I first met Mr. Baba at last year's symposium table discussion. Later, when we worked together on a separate matter, I heard that you display messages from employees in the president's office. I got the impression that you value all your employees very much.

I still vividly remember the first time I met Mr. Seki. It was impressive how he responded with very sharp and witty answers. I always find inspiration from his stories based on his experiences of actively working in a wide global field beyond Japan.

Mr. Baba's attitude of cherishing dialogues with all employees and advancing management together while listening to everyone's voices resonates with Ridgelinez's "human-centric" transformation approach. Our company, as a comprehensive professional firm that places importance on starting from the "human" at the core of transformation and accompanying customer changes, believes that the most important aspect in supporting corporate transformation is the people within the organization.

It is no longer sufficient to simply respond to changes for sustainable growth. We consistently convey the importance of employees and us working together as one to 'transform ourselves and create change'.

My idea of wellbeing is first feeling physically and mentally healthy. On top of that, being able to work energetically is essential. That's why I feel that the wellbeing of all employees is an indispensable element in all company initiatives.

Wellbeing is a word made up of Well (good) and Being (state). It is not just about finding satisfaction in work, but also about maintaining an ideal state of health for employees and their families, building good relationships, etc. What contributes to wellbeing is perceived differently by each person. There is no definitive answer like in a textbook stating that by doing this, wellbeing will improve.

As you rightly mentioned, the perception of well-being varies from person to person in terms of what they consider as feeling 'good'. Some may be deeply engaged in fulfilling work, while others may find balance in leisure time and cherish moments with their families.

Wellbeing is a very complex concept, so I believe it is necessary to create our own wellbeing from scratch with all of our employees at the company.

To activate the entire organization, I also feel that it is essential to build the organization together with all of the employees. I am also a D&I promotion leader, and having diverse talent alone does not mean diversity. It is important to create an environment where everyone can speak with peace of mind and collaborate actively.

Amidst the focus on "human capital management," we felt the need to incorporate the perspective of "Well-being" into our management. Particularly, the ease and fulfillment of work in the workplace directly contributes to individual happiness. As a declaration of our commitment to creating such an environment, we declared 2023 as the Well-being first year for TC in our New Year's message.
At that time, we were honestly feeling enthusiastic but did not yet have a clear answer as to what everyone felt happy about. By making this declaration, pressure was put on myself as well, and I feel it became an opportunity for me to truly focus on Well-being.

Recognition within the company seems to be increasing. Initially, awareness of well-being was low, and there was not much response to initiatives. Lately, there have been voices gradually saying 'This initiative leads to well-being.'

Although awareness of the term 'well-being' is high, many respondents feel that they have not experienced it, which I think is because it is a relatively new concept. Since the definition is broad and interpretations vary from person to person, if you do not regularly think about 'what well-being means to me,' it may be difficult to clearly answer 'yes' when asked if you are experiencing well-being.

By declaring it the first year of well-being, there is a responsibility. We must sincerely accept this figure and increase opportunities to experience well-being. Based on the results of the recent employee engagement survey, we are moving forward with considering measures to promote Human Resources Transformation (HRX) by actively seeking more specific opinions from employees.

In our company's employee engagement survey, there is a section called 'Action Taking.' This is designed to verify whether the company is able to properly connect the voices raised by employees to actions. What is important is for the company to communicate, after receiving the scores, 'We will implement these initiatives in this way.' We believe that transforming the communicated content into concrete actions and showing it to all employees leads to the improvement of engagement and well-being.

Companies and employees are seen as having an equal relationship of choosing and being chosen. Recently, as awareness of career development is present from early stages, many individuals seem to constantly ponder whether the careers they envision can be realized within this company. Companies must create and provide an environment that supports such autonomous and self-reliant career planning.

It is important to create an environment where careers can be designed while respecting individual thoughts as a company, as well as committing to career development from both management and employees. With skills constantly changing in a rapidly evolving world, it is crucial for employees to not perceive the environment as something provided by the company, but to become self-reliant individuals who can demonstrate their abilities in any environment.

"Having a sense of belonging" and feeling like "we are part of this organization" can bring physical and mental health, leading to improved well-being. Since corporate culture is something that is created together with all employees, increasing opportunities for dialogue with employees, in addition to policy and information dissemination, should also activate the creation of a positive culture. As shown by Tokyo Century's promotion of HRX, by placing "people" including employees at the core of transformation and engaging in management, I believe that a company's value will improve.

The employees working there are the ones supporting the company. Without the effort of everyone, sustainable development of the company is not possible. Whether happiness can be obtained by aligning the company's purpose with individual purposes and by being in that company. In other words, I believe that feeling like "I can accumulate self-realization and success experiences in this company" leads to well-being. We will continue to make efforts to provide such an environment and remain a "chosen company."

Yuko Seki

Partner Executive Officer at Ridgelinez Inc.

Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer
Sustainability Transformation Practice Leader

For about 20 years, worked on projects such as management strategy, organizational development, organizational & cultural transformation, Customer Experience (CX), Employee Experience (EX) in consulting, automobiles, and e-commerce industries alongside the management team. Spent 15 years at Booz Allen Hamilton's USA headquarters in addition to Nissan Motor Co. After returning to Japan, held positions at a foreign consulting firm (Executive Officer in charge of business planning), Amazon (confidential project) before the current position.

Takakazu Baba

President and CEO of Tokyo Century Co., Ltd.

Graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo and the Law School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Joined the company in 2014 after working at domestic financial institutions.
Served in various roles such as head of the Management Department and head of the Systems Department, currently holding the position since April 2022.