Empowered JAPAN Webinar Report

Empowered JAPAN Executive Steering Committee was established in 2018, “To realize a world where everyone canwork and learn, from anywhere, at anytime.” To promote the true value of workstyle innovation including telework, the committee
has been coordinating symposiums in both Tokyo and regional cities. And in collaboration with various local governments,
Microsoft, and partners, the committee has been serving as an advisor to provide telework training for both corporate andindividuals. In response to the spread of infection of corona virus (COVID-19) and the government announcement on February 25,2020, which included the request to citizens to telework, the steering committee made the decision to launch a series of freewebinars starting from March 17, 2020, to provide practical information for individuals and organizations across the nation, totelework and/or practice online education.

Category：
Learning from case studies companies
Date：April, 15, 2020
Speaker：Toshiki Hirayasu
Director, Solution Development Group 2
Digital Solution Development
Integrated Division 1
Corporate Product &Business Strategy Department

SoftBank Way of Workstyle Innovation (Telework)
As of April 18, 2020, the end of the COVID-19 pandemic remains unpredictable. At SoftBankCorp., only those employees who are involved in the communication service maintenance areworking, and others are in self-quarantine. Mr. Hirayasu who belongs to the Corporate Sales
department is teleworking. "Currently, most of us are required to work from home, however, theoriginal meaning of telework is flexible working hours and various locations including home,mobile work, satellite office, etc." (Mr. Hirayasu)
The role of Mr. Hirayasu is to promote work-style reform plans within SoftBank and provide
services to client companies. He is also a certified facilitator of LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®, which isa tool suitable for team building and vision sharing.
The Japanese government enforced the Act on Work Style Reform related bill on April 2019.
According to Mr. Hirayasu, the reason behind the nationwide promotion of work-style reform isbecause the country has entered a super-aging society while the labor population is decreasing.
If the issue is left unaddressed, the society-wide sharing of the burden will increase, and theeconomy will become sluggish. We must reform the workstyle, and produce maximum value
efficiently in a short period of time.

Born in Osaka.

The Corporate Sales department at SoftBank has been exploring "work-style reform" for about

Joined SoftBank after building career in

20 years. The company's current slogan is "Smart & Fun!" It means that by taking advantage of IT,

Nippon Information and Communication

we make our work smarter and more efficient to the maximum, while enjoying work andCorporation and Microsoft Asia Ltd.

improving ourselves.

After holding a key role as Sales Director ofKansai region, he led the launch of solution
product sales support division.
Starting from the latest fiscal year, moved toa newly established division to support
customers’ data driven management.
Mr. Hirayasu also promotes the planning oftelework solution to drive workstyleinnovation, and launched a workshop(LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®) to promotemindset reformation and team building.
Certified facilitator of (LEGO® SERIOUS
PLAY®)"Since the implementation of the work-style reform bill, the number of inquiries fromcustomers after 20:00 has decreased dramatically compared to before. I believe the overtime ofworkers is declining all over Japan. Nevertheless, the sales and performance of each company
remain steady. It means that productivity is improving." (Mr. Hirayasu)

Empowered JAPAN Webinar Report
According to Mr. Hirayasu, the release of the iPhone changed everything. At that time, the iPhone was expected to be used forentertainment such as music, however, SoftBank started using the iPhone for business early on. With the strong leadership of Mr. Masayoshi
Son, in 2012, the company removed all landlines in the office. At the same time, the company started making business proposals using theiPad, and had been moving towards a paperless environment.
"We have an environment which allows us accessing apps and data in cloud anytime, anywhere. In other words, mobile work has reached amature stage." (Mr. Hirayasu)
On the other hand, if we look at the entire country of Japan, the issue of long working hours is improving, however, telework ing invarious workstyles and techniques of HR for keeping talented individuals require improvement. According to a survey taken just before thespread of COVID-19, only 13.9% of companies adopted telework (partially and fully).
What are the requirements for adopting telework? Mr. Hirayasu explained that reforming the awareness of employees was necessary inaddition to the development of IT and systems.
"Clients often say that 'only' SoftBank can go paperless because we are skill-full of IT tools. But the truth is that 'even' SoftBank can gopaperless. Imagine when you sign up for a phone contract. Information and communication service companies are flood ed with papers forcontracts, etc. My desk used to be buried under papers, too. But now, there are only a few printers and they are rarely used. " (Mr. Hirayasu)
Mr. Hirayasu recalled that the biggest event that promoted reform of awareness of SoftBank employees was the removal of all landlines.
"It was a revolutionary change. We no longer had to handle phone calls, and were able to concentrate on our work. Changing
communication tools means a chance to reform the organizational culture, and as a result, it leads to reform awareness of individuals." (Mr.
Hirayasu)
However, Mr. Hirayasu pointed out that simply advancing telework may cause communication insufficiency. Compared to face-to-facecommunication, the amount of information exchanged is inevitably less.
In the past, recruiting new graduates, employment for life, and working overtime were the style of Japanese companies, and em ployees
guessed the perspectives of an organization and built relationships through "drinking parties" within a departmen t. However, in recentyears, the number of mid-career recruitment has increased, and occasionally, projects are carried out by a cross-departmental team. Whentelework is introduced in that situation, the objective of a project may not be thoroughly understood, team members cannot get to knoweach other, and communication between them will be jeopardized.
"In most of the companies in the U.S., there are always employees with different backgrounds working together. When they star t a newproject, first, they start with team building. Management recognizes the importance of communication. I think Japanese comp anies alsoneed to incorporate a task to vitalize communication in the future." (Mr. Hirayasu)
Mr. Hirayasu uses LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®. It is a tool for team building and brainstorming using LEGO which many of us played withwhen we were children.
"In the traditional brainstorming method, only the opinions of people who speak out loudly are taken into consideration, or some idea s arechosen as a result of compromise. However, using LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® helps to highlight what each member really wants to say, andshare without misunderstanding." (Mr. Hirayasu)
Mr. Hirayasu emphasized that if we conduct proper team building, we will be able to bring out the best in Japanese workers an d theirperceptive abilities.
"We just need to think about what task is required to vitalize communication and habituate it. I am convinced that teleworking will berooted in Japanese companies." (Mr. Hirayasu)