Understanding of diverse cultures and further promotion of globalization through internship

Q.Why did your company decide to take on interns? What did you aim to achieve?

We had experience in accepting non-Japanese students and other internships, which led to the employment of highly-skilled foreign professionals. As it was possible to accept an intern in person, we decided to participate in the program. We had three purposes. The first was to hire highly-skilled foreign professionals to give momentum to further promotion of globalization, although we are already operating business overseas. The second was to improve work efficiency by involving a foreign national, in relation to the above purpose. An increase of non-Japanese workers means that it is necessary to accept diversifying cultures as seen in the concept of diversity and inclusion. Therefore, we decided to accept the intern as a member of a team instead of the entire company, for our third purpose to improve receptivity of different cultures in the team and then applying it to similar operations in the company.

We drew out the intern’s language skill and expertise in science and engineering by checking tasks in cooperation with the mentor.

Q.What kind of internship did you run? What difficulties did you face and how did you resolve them?

We prepared a program to make the most of the intern’s language skills and expertise in science and engineering. By having a senior employee accompany him as a caretaker, we checked his daily tasks and had him conduct the following operations: (1) Translation of descriptions of videos that explain how to use our medical devices to overseas agents and medical institutes, which he finished although he had some difficulties with technical terms, (2) preparation of a user list as basic data necessary for analysis in different countries, which will lead to our future actions, (3) support for acceptance inspection of medical devices under development including preparation of documents necessary for development, by making use of his expertise in science and engineering, and (4) participation in meetings with overseas agents, in which he conveyed his unique view to us based on the essence of things.

Recognition of the possibility of accepting overseas talent and promotion of globalization in the company

Q.Comparing before and after the internship, what effects did it have on you, your employees, or your organization?

The following two effects were achieved through the acceptance of Dan-san in the internship program: (1) We renewed our recognition of the excellence of highly-skilled foreign professionals. It was also verified that the intern was able to fully satisfy work efficiency. We were very happy to have come to know Dan-san through the internship. We also sincerely hope that his understanding of our company will lead to him becoming an employee of our company. (2) We were able to understand that it is necessary for us to accept diverse cultures. Because of the difference in environments with the highly-skilled foreign professionals, we communicated with him in the same way as we do with new employees. We came to understand that we could communicate with him by doing usual things in usual manners, instead of overreacting just because he was from overseas. We intend to promote globalization of our company by conveying this experience to other departments.