In Pursuit of Rich and Fulfilling Life and Work StylesWork Style Transformation
This is the third year since the launch of our "Work Style Transformation" project aimed at improving personal happiness and our abilities as a company and maintaining our status as an attractive company. This project provides an opportunity for each employee to review their personal life and work styles, and we have started to see, little by little, the evolution towards lifestyles that contribute positively to individuals, companies, and society.
KOBELCO CONSTRUCTION
MACHINERY
Managing Executive Officer
GM of Corporate Planning Div.Hiroyuki Hosomi
Measures related to the "Work Style Transformation", a reformation of the way we work at KOBELCO, started in 2016. We talked with Hiroyuki Hosomi, the person responsible for this project, about its aims: "Although there is the goal of working more efficiently to improve productivity, there is also the desire for employees to lead lives in which both work and private life are fully enjoyable. I think that having relaxed and feeling satisfied are of course beneficial not only to the individual but also to the company and society, and these give birth to a virtuous cycle."
The first task was to transform meetings. Rules were set that a meeting had to provide some solid results as a means to prevent pointless meetings. "Set a time limit for the meeting and always reach some conclusion. We were also strict about completing the meeting minutes right then and there." Running parallel to these were limits on working hours, and the creation and enforcement of e-mail rules. With these three main pillars, the goal was to achieve the streamlined work tasks and a reduction in working hours.
ICT is also being used. While a database system is used for document management and similar tasks, robotic processes integrated in personal computers are used to automatically perform numeric entry and other simple tasks. Although the automatic tasks that robotic processes can handle are limited, it is expected to provide massive time savings.
As a result, the amount of people working on weekends and other days off has definitely decreased, and the time people leave the office has also become earlier than before. In 2017, all employees reached the goal of the "Minimum 13" campaign focused on employees taking 13 of their annual paid holidays. Hosomi was emphatic: "I feel that the amount of time for personal enrichment lessons and hobbies have increased, and employees are able to take days off and vacations at time corresponding to their own individual lifestyle. This certainly shows that the new working styles have permeated throughout the company."
KOBELCO also provides support for the effective use of increased available time. Company club activities supported mainly at factories before have been further expanded to group-wide activities. There are currently a marathon team, middle-of-the-road music club, and many more that are waiting to be certified as an official company club.
What is the secret to the success at KOBELCO CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY of achieving true work style transformation, something which is often merely talked about but not actually implemented? "One is that KOBELCO is serious about it. I don't think there are many companies where the top management themselves take every opportunity to reiterate to employees to 'Rethink your working style'." The president of the company himself has ordered domestic sales companies to form labor unions. Hosomi continues. "There is one more thing. True change cannot penetrate deeply by just giving superficial encouragement at morning meetings or in company bulletins, so we discussed the matter from time to time on an individual basis." An "Interview Marathon" was held for which questionnaires were sent to all departments, then we carefully responded one by one to the various issues. Old customs were removed, frank discussions were held, and works tasks were repeatedly examined and improved.
Hosomi shared his expectations for the project: "In the future, I would like to increase relations not only with employees' families but also local communities. Widening one's perspective through activities outside of work serves to heighten interest and concern for society and the local community so that employees and the company, as well as the local community can all grow together. This is the ideal situation that KOBELCO CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY is aiming to achieve." KOBELCO CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY will continue to evolve in order to create an even better society.
Measures of Work Style Transformation
- Limit on Total Working Hours
- Overtime past 19:00 and working on weekends/holidays is prohibited in principle. Employees are recommended to use flex time to shift the work to the morning hours. All employees display a "Going home announcement card" on their desks that indicates the time one is going home to surrounding personnel so that work can be easily coordinated.
- KOBELCO-Style Meetings
- A meeting is a place to "discuss" and reach a "conclusion". The length of meetings must be set and they must be held with the bare minimum of attendees. Distribution of documents and other materials must be completed before the meeting. Meeting minutes must be created during the meeting and distributed once it ends (including confirmation of conclusion).
- KOBELCO-Style E-mail
- Guidelines have been created that include, "Provide a title that readily indicates the content of the mail," "Do not add an excess amount of CC recipients," and "Start with the conclusion and concisely summarize the important points." Innovations have been made so that dealing with e-mail does not require so much time.
- Interview Marathon
- All departments were divided into 104 groups and each employee submitted details and issues regarding their work. These served as references for measures to improve work and eliminate the causes of obstacles to such improvement. The aim was not to achieve overall average department results, but rather to provide individual support so that no employees were left out.
Watching KOBELCO Advance
KOBELCO CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY
Manager, Corporate Planning Gr.,
Corporate Planning & Administration Dept.,
Corporate Planning Div.,Masanori Okamoto
Increasing Time Spent with Family Makes Everyday Fulfilling
Measures such as a system for requesting overtime beforehand have greatly increased time awareness. Everyone, including myself, has been innovative with the ways in which we use our time in a manner that is efficient for the entire workplace. We are going home earlier and spending more enjoyable time with my family. My wife is also quite happy that I have more time to help around the house. I have changed into an 'early to bed, early to rise' person, and I feel that there are now many more opportunities to refresh ourselves mentally and physically.
KOBELCO CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY Manager, Legal Gr., Legal & Internal Audit Dept.,Yusuke Yamauchi
I Want to Use Time so Skillfully that People Doubt I Am an Employee
The easy use of flex time and similar measures have made for flexible work styles. I also feel that meetings have become more practical and they deal with more substantial important topics. I use my increased free time for my hobbies and improving my skills, such as jogging, going to baseball games, and obtaining various qualifications. People might be jealous, but my next goal is, when I leave work on time everyday, they ask me "Are you really working?" (Laughs).
* Names of departments are those when originally reported