Challenge

Founded in 1910, electronics giant Hitachi, Ltd. currently employs over 44,000 people in its parent company, and the entire group of companies has a total workforce of roughly 340,000 employees worldwide. As a multinational entity, Hitachi must be able to react quickly to legal issues around the world. Today, many contracts and negotiations are performed in English, necessitating lawyers with strong written and spoken, as well as legal skills. Hitachi needed to improve the English skills of their global legal staff in order to compete in the world market.

Solution

Hitachi decided to make English language education a priority for their employees. And since 1995, they have made the TOEIC^® test an integral part of their In-House English Proficiency Test System. TOEIC scores are used to help screen candidates for training programmes. On-site learning takes place at the Hitachi Institute of Management Development. Employees can tailor
their choice of around twenty courses to improve general communication skills, written skills or more goal specific needs. Knowing that time and space are often hurdles to improving English skills, Web-based Training (WBT) options have been made available. WBT also allows for a more personalised learning experience.

In February 2002, Hitachi developed an index of TOEIC scores for employees of all levels to achieve. These targeted goals are used to help motivate employees at all levels. New recruits are required to achieve a score of 500, and improve to 600 at the trainee level. Section Managers need a 650 and executive candidates must score at least 800 points.

Results

As a result of the TOEIC test and the rest of Hitachi’s in-house system, the employees’ English proficiency has vastly improved. Employees have been given the freedom to set their own TOEIC targets and stay in control of their own education. This has helped keep them motivated to keep improving their English-language skills. By giving their legal team the English expertise
required to operate in the global arena, Hitachi, Ltd. remains a strong international player.

Other companies worldwide that use the TOEIC test:

PWC, Brazil

Transportadora Brasileira Gasoduto, Brazil

Xerox, Brazil

Bristol Myers Squibb, Thailand

Thai Airways International, Thailand

Johnson & Johnson, Japan

Kenwood Electronics Technologies, Malaysia

Deutsche Telekom, Germany

Edgesharp, Germany

ELT Co. Halle, Germany

Siemens, Mexico

Ericsson, Turkey

Grafton Recruitment, Czech Republic

Legrand, France

Packard Bell

The Renault-Nissan group

NEC

Associating lingusitic competence with job specifications: a machine tool company in a provincial town in Europe