YKK AP Receives Grand Prize in HR/HR Transformation Category at "Career Ownership Management AWARD 2026"

YKK AP Inc. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Akira Uozu) is pleased to announce that it has received the Grand Prize in the HR/HR Transformation category (Large Enterprise Division *1) at the "Career Ownership Management AWARD 2026" (hereinafter, this Award).

This Award recognizes companies that practice "Career Ownership Management" (*2), which supports employees' autonomous career development and connects individual growth to organizational vitality. Our company formulated the HR strategy "Architect HR" (*3) in October 2025, aiming to create a system that allows employees to design their own careers and achieve sustainable growth for the entire organization. This "Architect HR" was evaluated for its initiative to redefine HR as a design function that draws out employees' intentional career formation and links it to the organization's adaptability to change, business growth, and enhanced corporate value.

YKK AP will continue to aim for an organization that embraces change and creatively evolves, with each employee connecting self-growth with social contribution.

【Points of Evaluation】

・Redefinition of HR Function and the Philosophy of "Architect HR"

The redefinition of HR from mere system operation to a "design function" that connects employees' intentional career formation to business growth and enhanced corporate value was highly evaluated. In particular, the integration of philosophy, structure, learning, connection, and transparency, redefining career as "something designed jointly by employees and the company," and the creation of a flow that links dialogue, learning, and cross-boundary experiences while visualizing individual aspirations and experiences, were highly praised.

・Organizational Design that Visualizes Invisible Changes and Prevents Separation of Mechanisms and Culture

The attitude of connecting even invisible organizational changes, such as people, relationships, decision-making, and the quality of autonomy, to management, and designing to include the stance of managers reviewing their dialogue methods and respecting employees' intentions, was evaluated as preventing the separation of mechanisms and culture.

・A Story Connecting Individual Autonomy and Organizational Value Creation

The initiative was also evaluated for being structured as a story that connects employees' autonomous challenges and organizational value creation through a flow that leads from individual "questions" to learning, selection, and action, rather than a collection of isolated measures. Concrete changes such as improved penetration of philosophy, enhanced engagement, increased voluntary applications, and improved quality of 1-on-1s demonstrate that this design is steadily functioning, and further expansion is expected.

【Overview of "Architect HR"】

YKK AP quickly grasped the limitations of a model where companies manage human resources unidirectionally, in response to changes in the business environment and the advancement of AI, and is working to transform into a structure where individual autonomous growth promotes business evolution.

Under the YKK spirit of "Cycle of Goodness (no prosperity for oneself without benefiting others)," "Architect HR" applies the spirit of manufacturing and the design philosophy of architecture to organizational development, building an environment where employees can learn and grow autonomously through the following five pillars:

●Foundation

Aiming to "build a solid foundation," it promotes the penetration of the "Cycle of Goodness," clarification of skill standards and career paths, and establishment of a global HR foundation.

●Framework

For "flexible and adaptable organizational design," it accelerates the shift from a functional to a job & skill-based model, promoting flexible organizational design that transcends departmental and occupational boundaries, such as sales, manufacturing, and development.

●Materials

To focus on "talent development and skill enhancement," it established "AP Academia" to strengthen employee learning opportunities, and introduced data-driven talent management (*4) and next-generation leader development programs.

●Connections

To build an "internal and external ecosystem," it develops initiatives that promote "cross-boundary experiences," such as joint projects with other companies, strengthening industry-academia collaboration, enhancing referral hiring (*5) and alumni networks (*6), and collaborating with local communities.

●Transparency

Aiming for a "fair and equitable organizational culture," it promotes improved evaluation transparency, information openness, and visualization of decision-making processes.

【Reference Information】

About "Career Ownership Management AWARD"

This Award (Judging Committee Chairman: Kunio Ito, Director of Hitotsubashi University CFO Education and Research Center; Executive Committee Chairman: Kenosuke Tanaka, Professor at Hosei University Faculty of Career Design) is an activity to discover, share, and collectivize knowledge about initiatives that aim to sustainably improve corporate value through the autonomous growth of working individuals. Its purpose is to introduce excellent practices for maximizing human capital to society, by implementing the three perspectives of career ownership management: "visualizing" career ownership talent, "increasing" it, and "connecting" it (to management and business).