Before the veterans retire, capture their skills on a 'single sheet'—the reality of 19% manualization

If a specific employee's face immediately comes to mind when you think, 'That project wouldn't run without that person,' you need to be careful.

According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's 'Basic Survey on Human Resources Development' for fiscal year 2024, 84.6% of all business establishments are working on skills succession. In the construction industry, this figure is 94.3%, and in the manufacturing industry, it is 94.9%, meaning most companies are already taking action with the mindset that 'we must preserve these skills.' Looking at the numbers alone, it seems impressive. However, when I looked at the 'content' of these efforts, I became a bit concerned.

80% of succession efforts are focused on 'securing personnel'

The same survey provides a breakdown of the content of skills succession efforts.

【Content of skills succession efforts (multiple answers, top items)】
・Increasing mid-career hiring: 56.4%
・Extending employment or rehiring retirees and utilizing them as mentors: 49.6%
・Increasing hiring of new graduates: 33.8%
・Utilizing contract employees and temporary staff: 22.9%
・Passing on skills to young and mid-career employees through special training: 19.8%
・Documenting, digitizing, or manualizing skills and know-how: 19.0%
Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare '2024 Basic Survey on Human Resources Development'. The top four items are all measures to 'secure people.' Hiring mid-career, bringing back retirees, increasing new graduates, or supplementing with temporary staff. On the other hand, only 19.0% of companies 'record' skills and know-how as documents or data. That is less than 20%.

In other words, many companies are trying to solve the challenge of skills succession by relying on 'people.' I believe there is a pitfall here. This is because, in the same survey, 59.5% of establishments responded that 'there is a shortage of personnel to provide guidance' as a problem in human resource development, and 54.7% stated that 'employees quit even after being trained.'

There is no one to teach. Even if you train them, they quit. Yet, the primary means of succession remains 'person-to-person.' What will happen when the rehired veterans truly retire? If the mid-career talent you worked so hard to hire leaves after a few years, the skills they were taught will leave the company with them. Succession that relies solely on people resets to zero every time someone retires.

The small factory that created a 'secret manual'

So, what are the 20% who are preserving skills through records doing? A column in the 2025 Manufacturing White Paper (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, MHLW, and MEXT) contains a good example.

Asahi Weltech Co., Ltd. in Hakusan City, Ishikawa Prefecture, is a company that manufactures welded parts for machine tools. They were facing challenges in human resource development because they could not secure enough time for veteran craftsmen to train younger staff. Therefore, while listening to the opinions of the shop floor, they proceeded with digitalization in-house and created what they call a 'Tora no Maki' (secret manual) to accumulate and pass on the production know-how of veteran craftsmen. By having young craftsmen work alongside them, they were able to simultaneously advance know-how succession and human resource development (Source: 2025 Manufacturing White Paper).

I would like to highlight three points from this case study.

・They decided 'what to preserve' before choosing the tools (digitalization is merely a means)
・They didn't just dump the task on veterans by saying 'write it down,' but created it together while drawing out information
・They involved young employees not as 'those being taught' but as 'those creating the manual'

The second point is particularly important. Veterans on the shop floor did not become craftsmen because they liked writing. The moment you ask them to 'write a manual,' succession stops. The person doing the interviewing must set up the process and turn what is spoken into a tangible form. This division of roles determines success or failure.

Now, we also have the tailwind of AI (automated processing technology capable of handling human language and images). You can record the work on a smartphone, have them talk while doing it, and use AI to transcribe the audio. With just that, a draft can be created in a few hours. We live in an era where you can create a state of 'just needing to edit' rather than writing from scratch.

Those who best understand the value of a craftsman were the ones moving to a system

The other day, I had the opportunity to speak with a business owner. This person runs a production service that interviews people to record their life stories and compiles them into a book.

What was interesting was their plan design. The top-tier plan is a 'craftsman plan,' where a skilled writer finishes the work alone, including the atmosphere. Another is a standard plan where the process is divided between AI and humans. The roles are separated: AI handles transcription and structure, while humans handle verification and finishing. According to this person, the craftsman-style is labor-intensive and difficult to manage for quality. On the other hand, the standard model with divided processes has established a 'template,' creating a system that can be scaled.

This person does not deny the value of craftsmanship. Rather, the person who best understands the value of craftsmanship was the one breaking down and standardizing the processes for the 'work they want to expand.' I was impressed by this.

Skills reside in people. However, businesses reside in systems. That is what I believe.

Isn't the construction industry the same? The veteran's preparation, the rapport with subcontractors, the site-specific precautions for each season. You don't need to write everything down all at once. First, choose one task that 'would stop if that person took a week off' and try writing down the process. That is the smallest and most certain first step toward skills succession.

How many tasks in your company are 'only known by that one person'? And is there even a single sheet of paper anywhere in the office that puts that knowledge into words?

Summary: 'While the people are still here' is your last chance

84.6% of companies are taking action on skills succession. However, the top priority among them is securing personnel, and only 20% of companies are recording those skills. While hiring and rehiring are important measures, they are merely 'buying time,' and the skills themselves still remain inside someone's head.

Now, while veterans are still active, is your last chance to ask them and write things down. It doesn't have to be a fancy manual. Start with just one sheet. That one sheet will become teaching material when you hire the next person, a specification document when you outsource work, and an asset for the company.

Recommended reading

Training without 'teaching materials' won't lead to retention—here is the reason why.

The true nature of companies where 'people are present but work doesn't flow.' This is about the 'handoff' in transitions.

Paperwork also becomes lighter by 'standardizing from the purpose'—how to handle 24 types of safety documents.

ShakeHands LLC
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▶〈Warifull〉Organizing labor shortages in the construction industry through 'task decomposition'
Before increasing staff, first divide the work. In a 60-minute free consultation, you can take home your company's 'first draft of a task decomposition sheet (one sheet)' (consultation and consulting fees are 0 yen).