January 11, 17:03 when the president in jeans reborn "old employees"
Lifetime employment, seniority system, divisional organization...
Many Japanese companies are now considered "obsolete".
Showa Denko, a major chemical manufacturer founded in 1908, changed its name to Resonac this month.
We are about to throw away the crown of “Showa” and be reborn.
President Hidehito Takahashi, who comes to work in a long T-shirt and jeans, calls it an "old-fashioned company."
Employees who have worked for many years were curious about the appearance of the president who was conspicuous.
The internal reform that President Takahashi is promoting is how to reborn without discarding old employees.
He asked what was going on inside the company.
(Economics Department reporter Kenta Shimai)
President in "jeans"
On January 4th, the venue for the New Year's in-house instruction held online.
President Hidehito Takahashi, who took office a year ago, speaks to the employees.
He wears a long gray T-shirt and jeans.
A long-established company with 115 years of history, I was suddenly taken aback when I expected the sight of people in suits.
I was even more surprised by what happened next.
Employees who participated freely asked questions, and President Takahashi answered directly and frankly.
President Takahashi
: “At Showa Denko, I couldn’t ask the president a question.
A long-established company with 115 years of history What kind of company is Showa Denko?
Many people may have heard the name Showa Denko.
What kind of company is it?
Founded in 1908.
Its predecessor was a company that produced iodine.
In the 1980s and 1990s, petrochemical products and aluminum products became the main business, and later it became a conglomerate that also handles hard disk business.
In 2020, we will invest 960 billion yen to acquire "Hitachi Chemical", one of the three major Hitachi Group companies.
With a market capitalization that more than doubled, it attracted a great deal of attention at the time as an “acquisition where small wins big”.
President Takahashi, who joined Showa Denko in 2015 after working at Mitsubishi Bank and working at GE (General Electric), played a central role as a management executive.
Hitachi Chemical specializes in semiconductor-related businesses, and Showa Denko has organized its business portfolio under President Takahashi.
Eight existing businesses will be sold, and the semiconductor business will be positioned as a growth business of the company and reformed.
As part of this, the company name was changed to "Resonac" this month.
How to reinvent old employees without discarding them
Lifetime employment, seniority system, divisional organization...
President Takahashi is currently working on "HR (human resource) reform."
The president of a long-established company who wears jeans and wields a big sword.
You might think that he would boldly lay off the middle-aged and older employees who have been steeped in the company culture so far, but he says that's not the case.
President Takahashi
: “The middle management of the bedrock layer, how can we promote a change of mind, how can we extend the change of mind? Those
two are the big issues."
"I think there are a lot of people who are complaining and people who are no longer happy, but I declare that I can't make everyone happy. Because change takes away vested interests. There will always be winners and losers, but I promised myself that I would definitely increase the sum of my happiness, and that I would definitely increase the sum of my happiness.”
round table
One of the initiatives introduced since taking office is the “round table”.
It is said that sharing values is the most fundamental basis for company management.
It is held in the form of round-table discussions, visiting a total of 70 factories and offices in Japan and overseas.
One of our values is "agility and flexibility".
Precisely because we live in an age of rapid change, we ask our employees to change their ways of doing things, if necessary, rather than sticking to the old way of doing things.
Some of the employees who participated said that they "did not sympathize at all," but many said they were positive.
President Takahashi believes that even if the company is producing results, it is unavoidable for him to leave the company if his values are not accepted.
However, as a result of trying to share values, it is still not accepted.
President Takahashi
: "It can't be helped that I don't agree with the company's sense of values. However, I'm thinking of getting people who are trying to hold back runners to quit."
Moyamoya meeting
And we are starting new initiatives that go even further.
Its name is "moyamoya conference".
The aim is to increase the productivity of the company as a whole.
President Takahashi will continue to visit the worksites as before, but he will ask the employees themselves to raise workplace issues that they struggle with on a daily basis but find it difficult to bring up.
President Takahashi
: “If young people don’t get frustrated, the productivity of the company will increase tremendously. It's going to be like this.It can't be helped if everyone is confused, so let's get together and talk.With a sense of speed, we can talk and come up with solutions.If you can come up with a solution, even if it's just a little, everyone will. Doesn't it calm you down?"
Strengthening internal recruitment
President Takahashi is also negative about the work style of being from the ○○ department like the uniform number.
So he strengthened his original internal recruitment system.
You can apply for the desired workplace and occupation regardless of your year or affiliation.
Last year, 180 applications were solicited, 170 people applied, and 70 actually transferred.
President Takahashi
: “If you take it away, take it back. If you keep taking it, it means that the workplace is unattractive.It is very good for employees to have the motivation to change it to an attractive workplace. As expected, there were too many positions that could not be filled, so now I try to ask the personnel department to take care of them if they are really in trouble.”
to new employees
And President Takahashi says that lifetime employment and seniority are declining in Japanese companies.
This is what he tells young recruits who come into the company.
President Takahashi
: “A company that guarantees lifetime employment is not a good company. Because even I can’t imagine what this company will look like in 40 years. In return, I promise you that I will raise you to be a person who can be used wherever you go.”
Is it cold-hearted or kind?
I wonder if President Takahashi's efforts are cold-hearted or kind.
It popped into my head after the interview.
What I felt from President Takahashi's words was how young people should feel about joining the company, and how to properly deal with old employees.
It means that he cherishes these two things.
President Takahashi
: "It's a traditional company that hasn't been able to keep up with the trends and changes in the world, and because it's a fairly large and listed company, we're still okay. I call it the road to euthanasia. I think we should take management more seriously.To all the Japanese managers.”
President Takahashi, who calmly analyzes the current situation while working for a long-established company, speaks frankly about the separation of traditional businesses and the fact that some employees are leaving.
During the interview, I was at a loss as to whether to go this far, but President Takahashi's remarks, which sounded harsh, emphasized that people can change at any time, and that each employee can grow as long as they feel like it. I felt a kind of trust in
The meaning of working for a company may have changed significantly.
Economic Department Reporter
Kenta Shimai
Joined in 2012 Worked
at Miyazaki and Morioka stations before current position