Recently, I visited the Work Style Reform EXPO held at the International Exhibition Center. Virtual offices, AI image recognition systems, conference room reservation systems, location information tracking systems, and many other things were introduced. At the exhibition booths, there was even a question asking, "Are you worried about the decline in motivation due to the increase in telework?" This suggests that many companies are still struggling to find a landing point for hybrid work, which has accelerated due to COVID-19.
This time, Veldhoen + Company and Itoki will introduce Japan's first ABW case study: an employee-led work style reform that Hitachi, Ltd.'s Omika Works has been working on since 2019. The timing was such that an unexpected external factor, the COVID-19 pandemic, occurred during the project, leading to a major shift to hybrid work across the entire company. Please refer to the case study for specific initiatives and results. I think you will see that the results of their sincere efforts at ABW working have not only resulted in visible changes in the office, but also in the way people think and act.
Comment from Veldhoen＋Company project manager
"The journey of ABW at Hitachi, Ltd.'s Omika Works began in Phase 1 with verifying whether ABW would be effective for them and whether it could be introduced from the perspective of floor space and other factors. Thankfully, as a project manager, I hardly remember having any difficulties. This is because over the past two years, the project members took the lead in persistently communicating with managers in each department and continually appealing to their departments why it was necessary to change the way they worked. I feel that the enthusiasm and passion of the internal members supported the new way of working."
