A new workstyle combining our accumulated knowledge with the latest technology and office environments
Since our founding, we have adopted flextime, working from home and other arrangements while exploring new forms of workstyle. With the revolutionary evolution of remote technology during the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of shared offices, office environments are becoming increasingly diverse.
Strategic Partners has therefore combined its accumulated knowledge with the latest technology and office environments, and is promoting this as the “Strategic Partners Work Style (SWS).”
There are two key points.
A) Hybrid Work
Hybrid work is a way of working that combines traditional office work with remote work.
Introducing hybrid work eliminates the need to gather all members in the office, enabling a leaner, smaller office space and reducing costs, while the savings can be passed on as higher compensation for staff and returned to clients (lower costs).
For employees, it also makes working styles more flexible and work-life balance easier to achieve.
Office Work
For office work, we use a dedicated office built in recent years to enable hybrid work. Highly confidential work is done in the head office, staff who need to concentrate on creative work use private rooms, staff who want to brainstorm use the open space, web meetings are joined from enclosed phone booths, and staff who need a break use the rest space. While on the same floor, staff can change their environment according to the type of work and their physical condition.
LIBPORT Shinagawa: chosen as our dedicated office for realizing hybrid work
Building exterior (W Building)
Head Office
Private Rooms
Open Space
MTG Booth
PHONE Booth
Rest Space
* Spaces other than the head office are shared spaces provided by LIBPORT Shinagawa.
Remote Work
Remote work also helps increase motivation for work.
For example, without commuting time or preparing to go to the office, mornings can be more relaxed, and the stress of working in the same space as other staff is eliminated. This reduces dissatisfaction with work and makes it easier to focus on the task at hand. Another advantage is that each person can work in their preferred environment, such as playing their favorite music or working from a place they like. The time created by remote work allows people to take their children to and from school or to work for a company while caring for family members.
Furthermore, in the coming era, workplaces will no longer be limited to physical spaces. We currently make full use of online and cloud systems such as Zoom and Teams, and going forward, to achieve face-to-face-like communication, we would very much like to pursue initiatives toward realizing a virtual office, such as virtually commuting to an office that exists in a virtual space.
B) Use of Flextime
SWS is built on two pillars: “diversity of workplace” through the hybrid work described above, and “diversity of working hours,” for which we have adopted a flextime system (subject to eligibility criteria under internal rules). With flextime, staff can choose the hours when they can best concentrate to carry out their work, which also makes it possible to shorten working hours through greater efficiency and makes it easier to balance work and private life.
Going forward, we are also considering adopting a super-flex system that eliminates core time.
Under a flextime system, employees decide their own start and end times, but there is a period called core time during which they must be working. A super-flex system has no core time, allowing even more flexibility in choosing working hours.
Summary
Triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, a structural transformation is taking place in how we work.
Every time you visit a client company and see an empty office, haven’t you ever thought, “Is an office really necessary? This cost might be a waste”?
Moreover, with the spread of remote work, working without being tied to a location has become indispensable for its convenience and efficiency. At the same time, it has become clear that remote work is ill-suited to fostering communication and team building.
Today, many companies are scaling back working from home and returning to office work. Indeed, we have also been reminded of the importance of face-to-face meetings.
SWS is a new way of working that leverages and complements the advantages and disadvantages of both office work and remote work. By promoting SWS, we will continue to update it so that we can pursue the happiness of society, companies and staff.