-motivated to take on challenges and achieve growth. Regarding pay equity between male and female employees, there is a difference between male and female employees as a result of current talent portfolio in terms of job categories and the percentage of managerial positions, resulting in wage disparities. The Group is initiating efforts towards a more balanced talent portfolio, enhancing participation of female managers in key positions and strengthening recruitment of female employees, along with improving working environments at manufacturing sites.

BSAPIC’s compensation program aims to attract, motivate and retain the right talent with the right skills for the right position. Its major compensation programs, which include base pay and short- and long-term incentives, are designed to drive employee engagement and motivation, while fostering a performance-driven culture in alignment with both individual and company-wide objectives.

Regular annual market reviews ensure the compensation programs remain competitive and relevant within the industry landscape, providing the employees with compensation packages that reflect their true worth. Moreover, each program undergoes thorough scrutiny and approval by the Succession, Nomination, and Compensation Committee of BSAPIC's Board of Directors on an annual basis, demonstrating the commitment to transparency and fairness.

BSAPIC is dedicated to upholding pay equity for its employees, regardless of gender or any other differentiating factor. Factors such as experience, skills, market conditions, local legislation, and performance are carefully considered to ensure each employee is compensated fairly and in accordance with their contributions to the organization. Additionally, for employees represented by labor unions, BSAPIC adheres to all relevant conditions outlined in the labor agreement, further solidifying the commitment to equitable compensation practices.

BSAM’s compensation program is committed to attracting, motivating and retaining employees who enable the company to achieve its short- and long-term business goals. Its compensation practices are in compliance with federal, state and local legal requirements. BSAM ensures pay equity through the job offer process, its annual compensation practices, and periodic internal compensation reviews. External market data is leveraged to evaluate and develop competitive pay structures, which are updated annually. Additionally, short- and long-term incentive programs are utilized to meet business needs and offer market competitive total direct compensation. These programs are reviewed and approved annually by the Succession, Nomination & Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors of BSAM. Pay practices are governed by collective bargaining agreements for those hourly employees represented by labor unions.

In BSEMEA, compensation programs operate on the principle of market-based pay, and compensation increases are driven by performance and market benchmarks. Its purpose is to attract, engage, and develop the right talent needed for Bridgestone’s future growth. The total compensation consists of base pay, short- and long-term variable pay, along with a comprehensive benefit program. To ensure adequacy, external market data from an established provider is collected as a reference. Additionally, the company maintains collective bargaining agreements with labor unions to promote dialogue and equity and adheres to local regulations in all countries and regions where it operates. Regular checks by the compensation team ensure fairness in terms of process application and salary distribution. The results are periodically shared and discussed with the Succession, Nomination, and Compensation Committee of BSEMEA’s Board of Directors (SNCC).