Japan Chemicals Firm CEO Fights to Keep Job as Investors Revolt

In a sign of rising shareholders' activism, a president of a semiconductor material maker is at risk of getting voted out of office at the firm's annual general meeting Saturday.
Eiji Sato is facing an uphill battle to be re-appointed as president and CEO of Taiyo Holdings Co., a position he has held since 2011, after some shareholders criticized his response to various acquisition proposals as being too slow.

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Fast Company

20 minutes ago

• Fast Company

The hidden cost of RTO: Why forcing choice is detrimental to your business

Like most CEOs, I've been watching the return-to-office (RTO) trend closely. It's yet another wrinkle for the talent acquisition function, which is difficult to begin with. After all, the quest to hire and retain qualified talent is discussed at every board meeting, every leadership team offsite, and every yearly planning event. Entire books, magazines, podcasts, and conferences focus on this topic. Whether called a talent gap, the war for talent, or skills-based hiring, the essence remains the same: It's a struggle for every organization. So, why have I been struck by the most recent exodus back to offices? Because when you force choices, the results don't always land in your favor. Don't get me wrong—here at Employ, we have a great headquarters facility in Denver. Employees enjoy coming to work and collaborating in person. But there's a line between RTO as a productivity gain and it being the reason you lose qualified talent. According to 2025 research by Lightcast, remote job postings are down over 27%, hybrid postings are down 20%, and in-person postings are up over 17%. At the same time, companies that have publicly committed to a five-day in-office workweek are losing talent to employers supporting remote and hybrid working arrangements. It's a double-edged sword. The cost of an open role has direct financial implications on an organization, as well as less apparent indirect consequences. Estimates place the average cost of replacing an employee to be six to nine months of their salary. Other financial costs range from the expense of recruiting qualified candidates to onboarding and training. If temporary workers are needed to backfill open roles, the financial loss escalates. And the longer roles go unfilled, business objectives are derailed and productivity falters. Unfilled positions wreak havoc on the existing workforce. Critical projects might be delayed, and workforce planning questioned. Employee morale and engagement stand to decline, especially if employees are overworked. When the topic of it being time to hire qualified talent becomes water-cooler conversation, rest assured that unfilled roles are being noticed. YOUR CURRENT (AND FUTURE) EMPLOYEES EXPECT YOUR TRUST Clearly, some jobs cannot be done remotely. A job candidate applying as a labor and delivery nurse knows they will work onsite in a hospital setting. A hospitality worker seeking flexible hours at a quick-serve restaurant understands it's in person. The job location is well defined in the job description, and the candidate chooses to work on site. For other roles, workplace flexibility isn't an optional perk—it's brand equity. Forcing a one-size-fits-all policy not only damages internal trust but dilutes the company's external talent brand, which is particularly damaging in an already tight labor market. In the case of roles that do not require an in-office presence, pressuring a return to an office can have cataclysmic effects. When teams have operated remotely with success, especially when a robust employment brand has been built on a work-from-anywhere culture, confidence in leadership erodes when a change is decreed versus suggested. The move from remote or hybrid working arrangements to return to office is perceived punitively. Researchers at Gartner have observed that high-performing employees react to a return-to-office mandate as a trust issue, resulting in a 16% lower intent to stay. 'High-performing employees are more easily able to pursue opportunities at organizations that offer hybrid or fully remote policies,' said Caitlin Duffy, a director in the Gartner HR Practice. 'Losing high performers to attrition costs organizations in terms of productivity, difficulty in backfilling the role, and the overall loss of high-quality talent available to fill critical positions.' THE REALITY OF THE WORKPLACE Speaking of losing valuable talent, the return-to-office mandate can be a deal-breaker for those balancing childcare, eldercare, or other requirements with their career. In many cases, this falls on women in the workplace; however, it can affect any worker at some stage in their career journey. Upwork's research said that nearly two-thirds (63%) of C-suite leaders whose companies have mandated an office return of some sort say the policy has led a disproportionate number of women to quit. Gartner's research also showed women's intent to stay at 11% lower with strict RTO mandates. It's a fact that retaining an employee is less costly and disruptive than losing them. Having flexible working policies can help counterbalance care responsibilities and ensure that valuable skills remain in the workforce. QUALITY OF LIFE, QUALITY OF HIRE Apart from those roles where being in person is required, hard-and-fast rules about returning to the office make it harder to recruit. From a technology standpoint, talent leaders are continually seeking to source new candidates and drive efficiencies in their hiring systems, such as using AI-powered interview intelligence to speed up time to hire. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, labor force participation is off by two million people from the February 2020 levels, impacting industries in every state. And, if you compel people to choose between their family and their career, the former will win every time. To be an employer of choice, offer choice. If you can't offer remote and hybrid work arrangements, offer flexibility. It will be the difference between engaged employees and those planning to leave.

Yahoo

24 minutes ago

• Yahoo

Penang has enough land to meet industrial demand for next 15 years, CM says amid RM13b in Q1 investments

GEORGE TOWN, June 20 — Penang has sufficient land to meet industrial needs in the state for the next 10 to 15 years, according to Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow. He said today there was a perception that the state is short of industrial lands but in reality, the state still has lands that can be developed for use. 'Land is not an issue, currently, we have about 809.4 hectares (2,000 acres) of land in the pipeline in varying stages of completion,' he told reporters after launching the Penang Industrial Masterplan 2030 at Eastin Hotel here. He said the Batu Kawan industrial park that is about 404.7 hectares (1,000 acres) took about 15 years to be developed since 2008. Chow said the demand for industrial land was also not that high. 'On average, about 40.47 hectares of land are needed in a year,' he said. So the 809.4 ha of land will take a long time to be filled up, he added. He explained industrial lands do not only refer to new lands but included those being reclaimed, under request for proposal process and several other development stages before it can be used. He said not all new investments require new lands, as some are reinvestments by existing plants that are merely adding new facilities in the remaining sites of their plants. 'There were also other investors such as from China who prefer to start operations as soon as possible,' he said. He said these group of investors will buy existing unused plants or lease it from the previous owner. Additionally, he said there are private developers that are constructing new factories to be sold or leased to investors. 'So, not all investors need new lands, there are so many different types of investments that contribute to the state's economy,' he said. When asked about the revenue recorded by the state as a result of the sale of industrial lands, he said the revenue generated was minimum as it was not the state's main focus. 'What's important is the value of investments being brought in,' he said. He said in the first quarter of this year, Penang recorded investments totalling RM13 billion. Meanwhile, on the industrial masterplan, Chow said it is the way forward for the state to transform the state's industrial sector and strengthen its position as the Silicon Valley of the East. He said the masterplan considered important infrastructure projects such as the Penang International Airport expansion and development of a green and smart technology hub for the electrical and electronic sector.

Bloomberg

27 minutes ago

• Bloomberg

Tesla Set to Open India Showrooms in July With Made-in-China EVs

Tesla Inc. is set to open its first showrooms in India in July, people familiar with the discussions said, kicking off formal operations in the world's third-biggest automobile market as the Elon Musk-led firm hunts for growth amid falling sales in Europe and China. The electric vehicle giant's first set of cars have arrived in the country — Model Y rear-wheel drive SUVs shipped from Tesla's China factory, according to the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private, as well as documents seen by Bloomberg News. The Model Y is the world's largest selling electric car.