Furukawa Electric shifts HR strategy as AI data center demand grows

Furukawa Electric's HR overhaul comes after its previous mid-term plan, covering fiscal 2022 to fiscal 2025, hit its financial targets even as the mix of businesses behind those numbers changed. Hiroko Takita said some businesses originally expected to grow struggled, while AI data center demand lifted optical fiber and optical devices, and the company also divested some businesses and shifted its portfolio toward higher-value products. That divergence between the plan and the outcome is what pushed the company to reorient its people strategy toward supporting specific growth businesses rather than developing all employees evenly. Takita said the company now pursues talent strategies aimed at further expanding growth businesses toward 2030, and that external hiring has become important enough that mid-career recruiting is on par with new graduate hiring. She also framed internal programs such as job postings, side jobs, and reskilling as a way to change employee mindsets, encouraging workers to sharpen skills and seek places to contribute as the environment changes. On leadership, Takita said the company began working on leader development in 2019, aiming to move away from a 'follow me' style in which leaders decided based on past experience and pulled subordinates along.