Human Capital Management

Our diverse human capital supports corporate value growth, while we support our employees' personal growth by providing environments and opportunities where people with diverse backgrounds can utilize their strengths and maximize their potential.

Human capital is the foundation for R&D capital, manufacturing capital, and customer relationship capital, which are necessary to realize our management strategies. Advantest promotes a variety of initiatives that focus on both the "individual strength" and the "organizational strength", the wheels needed to enhance the comprehensive strength of human capital. The Advantest Group, thereby, has established two basic policies regarding human capital development and internal environment development.

The Advantest Group ("Advantest") regards employees as human capital essential for its sustainable growth. Advantest strongly believes developing employees as human capital indicates an investment in human capital, and that the "individual strength" enhanced through the development and the "organizational strength" utilizing the enhanced individual strength are the two "wheels" that drive employee engagement and become the sources of future value creation. Accordingly, Advantest proactively, continually and fairly implements measures to develop human capital under The Advantest Way, INTEGRITY Core Values, technical and professional management strategies, and the skills required to grow within the development framework.

Established on April 25, 2023

The Advantest Group (“Advantest”) regards employees as human capital essential for its sustainable growth. Advantest also recognizes that maximizing the value of human capital will directly lead to increase its corporate value. Accordingly, Advantest proactively, continually and fairly implements measures to develop the internal environment for human capital under The Advantest Way, its management strategies, and this policy.

Established on April 25, 2023

Triggered by the employee engagement survey, which was conducted in 2018, we have launched our INTEGRITY Core Values, as a means to listen deeply to our employees' stories, and instilled them in everyone's hearts as a set of values that unite us. From the summer of 2019, we offered interactive INTEGRITY workshops for all our employees. This training, which incorporates the theme of the core values into daily work and encourages changes in the corporate culture, lasted until the end of FY2020 while avoiding the spread of COVID-19. Build upon a firm springboard, there were positive effects on internal communication and also offered a place where leaders thrive, and ideas prosper. In FY2023, as in FY2022, as a next phase of our cultural evolution, we worked on cultivating "leaders" who will drive the organization, and human resource development with a focus on the growth of individual employees.

In an era of high uncertainty and unpredictability, leaders must understand and make decisions about how to effectively demonstrate their skills and expertise in various circumstances. A new Advantest Leadership Model was created for our leaders worldwide to further develop skills and expertise in the four key areas - LEADER, MANAGER, COACH and EXPERT, and Leading with INTEGRITY workshops were held. Over 1,200 Advantest leaders have participated in this learning opportunity. In this training, leaders from various organizations, transcending national borders or organizations, participate in the same workshop, form a group of two ("learning buddies"), and spend about five months together discussing their progress toward their skill development goals and their concerns. These workshops not only play a role in mutually inspiring our colleagues but also provides insight on diversity.

In order to pool human resources and retain the best talent in the industry who will be our future leaders of the company, we implemented a "talent management program" for nine months, including a curriculum in management, finance, and liberal arts, for members selected from among our managers from FY2021. In FY2022, we expanded the scope of the program to include participants from group companies in each country and implemented a "Global Talent Management Program" for 13 months starting in September 2022. 
Through group work activities, in which participants were asked to consider Advantest's challenges and its countermeasures propose them to the management, the participants were able to form strong connections with the management and members outside of their own departments. These training activities also helps Advantest to become a "learning organization" - one of our long-term goals.

In order to improve corporate value over the long term, each employee must clearly understand the roles they play and improve their individual capabilities. In addition, we are required to combine these individual strengths and fully demonstrate them as an organizational strength in the global business playing field. With this in mind, Advantest has established the Advantest Development Framework which defines the foundational skills, advanced skills, manager skills, and senior management skills that Advantest seeks for in all levels of our employees, and shared it among all employees globally in January, 2022. In conjunction with the development framework introduction, we also introduced two new online learning platforms which are intended to provide all employee's and manager's access to training classes to further enhance the skills for their career advancement. Since some of these should be adapted to local customs and rules, the HR in each country decides the details of operation.
Advantest promises to actively support our employees who constantly strive to better themselves and seek to acquire advanced expertise and broad education.

In FY2023, two systems were established to support the Advantest Development Framework: the Group-wide Compliance Education Program (GCEP), a mandatory training curriculum for all employees, and the Global New Employee Orientation (NEO), a training curriculum for new hires and mid-career recruits.

Many new employees have joined Advantest with our business expansion from 2022 to 2023. For new employees who are curious and anxious to know more about Advantest's corporate culture and organization, rules and regulations, and other information, the company's intranet was not user-friendly as a lot of information was scattered everywhere, despite its availability. After several months of design by the IT team and HR in each country, we launched Global New Employee Orientation (NEO) in December, which allows new employees to automatically receive course information as soon as they join the company, and provides them with the necessary global information to help them adjust quickly to the company. In April 2024, we added a welcome message from the Group CEO. We will continue to update and improve the program to serve the greater good.

For more information on GCEP, please refer to "Compliance Education".

The introduction of e-learning and the #myADV guide, as a means to instill collaboration tools within the company, has encouraged the creation of an environment where people can learn if they want to. On the other hand, having too many options has made decision-making processes overwhelming for many people who allegedly reported that they cannot choose what they need to know or what they need to learn to be effective. In the meantime, some wanted to share what they know. In August 2023, a task force of HR and volunteers, "Rethinking Employee & Workplace Learning," was created to offer a place to respond to these issues related to learning. The group meets twice a month to discuss customer journeys based on design thinking to create a win-win situation for both those who teach and those who are taught. We will start with a trial in Japan, and then, going forward, will consider establishing a system to expand the program on a more global scale.

Advantest has prepared a training program that anyone can participate in, and where a wide range of topics can be learned, from basic knowledge up to the latest technology trends. In addition, we will continue to make improvements to adapt the training program to the changing environment, providing industry-leading superior human resource training, and attracting the best talent in the industry through this program, in cooperation with Advantest Academy, which specializes in employee education.

To adapt to the business environment that is drastically changing due to globalization, we are strengthening the human resources development training system in line with our mid/long-term management policy. To make this training even more effective, we are forging and implementing new programs, including the expansion of 1-on-1 communication trainings. New programs will also be delivered by specialists to make them more effective, and we will selectively use in-house or external lecturers depending on the program content.

At each Group company, we will also provide a wide range of education to increase the skills and expertise of individuals based on the needs in each country and region in addition to education through day-to-day operations.
For example, Advantest Taiwan inc. has implemented the "Sales Force Reinforcement Program" for account managers and engineers who work closely with customers to request customer support. Product updates were given by the development managers, including V93000, memory, and DI. Through these programs, employees share information and exchange ideas related to products and services, as well as learn about new market trends and solutions, ultimately helping them grow and improve their daily work. We aim to develop and instill a system that boosts the level of the entire Advantest Group by sharing information on these efforts between Group companies.

In FY2023, we continued to offer events that integrated both virtual and in-person as a flexible hybrid program due to restrictions by COVID-19 issue. We incorporated web conferencing systems to provide opportunities to learn despite the pandemic, offering environments for training that did not require coming in to work. By increasing online group work activities, which proved to be effective in boosting employee motivation, we were able to promote mutual awareness building across departments and expand connections regardless of work location.

In terms of language education, we focused on strengthening in-house marketing by introducing courses to employees and holding pre-learning sessions to solicit a wide range of participants. While spending most of the time at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we introduced micro-learning, allowing employees to effectively use their spare time, making it easier for learners to secure time to study. A total of 1,349 employees, roughly 40 more than last year, participated to improve their language skills.

As part of our leadership development initiatives, we introduced a liberal arts educational program to cultivate a sense of culture and have newly appointed managers obtain the "power to think" by themselves. As we enter a new post-pandemic era, this initiative develops the big picture of what is necessary for leaders from wide perspectives that include religion and philosophy. Through the three training sessions, group members deepened their awareness of issues and exchanged opinions, while also revitalizing exchanges in preparation for the presentation of their results.

As a demonstration of "Inclusion and Diversity," one of Advantest's core values, we have made it possible for working mothers who have returned from childcare leave and are working shorter hours to participate in outside seminars, mainly career education, from FY2021. Advantest is a tech company, and naturally, the number of female employees is not as large as that of male employees. The program is designed to offer participants an opportunity to think about balancing childcare and work, in other words, their own careers, while sharing opinions with other working mothers outside the company who are in the same situation, and to learn how to communicate effectively with their supervisors and coworkers.

At the Advantest Corporation (non-consolidated) in FY2023, a total of 33,459 employees received training of some kind, and the average number of training hours per employee was approximately 1.6 hours for 54,954 hours of total lesson time. A total of 84,896 people took part in e-learning globally, including Japan, and the average number of training hours per employee was approximately 0.4 hours for 36,002 hours of total lesson time. In total, the average training hours per employee was approximately 2 hours.

We place particular emphasis on educating engineers, with the aim of ensuring that our products continue to underpin leading-edge technologies.
We have created a training program accessible to every employee of the Group and covering a wide range of subjects, from basic knowledge to the latest technologies.

In FY2023, we continued to offer various technology seminars and technical training programs, with 1,032 engineers participating, double the number of last year. Some of the programs include courses in which Advantest's senior engineers appear as internal trainers. For example, one of the seminars featured a lecture on design quality by an employee in charge of design, thereby shedding light on the basic technologies required to maintain and improve product quality based on the speaker's first-hand experiences. Courses are held by inviting instructors from outside the company based on themes requested by engineers or management-level personnel, so as to support them in adapting to a rapidly changing business environment.

The program acts as a means of imparting not only technical knowledge but also Advantest's corporate DNA to future generations.

Since 1992, we have held the "Software Engineering Forum" more than 200 times. These forums offer a place where employees can learn not only the latest technical information on Agile, AI, GPU, etc., but also a wide range of security-related and up-to-date information from internal and external lecturers, including those from overseas. In FY2023, there were many in-house presentations on IT, business management, and technology development, as well as from outside the company on quality, AI services, container technology, and more.

In 2019, we started "Advantest Engineering Friday" as a place for engineers to share their interests on an ongoing basis. We offered opportunities where engineers can share their insights on different themes and learn from each other, going beyond their own organization or community. These activities have served as a bridge for software engineers, who are eager to learn and share, to expand their knowledge, and as a place for in-house technical exchange.

We invite external instructors to provide course on themes and the latest trends that are of great interest to our employees, which also serve as a means to pass on technical know-how to the next generation.
In FY2023, we co-sponsored a D2T Symposium by the Systems Design Lab (d.lab) of the School of Engineering at the University of Tokyo and in-house seminars on semiconductor markets, manufacturing technologies, and business strategies by inviting outside speakers. We devised ways to provide lectures and symposiums on a wide range of topics, regardless of whether they are related to work or not, providing opportunities to broaden one's scope as an engineer and to increase their motivations.
We are planning to increase the number of participants not only by holding various trainings and lectures, but also by establishing an environment where participants can learn what they wish to learn (on-demand education), and encourage employees to learn independently.

Advantest's training program for new employees starts with one month of basic business training covering the basics of working life. After that, the new recruits are put into one of two occupation-specific training regimes, depending on whether they have been hired for engineering or administrative job assignments.
Engineering employees first learn the basics of design, and then go on to learn the necessary skills as Advantest engineers through basic technology training to obtain the basic knowledge required, hardware training, software training, and device test training. New administrative employees receive basic training for administrative operations to learn the basics of administration and brush up on their administrative skills, while learning the contents of the Group's business and how the divisions are interrelated.

New employees for FY2023 underwent training camps organized at Kinugawa Onsen (hot spring) immediately after joining the company so that they can better communicate with their peers.
Prior to their assignment, they take a "talent assessment" together with their OJT leaders, of which data is used as reference information for mutual understanding.
By having new employees experience diverse types of training in this manner, we are able to ensure that they will clearly understand their own roles, and will recognize the importance of teamwork with other divisions. Our training period for new recruits acts as a key formative phase in their professional development as Advantest employees.

Advantest has been striving to realize good work-life balance for all employees and to create a work environment in which each and every employee can work with higher job satisfaction.

With the spread of remote work and the progress of globalization and workstyle reforms due to the current COVID-19 situation, the working environment has changed drastically, forcing us to recognize a need for a more diverse form of office use. Under such circumstances, we have been unceasing in our exploration for the very existence of the office that ensures comfort, safety, and productivity, and have prompted improvements to further enhance the work environment by renovating the office.

Advantest has been renovating offices at each of our sites to realize new workstyles.

Gunma R&D Center began a complete renewal of its office floors from FY2022 against the backdrop of aging fixtures and fittings that have been in use since construction was completed (Building 1 in 1996 and Building 2 in 2001) and changes in workstyles, including an increasing trend in remote work and web conferencing.

In FY2023, we conducted an effectiveness and verification survey of the two office floors that were renovated in the previous fiscal year. We confirmed that points increased in almost all items measuring satisfaction with the office environment, and that the ease of working has improved. In FY2023, we suspended major construction work, but installed café machines and tea servers on each floor, replaced water servers in the communication area, and made comprehensive efforts to improve the office environment while reducing CO2 emissions without compromising quality.

In FY2024, we will begin renovations of two new office floors to accommodate work styles where in-office workstyle is the norm.

Owing to the large-scale nature of this renewal, we are also conducting post-renovation effectiveness and verification to determine what kind of fixtures and layouts will be effective in realizing the overall concept, with long-term benefits in mind. In addition, with an eye on the progression of global operations, the work environment will change dramatically in the future, and diversity in working places and styles will be required. As one measure to consider what the company's offices should be like under such circumstances, we hold regular meetings with facility managers at our overseas offices. We aim to create a better environment by exchanging information on how to realize an office that is comfortable, safe, and productive.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, we shifted our workstyle from encouraging remote work to one based on in-office worksyle, and began efforts to revitalize communication in the workplace. As part of this initiative, we designated the days when we hold all-hands meetings, New Year greetings, founding ceremonies, technical conference, and other events as "Real Communication Days (RCD)" (excluding employees on business trips or vacation), when all employees are required to come to work. Gunma R&D Center introduced RCD on a trial basis in January 2024, ahead of other business sites. To accommodate the increase in the number of employees coming to work as part of this initiative, we increased the number of seats in some office areas and renovated the cafeteria.

We plan to expand this initiative to all offices and will continue to promote the revitalization of face-to-face communication.

Advantest has been continuously improving the #myADV digital workplace (#myADV), which started in May 2020, in order to encourage and support global business development and a "hybrid" way of working for employees globally.

#myADV is promoted by the Global IT Collaboration team and supports volunteer #myADV guides (over 150 guides as of the end of February 2023). Specifically, the Global IT Collaboration team conducts regular coaching sessions for #myADV guides, as well as organization-specific use case analysis and training for specific business entities to support company-wide dissemination and use of collaboration tools.

In fiscal 2023, we introduced a company-wide shared translation tool with the aim of promoting global communication and provided training on its usage and functions on #myADV guides.

In addition, we are working to unify tools for creating departmental websites. By unifying the tools, it will be easier to search for keywords on the website regardless of department, and #myADV guide will also be available as support for the creation of the respective websites.

Furthermore, we are developing an AI-based keyword search application, with the goal of expanding it to department wise websites.

Advantest Europe GmbH (AEG) has participated in the surveys on employee job satisfaction of the international human resources consulting agency "Great Place to Work®" every other year since 2017. AEG has been recognized as one of the top 100 companies in 2017, 2019 and 2021 and ranked in the top 10 companies in Information Technology and Communication sector in 2023. Great Place to Work® evaluates companies of all sizes, industries, and regions, and annually recognizes companies whose survey results exceed a certain level as "Best Workplaces" and announces the top list of companies in its "Best Workplaces" lists each year.

In addition, workstyle reform is being tackled in each Group company in order to create workplaces where all employees can work while having a sense of worthwhile.

Advantest Korea (ATK) took the challenge of conducting a "Great Place to Work" assessment for the first time in May 2023, achieved good results exceeding a certain level in its second attempt in March 2024, and finally earned the "Great Place to Work®" certification in April 2024. The certification came as the result of various initiatives to create a comfortable workplace, including "culture day" events to discuss the corporate culture, and "praise activities" to praise and thank colleagues for their outstanding efforts in their daily work. (For details, see "Improvement of Corporate Culture.") These efforts also resulted in 80% of employees feeling welcomed when they newly joined the company.

Advantest conducted our first global-wide Employee Engagement Survey in 2018. Though the implementation of the survey was postponed due to the outbreak of COVID-19, three years later, in the fall of 2021, we repeated the Gallup survey (Next implementation scheduled for October 2024).

Ever since gaining various insights through the initial survey in 2018, Advantest has continued to make steady efforts. We believe that each of these activities will become a retention measure and become the driving force that turns the wheels of both "individual strengths" and "organizational strengths", ultimately leading to the improvement of the Group's profitability and productivity, customer satisfaction, and reduced turnover. In other words, engagement improvement measures per se serve as profit margin improvement measures, productivity improvement measures, customer satisfaction increase measures, and retention measures.

Advantest continuously pursues a culture in which all employees are appreciated, respected, and work together to achieve common goals. The purpose of this survey is to provide employees with opportunities to share their thoughts on our company or organization. It stimulates dialog between the manager and the team, which ultimately leads to creating ideas for improving our company or organization from every level. The survey results provide a clue to knowing what the employees think of their work or work environment and how the company can support its employees. The survey makes it possible to identify the company's strengths and the fields that require improvement through open feedback from employees. In addition, we will take actions for improvements so as to raise the level of employee engagement in work and workplace environments, with the aim of improving the performance of the company as a whole as well as the performance of individual employees. Advantest believes that individual and organizational strengths are the two "wheels" that not only drive employee engagement but are needed to enhance the comprehensive strength of human capital.

Employee engagement refers to the emotional commitment of employees to their organization or its goals. An employee who is engaged in work does not only do what is minimally required, but goes about his/her work enthusiastically and energetically, with an effort to output more than what is required. According to a survey conducted by Gallup, Inc., engagement among employees worldwide is only 15%. In addition, it has become clear that there is a connection between employee engagement and the following indexes.

The survey during fiscal 2021 was conducted from October 12th to 26th for all employees of the Advantest Group who had been employed for three months or longer at that point. The response rate was 90%. The survey was conducted using the platform of Gallup, Inc. in an online format in which anonymity is ensured.

The results showed significant improvements, including an increase in scores for all items in Q^12® (12 questions for engagement measurement derived from the findings of Gallup, Inc.). The overall average score was 3.64, an increase of 0.16 points from the previous survey. This is by far the biggest improvement among companies who consecutively completed the Gallup survey. We also saw an improvement in awareness and opportunities related to the category of Recognition (the need to know that efforts are recognized and valued) and Development that were highlighted during the previous survey, marking 26% for the ratio of Engaged (diligent) employees, a 6-point increase from the previous score. This survey confirmed that the engagement level of Advantest Group companies is considerably higher than the standard for each country. These are clear indications of each of our employees' efforts to understand the importance of engagement, and shows how they have embraced and implemented our corporate reforms such as "INTEGRITY" and "Leading with INTEGRITY," yielding measurable results.

Our overall score is not high, when compared to other companies participating in Gallup's survey, and there is still room for improvement. After sharing information with each department, where department leaders discussed the factors that may have led to these results, we drew up action plans to address each issue.

The same Gallup survey is scheduled to be conducted in 2024. This survey plays a meaningful role not only in confirming activity results in numerical terms, but also in terms of instilling an awareness of engagement as part of our corporate culture. Engagement varies considerably depending on the customs and cultures of each country. While localized efforts are necessary, our INTEGRITY Core Values, which are the foundation of our corporate philosophy, The Advantest Way, are shared globally. We believe that it is essential to enhance engagement by executing action plans that address the characteristics and challenges of each department, sharing information about activities across the entire Group, and promoting investment in human and economic resources aiming to foster our corporate culture.

The results of the 2018 Gallup employee engagement survey provided us an opportunity to reflect on our attitudes and mentality towards work.

Since 2019, we have held multiple workshops to deepen all employees' understanding of INTEGRITY Core Values, and since FY2021, we encouraged all our managers to participate in the Leading with INTEGRITY workshops. In addition, the "INTEGRITY Award" was also introduced, enabling Advantest employees to recognize and express their appreciation for colleagues who have demonstrated our corporate culture in exceptional ways.

"Cross 1on1" is a little different from the conventional 1on1, referring to a place where mentors (advisers) and mentees (those who are advised) can talk one-on-one across organizational boundaries. Mentees are able to gain insights that cannot be obtained from their own department or daily work alone, and foster their potential. Mentors also have the opportunity to improve their coaching skills, which is one of the most important elements of the leadership model.

What started as merely 10 participants in the ATE Business Group (Japan) in 2020, has increased in number over time with each round of 1on1 activity. The number of mentors and mentees reached more than 70 (including mentors and mentees) by the ninth phase of 2023, due in part to the selection as one of the CEO Award winners of The INTEGRITY Award in FY2021 in recognition of its efforts to implement the EMPOWERMENT aspect of INTEGRITY core values and the expansion network of its values, and also due to the active exchange among IAs. In the 10th phase in 2024, there were also applicants for mentors from overseas bases.

From April 2021, the ATE Business Group (Japan) has incorporated an engagement visualization tool to survey the team, followed by team discussion and improvement activities every three months. These initiatives are managed by survey feedback activity promotion members who are volunteers from inside and outside the department, and their participation is optional, decided upon a consensus of the team. We continue to provide support to participating teams by regularly inviting outside lecturers to hold webinars and creating opportunities to share examples of each team's activities.

Since two of the IAs appointed in FY2022 were members of the promotion team, survey feedback activities are being shared as case studies with regular exchanges among IAs. These activities, which began in April 2021 with 169 members (22 teams), have increased to 573 members (64 teams) as of March 2024, with more participants from units other than the ATE Business Group. Five of the promotion team members are IAs.

We have received a strong response from those who were gifted INTEGRITY chocolates as petit gifts for their actions that embody the nine core values. One division made INTEGRITY chocolates, which were distributed to managers throughout the department who spread the word, ultimately increasing the engagement score. The recipients were all very pleased as this experience provided an opportunity to learn that praise is strongly related to engagement. We then created INTEGRITY gums as variants of chocolates, and distributed them to a wider group. It has now become an indispensable communication tool to recognize and praise behavior change.

In addition, one division of the ATE Business Group has gone further into conducting "off-site meetings" to address department-wide issues.

The T2000 Product Unit (T2000PU) has held 10 interactive off-site meetings (20 participants x 2 days) since March 2023 at a café near its office, which was attended by all members, including the director in charge.

The impetus for holding these meetings came from a sense of urgency on the part of the officer in charge of the T2000PU. There were concerns over lack of mutual understanding among employees across departments as well as a stronger development of self-interest among peers. To resolve these issues, members spent eight months developing a concept with the advice of an outside consultant, and after a trial period, the team successfully held the event.

The first day began with a talk by the director in charge himself on the current status of the T2000PU and his expectations for the workshop. Groups were divided into the same proportions in terms of age and area of responsibility as the organization's overall personnel structure to increase opportunities for mutual understanding. This allowed for a session exploring the history of T2000 R&D, in which those with experience spoke about how they felt about their work in each transition and created interactive dialogues with the younger members of the group. The second day ended with a session to think and share about what they want to do with the organization in the future, with a focus on personal experience.

After the implementation of the off-site meeting, we have made efforts to vitalize communication within the PU. The journey to promote organizational revitalization continues, as we move forward in incorporating activities that seem necessary based on the organization's situation.

Since the production division varies in job types and organizational forms, we believe that measures to improve engagement and support systems should be tailored to each division. We feel that the organization is being revitalized through cumulative efforts of activities.

Starting in FY2019, we are using a survey tool that allows employees to report their monthly work, relationship, and health conditions and comments to their managers. By October 2021, the majority of members are using the tool. In August 2023, the tool will be made available to all production division employees aside from management.

Also, activities, which began in December 2020 amidst the COVID-19 crisis, where we listen to employees' conditions and opinions using the survey function of the collaboration tool are progressing. These activities include online distribution of messages from the Executive Vice President and introductions of initiatives implemented by each division, as well as monthly questionnaires asking employees for their impressions and opinions. The survey responses following the distribution of the messages are received from approximately 40% of the employees, and an interactive communication is realized while the Executive Vice President responds to the questions raised by the employees.

Such interactive communication has evolved to a new stage in 2022. A proposal by a senior employee led to the creation of a course called "What is a Tester?" which was well received that more than half of the employees in the production division took the course. In addition to the conventional activities to enhance the corporate climate and culture as well as the connection among employees, we were able to understand the connection between the work we do and the world, which can be perceived as a big step toward becoming a rewarding workplace. We will continue to promote these initiatives so as to improve productivity as a result of these series of activities.

Advantest Korea Co., Ltd. (ATK) has been working hard to improve its corporate culture since 2022. These activities were first implemented in the administrative division in 2022, which included "praise activities" to express gratitude and praise to colleagues who made outstanding efforts in their daily work, and successfully created a culture of mutual admiration. As a result, the internal survey showed a 12% improvement in the praise question and a 13% improvement in the question regarding the promotion of growth. To further enhance these positive results, we expanded the program to the entire company in fiscal 2023.

"Change Agents" were selected from each department to implement improvement activities, who then gathered ideas for changes and activities needed by employees and formulated them into workable plans. A variety of initiatives to encourage employees to change their actions/mindsets and culture, including culture days (discussions about corporate culture), praise activities, and opportunities for conversations with colleagues and subordinates, were also organized. Workshops were also held at the company-wide level to help employees better understand peers of different generations and positions, and to provide them with opportunities to learn smooth communication skills that will help them interact in their daily work. As a result of these efforts, we received positive feedback from employees, such as "Encouragement from supervisors is a powerful motivator," and "There are ongoing efforts to raise psychological safety throughout ATK."

In April 2023, we opened the "Health Lounge," a welfare facility (see "Health Initiatives") based on feedback from an internal survey. Through these various improvement activities, we were able to obtain Great Place to Work® certification in April 2024 (See "Creating a Workplace with Higher Job Satisfaction").

Advantest believes that the realization of a good work-life balance will ultimately contribute to the improvement of corporate value. We believe that a well-balanced workstyle is necessary to allow employees to maximize their capabilities while balancing their private life with work, and to maintain their motivation. Based on this philosophy, Advantest has continued to create good working environments that offer flexible working systems.

In Japan, Advantest has been promoting active use of existing systems, such as days to finish work at the appointed time, use of annual paid leave, and flextime (for all employees). The ratio of employees using annual paid leave usage (23 days a year (22 days for employees with less than 10 years of continuous service)) has maintained a high standard at around 70% each year, marking 80.0% in fiscal 2023.
Moreover, a remote working system and a home office working system for all employees have been established, aiming to expand systems in which many employees will be able to conduct flexible and efficient work according to their tasks, workstyles, and lifestyles.

In addition to enhancing working practices, we also believe that supporting the health of employees is important from the perspective of work-life balance. We are therefore promoting the creation of workplaces where employees can work in good physical and mental health globally. For details, please refer to "Promotion of Health and Productivity Management".

The Advantest Group in Japan has introduced the remote working system since April 2020. We withdrew the restrictions on the maximum number of days that remote work is possible. We provide an environment in which most of the tasks can be done remotely in accordance with the basic information security policies.

The introduction of the remote working system has led to an expansion of new workstyles, helping employees, not only those who are raising children or caregiving family members, but also many others, to balance work and private lives.

Advantest actively promotes support programs for balancing work and private life, providing flexible ways of working according to each individual's situation at various stages in employees' lives.

At Advantest, pregnant employees can receive 100% compensation during prenatal checkups and pregnancy complications leave, and are offered the choice to work shorter hours if instructed by a doctor. Advantest offers childcare leave and caregiving leave that exceeds legal standards. Childcare leave can be taken until the child reaches the age of two years and three months, and caregiving leave can be taken for a maximum of three years. Other leave programs are also widely used, such as the accumulated holiday program, which can be taken for a variety of reasons, by fathers as well as mothers, including a spouse's childbirth, childcare, fertility treatment, and other caregiving responsibilities.
Furthermore, Advantest offers shorter work hours for employees who are raising children or looking after ill relations. Shorter working hours for childcare can be used until the employee’s youngest child reaches the sixth grade, and is currently being used by many employees with children to balance work and childcare. There is no restriction on the period in which employees can work short hours in order to care for ill family members, so that employees can best balance their jobs with their home lives.

As there are cases in which employees resign their jobs during life transitions, such as marriage, childbirth, childcare, caregiving for the family, and spouse job relocation, Advantest has established a re-employment program for employees who meet a certain criterion.

We are also working on support for childcare participation for fathers, which includes the provision of personal consultations for male employees with children and their supervisors, guidance for childcare-related systems, and support for using childcare leave. In addition, starting in fiscal 2022,we have institutionalized a childcare leave subsidy of up to four weeks for employees who take childcare leave within eight weeks of the birth of their child.

It should be noted that re-employment of female employees following childcare leave as a result of these efforts, was 100% in fiscal 2023, and the ratio of male employees taking childcare leave in fiscal 2023 was 34%.

Advantest will continue to support fathers’ participation in childcare by offering individual consultations for fathers raising children.

In Japan, based on the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children, efforts were made (measures and initiatives to increase the ratio of fathers taking childcare leave and creating environments that support work-life balance, and initiatives to reduce overtime and promote the use of annual paid leave) in accordance with the action plan period from April 2022 until March 2024. These activities so far were recognized, and Advantest received its second "Kurumin" certification in October 2022.
We will continue to focus on each employee’s work-life balance and promote various initiatives toward creating work environments in which diverse human resources can play active roles.

In Japan, Advantest launched the "Work-Life Balance Support Guide" website on the company intranet, offering information on work-life balance programs that can be used according to one's lifestyle, and raising awareness of the various programs that Advantest provides and encouraging utilization of the same. In recent years, Advantest has actively announced the work-life balance program, posted experiences of our male employees taking childcare leave, and also developed an environment that allows easier consultation, such as establishing a consultation service, to promote an environment in which employees can use work-life balance programs with peace of mind.

Advantest strives to ensure employees work appropriate hours to protect their health and achieve a work-life balance.
The Advantest Corporation (non-consolidated) has set the goals specified below and focused on increasing operational efficiency, encouraging a change in employee mindsets, and making the most of available work arrangements such as flextime and shift work while striving to reduce the amount of overtime.

From fiscal 2020 onwards, we will continue to adopt the reduction of overtime work into our action plan under the Act on Promotion of Women's Participation and Advancement in the Workplace. We will raise awareness via the company intranet and promote initiatives to achieve flexible workstyles in order to further reduce the number of overtime hours.

Despite these initiatives, we were unable to achieve our company plan of zero employees working 80 hours or more of overtime per month for FY2023.
We were unable to achieve these goals due to troubleshooting an unexpected issue.
The overtime hours per employee for FY2023 were an average of 19.7 hours as of March 2024. We saw a decrease in our overtime hours from the previous fiscal year due to a decrease in efforts to address increased demand and to meet short delivery deadlines, which were common in FY2022.

We encourage employees to take annual paid leave (up to 23 days per year) according to the job schedule of each person, work-life balance, and other work conditions to realize work-life balance at Advantest (non-consolidated). In addition to planned paid leave (6 to 12 days each year), we have also introduced multipurpose consecutive leave (3 days a year) and refresh leave (3, 5, and 8 days of leave given to employees after working continuously for 10, 20, and 30 years, respectively). Furthermore, annual paid leave that will be lost can be carried over as cumulative paid leave for 5 days a year up to a maximum of 30 days to use for reasons that include injury to the employees themselves or the need to take care of a child or family member as well as volunteering, self-development, infertility treatments, or to help with donor activities, and due to disasters. In FY2023, we have introduced paid leave by the hour to support employees in taking paid leave flexibly.

Based on HPM policy, promote HPM from the following three viewpoints.

Advantest and the Advantest Health Insurance Union are actively working together to maintain and promote various initiatives for employee health and their families based on a clear division of roles and by promoting a favorable work environment (Collaborative Health).
Advantest's Human Resources Department, Health Promotion Office, and labor union work together to promote health management, while the Advantest Health Insurance Union promotes health services based on the Data Health Plan, centered on the Health Management Business Promotion Committee, which includes the employers and the labor union.

Since establishing the Declaration of HPM Policy, Advantest, our domestic Group companies, the health insurance association, and labor union have come together to promote health check-ups, boost the implementation rate of specified health guidance, and introduce a health portal site, along with various other activities that directly affect employee health. These activities include online dieting/smoking cessation programs, encouraging exercise using a mobile app-based health promotion, and health literacy training.

In fiscal 2023, as part of our activities to promote health management, the second walking event "Summer Health & Wellness Promotion 420,000 Steps Challenge" was held for Advantest Health Insurance subscribers from June 1, and the "Autumn Health & Wellness Promotion Challenge" from November 1.

The San Jose office offers office yoga for one hour twice a week. The exercises focus on the back, shoulders, neck, and other areas affected by long hours of desk work. We have received positive feedback from the participants, so by the time employees return to their seats after the class, they feel more physically and mentally fit and are more likely to get work done.

Advantest Test Solutions conducted its first walking challenge to improve employee health and teamwork. We began by setting an ambitious target of reaching a total of 5,760,000 steps by the end of June, and the 41 participants almost doubled that target, reaching 10,139,655 steps. This is equivalent to the distance from our office to Brazil, and the turnout exceeded our expectations by far.

We organized a fitness course to encourage people to avoid standing or sitting all the time on the anniversary of the company, and rather to move around and exercise. We offered two courses, one gentle and one strenuous, and many enjoyed both. Participants were very impressed with the unique experience of dancing together with their colleagues and found the course very refreshing.

At Advantest we believe that a vigorous workforce makes for a vigorous workplace. Accordingly, our Health Promotion Office supports efforts to ensure both the mental and physical health of our workforce, so that we can provide a safe and comfortable workplace environment. We introduced stress checks in FY2012 before they became required by law because we consider preventative measures as the key to our mental health activities. By quantifying stress (thus making it visible), we promote stress awareness among everyone in our workforce, which is useful for self-care.

In the 2023 stress check, which achieved 92% response rate, 6.9% of the employees with the highest diagnosed stress levels were referred to mental health consultations, and 5.8% of them actually received consultations. We also held seminars (during FY2023, e-learning seminars were held) to reinforce self-care, and the participation rate was 91%.

Organizational analysis stated that high stress workplaces decreased from 17.2% in FY2017 to 3.5% (2.2% in FY2022). From fiscal 2019, this initiative was narrowed down to target managers in workplaces with high levels of stress and offered more practical training for workplace environment improvement. We continuously work on improving stress levels by following up on the implementation situation to create a workplace that mitigates the occurrence of mental health disorders.

We have also formulated recovery plans with occupational physician from the latest reports as well as provide support for employees to return to the workplace after taking a leave of absence, enabling them to take time off without worry if their mental state worsens due to a variety of stress. In addition, an eight-step process (which includes status reports, consultation with occupational physician, return to work planning, and follow-up interviews after returning to work) has been set up to avoid overstressing people and the workplace.

At Advantest's Health Promotion Office, a comprehensive range of health professionals (including occupational physician, clinical psychologists, public health nurses, nurses, and industrial counselors) provide counseling services for physical and mental problems of all kinds. Applications for counseling can be submitted easily by telephone or e-mail, or via the company's intranet. In fiscal 2023, counseling services were provided on 744 occasions.

Advantest and its domestic Group companies provide regular health check-ups to maintain and improve the health of employees in addition to regular physicals through subsidies from the health insurance association.
We provide health check-ups once or twice each year both in domestic and overseas bases. We have achieved a 100% health check-up ratio since FY2018 for domestic employees, with a 69.6% ratio of individuals undergoing thorough examination in FY2023 (60.8% in FY2022), and a 75.7% ratio of individuals receiving specific health guidance in FY2022 (76.0% in FY2021)^*.
In FY2023, 97.6% of our employees received health literacy training (97.7% in FY2022), while 26.1% of our employees are using health promotion applications. Advantest is also promoting projects that allow employees who do not have the habit of exercising to start doing so (ratio of employees with exercise habits: 31.1% in FY2023) by holding walking events using this health promotion application.

In addition, we held medical seminars by specialists. In FY2023, the seminar focused on breast cancer as a theme to address women's health issues, promoting knowledge and awareness of breast cancer and the need for regular checkups to motivate people to improve their health. In a post-seminar questionnaire, more than 90% of participants were satisfied with the seminar.

The Health Promotion Office provides health guidance, email support, and staff/occupational physician consultations for employees who have received a diagnosis through checkups. Furthermore, employees with a history of brain and heart disease are interviewed regardless of their health check-up results, and work restrictions are put into place to ensure their safety.

Advantest delivers safety, security, and comfort to people worldwide through semiconductor test. "Safety, security, and comfort" are also linked to our attitude towards our employees, and equally, we have established the Advantest Group Health and Safety Policy as a management issue to be realized at all business sites.

This policy is communicated not only to employees but also to stakeholders to encourage greater awareness of the importance of health and safety management.

At Advantest, every year we convene the "Health and Safety Committee Meeting" which decides the health and safety direction and policy for the whole group. The approach to health and safety is based on the main activity themes decided on at this meeting, upon which the health and safety committees at each location set their annual targets and plans.

We also regularly hold health and safety committee secretariat meetings throughout the company, and strengthen each location's health and safety activities through this sharing of information about relevant activities.

Japan's company-wide Health and Safety Committee, chaired by the Co-CHO & Co-CCO, is made up of officers, who are the heads of the Health and Safety Committees at each business location, and presidents of domestic Group companies. Furthermore, the Health and Safety Committees at each business location are composed mostly of representatives of both the company and union employed at the business location.

The Health and Safety Committee examines revisions to and compliance with laws and regulations related to occupational health and safety, and through deliberations on hazardous risk, it votes on proposed countermeasures, while communicating them to employees through minutes of the meeting.

Advantest collaborates with overseas group companies to share information on the occurrence of occupational accidents on a global scale. In the event of an occupational accident, the causes are identified, recurrence prevention measures are formulated, and necessary measures are horizontally deployed at each site to prevent similar accidents from occurring again.

On April 19, 2023, Advantest obtained ISO45001 certification, an international standard for occupational health and safety management systems, at Gunma Factory.

ISO45001 is a global standard for occupational health and safety, established in 2018 by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and is a universal framework that defines the establishment and operation of systems to prevent work-related accidents and disasters and to achieve the provision of safe and healthy workplaces.

With the introduction of the occupational health and safety management system, risk assessments have been disseminated to workplaces, and each respective department is actively implementing activities to recognize and reduce potential hazards or harmful effects. In addition, a system is in place to receive information on revisions to laws and regulations, and to confirm whether a response is required, as well as to record the status of implementation.

The Gunma Factory continues to work on zero accidents resulting in lost work time.

Advantest will continue its effort to improve our working environment and create a comfortable workplace.

Advantest Corporation ISO45001 certification scope

Advantest promotes activities to achieve zero occupational accident rate (Lost Time Incident Rate: LTIR) set forth in the ESG Action Plan, with each site aiming to achieve zero personal injury in the workplace, while implementing the PDCA cycle to achieve the target.

Major initiatives in FY2023 are as follows:

There have been no fatalities in operations in the last five years.
In FY2023, the rate of occupational accidents (LTIR) was 0.04 for domestic Group companies, and 0.21 when including both domestic and overseas Group companies.

The Advantest Group regularly conducts occupational health and safety education and strives to build a safe workplace where everyone can work with peace of mind by preventing occupational accidents before they happen and raising awareness about occupational health and safety. E-learning has been incorporated to some areas of Advantest's unique health and safety education. We will strive towards further participation from employees.

Advantest respects employees, who are valuable assets to the company, and evaluates them fairly. Advantest is supporting the diverse lifestyles of employees as well as the growth of individual employees so that they grow together with the Company. Advantest established the human resources basic philosophy in September 2000 to protect these valuable assets and enhance their value, and is implementing various human resources measures, such as ensuring fairness and consent and actively supporting human resources development.

Advantest also supports the United Nations Global Compact 10 Principles, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and is paying adequate attention to these principles of human rights and labor in its business activities.

Regarding its employees as valuable management resources (assets), Advantest has formulated the following policies for implementing various human resources measures and has been making continuous efforts to achieve them.