Originally written in English

新年あけましておめでとうございます！今年も宜しく お願い致します。(HAPPY NEW YEAR!)

     Since 2012, it has become a tradition for The Japan HR Society (JHRS) to choose a simple but powerful word or phrase that best describes the community’s collective aspirations and goals for the year ahead. In 2012, we chose Thankful! in 2013, Onward and Upward! and in 2014, Be Relevant. Be HR.

     In the Year of the Sheep, that is 2015, we’ve chosen: “STRONGER. BOLDER. BETTER.”

     The inspiration in choosing this year’s theme came from American singer and songwriter Kelly Clarkson’s smash hit: “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You),”in which the song’s chorus was in turn inspired by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s famous quotation: “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” In addition, we included “BOLDER” and “BETTER” to give further excitement and challenge for the year ahead.

     Although the song was written as a love song, its message is nevertheless universal, and may I say, very much applicable to HR professionals especially in Japan.

     For the JHRS Community, this is what the theme means:

STRONGER in 2015

• From the top down, JHRS will aim to have a more active and engaged Board of Advisers and Community Officers for better governance, accountability and performance. If you (or someone you know) are interested, can commit your time and wants to become a part of the solution in helping advance the HR profession in Japan, contact us (jun@jhrs.org) and we can start the discussions to make that happen.
  
  
• More importantly, JHRS will aim to have stronger member engagement and really build a thriving community of HR professionals that allow each other to learn, connect, and share HR experiences and stories.
  
  
• We would also aim to form additional institutional alliances or partnership agreements with at least two HR organizations either domestically or internationally in order to help JHRS’ presence in the local and international HR community become stronger and more relevant.

BOLDER in 2015

• JHRS is pleased to announce the launch of the JHRS HR Scholarship Award within the first quarter of 2015. The aim of this scholarship is to provide continuing HR education opportunities to HR professionals in Japan so they can learn contemporary, cutting edge and leading HR approaches to better equip them in their work as HR professionals.
  
  
• We start with awarding tuition for two HR courses (worth ¥60,000 each) through TUJ’s Continuing Education Division to two Japan HR professionals. If you are interested in this scholarship, contact us at scholarship@jhrs.org for more details on how to apply.

“JHRS is pleased to announce the launch of the JHRS HR Scholarship Award within the first quarter of 2015.”

• In 2015, we will also establish the mechanics of the JHRS HR Awards which aim to recognize the achievements of both individual HR professionals in Japan as well as companies with HR best practices worth emulating by others. If you would like to become part of the nomination and selection committee of these awards, please contact us at awards@hrs.org.
  
  
• Similarly, if your organization is willing to become a sponsor of these awards, get in touch with us at awards@jhrs.org and help us recognize Japan’s best HR professionals and companies.

BETTER in 2015

• The JHRS Academy, the HR continuing education and certification arm of JHRS, will be offering new courses to complement our existing ones:
  
  
• • JHRS “Made Simple” HR Compliance Series on Workplace Bullying, Workplace Harassment, Sexual Harassment, and Ethics
  • Lean HR: Using Six-Sigma in HR
  • Project Management for HR
  • Financial Intelligence for HR
  • And many more.
    
    
• We will continue to improve our website to make the online experience of our members as easy and enjoyable as possible. If you haven’t noticed, the JHRS website had been undergoing some changes since the last quarter of 2014, to make it easier to navigate and find whatever you are looking for. We also plan to review our pricing structure as well as introducing other member services that will be useful to our profession.
  
  
• If you have other ideas or suggestions on how we can make JHRS better in 2015, get in touch with us (jun@jhrs.org) and let us work together to advance the HR profession in Japan.

     As a final, parting thought, this year will also mark our 8th year of existence as a community of Japan-focused HR professionals, making this yet another good reason why we have to be STRONGER, BOLDER, and BETTER in 2015.

“JHRSはここに、2015年の第１四半期の間に「JHRS HR奨学金授与」を始めることを謹んで報告する。”

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