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ITOKI CORPORATION (Head office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President: Koji Minato) has undergone a major renovation of its Nagoya office as a cutting-edge model for securing human resources and reforming working styles in regional companies. The new office was opened on Monday, January 29th as "ITOKI NAGOYA DELA," a working showroom that practices and proposes the latest work styles that update the way people work.

The shortage of human resources faced by local regions is becoming more serious year by year, and according to the Recruit Works Institute's Future Prediction 2040 (*1), there will be a labor shortage of over 11 million people nationwide in 2040. Among them, the labor shortage rate in 2040 in Aichi Prefecture is the third highest among the top 10 populous prefectures (Tokyo, Kanagawa, Osaka, Aichi, Saitama, Chiba, Hyogo, Fukuoka, Hokkaido, Shizuoka) (*2) Therefore, local companies are required to create attractive workplaces that encourage the acquisition and retention of excellent human resources from within and outside the region, which are the basis of corporate growth and competitiveness.

(*1) Recruit Works Institute “Future Prediction 2040 – A society with labor supply constraints is coming” (2023)
https://www.works-i.com/research/works-report/item/forecast2040.pdf
(*2) Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Statistics Bureau Prefectural population estimates (2023)
https://www.e-stat.go.jp/

ITOKI `` We Design Tomorrow. We Design WORK-Style.” is our mission statement, and we have always proposed new offices and work styles in all workplaces. Until 2020, our Nagoya office operated with fixed seats and free addresses, but in 2021 we introduced "ABW (Activity Based Working)" (*3), which allows employees to choose where they work based on their activities. We have strived to create an office that maximizes employee discretion and promotes well-being.
Last year in 2023, we held an in-house workshop to verify ABW practices and extracted results and issues. Achieving a work style that allows for changes in response to rapidly changing social conditions, and creating a ``place of challenge'', ``a place of learning'', and ``a place of happiness'' that employees naturally want to visit while experiencing productivity and happiness. To achieve this goal, we have recently carried out a large-scale renovation.
The motto for the renewal project is "Try, Try, Try." We will create a challenge culture and a sense of unity in which each employee actively tries out new ways of working, takes on challenges, and improves each other as creators of work styles and workplaces. Through the introduction of cutting-edge work styles and spatial DX, we will improve employee engagement and productivity, and we will strengthen our ability to offer further added value to local customers based on the knowledge gained through practical experience.

(*3) This concept was developed through research by Veldhoen + Company, a Dutch work style transformation consulting company, and Itoki has formed a business partnership with the same company to develop ABW business.

DELA is a coined word that combines the French words "DELA" (=to go beyond) and the initials of "DESIGN", "LEARNING", and "ART". New office concept: ``An office that challenges new ways of working ``beyond.'' ” It is a name that symbolizes. It also has the meaning of ``dera'' (amazing) in the Nagoya dialect.

We have turned half of the office area facing the main street into a studio-like workspace that each employee can freely use as the main character. In addition to daily work and meetings, this is a space where the layout can be changed flexibly with movable fixtures when guests visit or at events. A large LED display has also been installed in the same space, allowing for presentations, training sessions, and other experiences unique to a real office.

In addition to office functions, this base also has a showroom function to propose spaces and products to customers, from standard office chairs, tables, and fixtures and fittings, to space DX products compatible with hybrid work, building material products for room partitions, and overseas products. You can view over 40 types of the latest products and solutions, including branded products, all at once. In particular, spatial DX products that utilize technology connect the real world and online, increasing the comfort and quality of communication in a hybrid work environment. Since employees are actually working with the products themselves, the showroom makes it easy for people to imagine everything from the overall coordination of the space to how they will be used in the workplace.

By incorporating art into the office environment, we provide intellectual and emotional stimulation, reduce psychological stress, and maximize creativity (*4). The work painted on the wall near the entrance is by WOK22, an artist and painter born in Nagoya and living in Fukuoka, and its motif is the lily, Nagoya's city flower. The title is "BEYOND", which suggests leap forward, growth, and challenge. It conveys the message that we will establish a new standard by introducing products with new ideas that have never existed before. In addition, ITOKI's logo, the stroke form, expresses upward mobility, the individuality and diversity of office workers, as well as strength and unity.

Graphic artist and painter born in Nagoya and living in Fukuoka. I like to draw motifs of clouds and tentacles, and use various methods to express the pop and dark parts of my head. 2023 adidas releases CAMPUS 00S WOK22. Activities are wide-ranging, including the 2021 Softbank HAWKS Fight! Kyushu uniform design and providing artwork to STUSSY, Herschel, PARCO, adidas, ONE PIECE art project, etc. In addition to commission work, in recent years he has expanded the scope of his expressive activities overseas, including in Thailand, Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines.

(*4) Art Place Co., Ltd., an Itoki group company, has a corporate philosophy of placemaking through art and is developing office art businesses.
https://www.itoki.jp/company/news/2021/2108_artplace/

ITOKI NAGOYA DELA will contribute to maximizing human capital by promoting Work Style Design and promoting our company as a testing ground for investment in the WORK-Style environment.