A reflective journal created by:

Annah D. Ilmia
Bayu Setya

HOW DOES HR ROLES TO HELP TOYOTA’S EMPLOYEES

DEAL WITH THE IMPACT OF TSUNAMI IN JAPAN 2011?

Right on March 11, 2011,

Japan was shocked by the
earthquake which reached 9
SR. based on some news and
articles, this disaster was one of
the many disasters in Japan that
caused many losses, especially
in several large companies in
Japan. Toyota is one of the
largest automotive companies
in the world that suffered heavy
losses after the tsunami at that time. An earthquake measuring 9 on the Richter scale occurred at
2.46 p.m., until 3 o'clock in the afternoon was announced about the tsunami warning. Japanese
people rushed to save themselves, including in the company. the most prominent thing about the
company affected by the tsunami was Toyota. (CNN, 2011) (CNN, 2011)

Toyota is the biggest car manufacturer in the world. Since the tsunami in Japan in 2011,
Toyota's production has decreased by 62.7%. This affects all domestic Toyota companies in
other countries. an example is Toyota in Indonesia. with the reduction in Toyota's production in
Japan, Toyota in Indonesia experienced a decline in production due to a lack of supply from
Toyota in Japan. the impact of the tsunami in Japan also reduced export figures by 2.2 percent.
(voaindonesia, 2011)

The president of the car production, Akio Toyoda, said that according to him, the damage
done "all over Japan and all businesses" was very limping. It is said, Japanese company
operations will remain around 50 percent of normal speed until July, with production outside
A reflective journal created by:
Annah D. Ilmia
Bayu Setya

Japan from 40 percent to August. According to him, full global production will not start again
until November, but can return to normal in December. (autonews, 2011)

Toyota Motor's global production recovered to pre-tsunami levels in September, two

months earlier than expected. This shows that serious developments have been made by Toyota
during the recovery period. In order to make progress and recovery, the role of HR is very
influential because it relates also to the performance of the company that is influenced by
performance per personnel. As it is known, HR has 4 key roles in a company. In this case Toyota
has HR that implements these 4 role functions well during the recovery and development of
companies during and after natural disasters. Toyota Japan just opened a subsidiary in Miyagi
which was just officially launched one week before the disaster. Just one week ago, the
subsidiary was damaged by the earthquake and tsunami. Toyota's losses are huge, especially
because many of its employees are victims. In the event of a disaster, Toyota prioritizes the
safety of employees to exit the factory and save themselves. Even after the disaster, Toyota still
prioritized the safety and welfare of employees. Miyagi that is been a new subsidiary that was
most severely affected in Japan, with around 8900 people missing and dying from the
earthquake, of course most of them were employees of the Toyota branch of Miyagi. (cbc, 2011)

Knowing the large number of employees who were victims, Toyota made a culture to
always reflect and pray for 1 minute before working and returning to the factory to pray for
employees who died during a disaster. As a result of the disaster, many Toyota employees were
reduced. Some considerations have been decided by Toyota to stop production for 2-3 months
after the disaster. During this non-production period Toyota recruited 4000 temporary workers to
be trained in the production process and others to continue the next production process. During
that time there were no layoffs at Toyota. Although Toyota experienced a financial crisis, Toyota
did not fire the remaining employees. Toyota focused on employees who are still safe and
looking for temporary employees to replace employees who are not in production. It is known
that this disaster affected the performance of all Toyota branches even outside of Japan.
Examples are in Indonesia, the United States and the United Kingdom. In Indonesia employees
lack working hours because suppliers are not in good condition. They work daily and receive a
daily salary. That is not as much as the usual salary they got when overtime which is very helpful
for the economy of the employees. HR in Indonesia also tries to keep employees working to have
A reflective journal created by:
Annah D. Ilmia
Bayu Setya

enough salary to meet their needs. This also happened in Derbyshire England where employees
experienced a shortage of working hours due to the absence of suppliers from Japan who were
doing non-production. In the midst of the crisis, Toyota dealers in areas that were not affected by
the disaster also united to send transportation equipment that could help the evacuation of
victims and also all processes to facilitate mobility. This shows that Toyota's social care was still
carried out during the financial crisis.

The following is evidence taken from a previous explanation regarding the implementation of 4
key HR roles at Toyota

1. As a business partner
After the disaster happened Toyota suffered damage to many cars to make production
stops and focus on improvement and development. In considering this decision HR
assisted all divisions to conduct lectures on problems per division faced after the disaster.
So, you can. with the breakdown of Toyota's production, HR helped the production
division decide to keep hiring the remaining employees and recruit 4000 employees who
will focus during the completion of production which was stalled due to disaster.
2. As an administrative expert
In connection with the lack of working hours for employees, and the recovery of
employees who are victims of disasters, in this case HR considers all administrative
matters to save expenses but still pay attention to the welfare of workers who are also in
need of salaries and insurance for what happened. Managing training for the new
temporary employees was so effective without costing to much money but resulting many
productive employees. This is the goodness of being administrative expert that could help
reducing cost with maximizing the result.
3. As Agent of change
It can be seen in the culture that is made of HR. Prayer before work aimed at workers
who are victims of a disaster is a culture of respecting the performance and sacrifice of
previous employees. This can affect productivity and a high sense of ownership between
employees and managers, on the other hand with the launch of new products to promote,
Toyota takes the right step to publish new products after a few months of death. This
A reflective journal created by:
Annah D. Ilmia
Bayu Setya

shows that there is always a development and initiative in the company that keeps the
company growing even though it has experienced difficult times
4. As Employee champion
The shortage of hours that occurred in several branches of Toyota due to the production
halt resulted in some distressed employees seeking funds for their needs. HR has become
a champion for workers while continuing to work for them to work and be productive to
get a salary even if not as much as on a normal day. HR helps employees to convey this
matter related to employee welfare. Additionally, HR did not dismiss the remaining
employees and patiently waited and helped with the recovery of the people from the
disaster. HR remains focused on employee welfare until the company and employees are
fully recovered. (HBR, 1998)

As it is known that Toyota can recover the company for about 7 months only and they do
comeback with a very high achievement than before. It shows how each division can work
together to achieve the same goals to do comeback. The result of working together within any
obstacles and effort was not denied. HR role might be the most influencing factor because they
are the one who decide what to do when there is no employees as many as before, as talented as
before. The decision taken was so good and no parties was getting disadvantages of the decision
taken by Toyota itself. It is such an achievement for Toyota to have a very good management
and HR role that can be in line with all of division in order to repair and improve Toyota again
since that natural disaster strike. From the explanation above, it can be concluded that Toyota
Company can rise again from their difficult times, and with the help of Toyota's HR company
also managed to prosper its employees even though they were in a crisis.
A reflective journal created by:
Annah D. Ilmia
Bayu Setya

References
autonews. (2011, March 13). How Toyota applied the lessons of 2011 quake. Retrieved from
autonews.com: http://www.autonews.com/article/20160425/OEM/304259956/how-toyota-
applied-the-lessons-of-2011-quake

cbc. (2011, April 18). Toyota Restarts All Japanese Plants. Retrieved from cbc.ca:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/toyota-restarts-all-its-japanese-plants-1.985432

CNN. (2011, March 13). Japan earhquake and Tsunami : Timeline. Retrieved from edition.cnn.com:
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/12/quake.tsunami.timeline/index.html

CNN. (2011, April 20). Toyota making drastic production cuts after Japan quake, tsunami. Retrieved from
edition.cnn.com: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/04/20/japan.toyota/index.html

HBR. (1998, January 1). A New Mandate for Human Resources. Retrieved from hbr.org:
https://hbr.org/1998/01/a-new-mandate-for-human-resources

Japan earthquake and tsunami forces Toyota to cut production at UK plant. (2011, April 20). Retrieved
from theguaridian.com: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/apr/20/japan-
earthquake-and-tsunami-toyota-uk

voaindonesia. (2011, April 25). Produksi Mobil Jepang Anjlok Setelah Gempa, Tsunami. Retrieved from
voaindonesia.com: https://www.voaindonesia.com/a/produksi-mobil-jepang-anjlok-setelah-
gempa-tsunami--120619439/92472.html