I am honestly happy that I have been able to maintain zero overtime for a year since last spring. I think the maximum number of hours a day that you can concentrate fully is eight hours, and if you're going to achieve the same results, it's definitely better to finish in as little time as possible. So I've always thought that effectively eliminating overtime would improve work efficiency, allow people to use their time to improve their skills and take on new challenges, and increase sales and profit margins, but it's easier said than done. Twenty years ago when KOMA was founded, it was common to stay up all night, and just 10 years ago, I was working until late at night without a break. Over the next few years, I gradually reduced my overtime hours to 2 hours, then 1 hour, then 30 minutes, and finally I was able to reduce it to zero. "As a manager, I want to improve the work environment for my employees" is just a pretext; the truth is that it's annoying when people who have neither the guts nor the ability blame the company when they quit. That's why I want to make this a company where no one makes a sound. It's been a year since then and we've all worked together and never had to work overtime. As a result, sales increased by 30% compared to the previous period. Nowadays, employees receive between 110 and up to 130 days of vacation per year, and are provided with many benefits and guarantees, including social insurance, long-term leave guarantees, childcare leave, a retirement pension system, and dependent allowances. In addition to an environment where opportunities are always available, such as a system for purchasing works created by young employees and opportunities to participate in company management and give opinions, there is also an evaluation system that provides detailed visibility into individual skills, contributions, and work content, and salaries are good depending on ability and results. When you hear this, it seems like there are only good things, but it's not good for everyone. This is because only those who can understand their current situation and find their role can enjoy the rewards, results, and sense of growth. For those who are not, this environment will see them being compared to those who produce great works one after another and those who are actively involved in running the company, and their abilities and results will be exposed, making it impossible to hide anything and making them want to run away. The more talented a person is, the more they can narrow down their own goal from among the many options and move forward silently and straight, but incompetent people look at nonexistent options and only talk about their ideals without being able to take action, so they do not grow. The cleaner and better the working environment, the larger the mesh became, limiting the number of people who could remain in the field. In recent years, we have received many resumes from people looking for work, but because the number of positions available is small, the competition can be 20 to 30 times higher. The criteria for hiring is whether or not the candidate can bring a breath of fresh air to the current KOMA and become a new driving force. That's why KOMA has attracted a wide variety of talent, and everything is done in-house, including furniture design, production, sales, and planning, as well as catalog and website layout design, advertising, and international relations. That might sound like a high hurdle to overcome, but "I'm going to be more energetic than anyone and make KOMA even brighter than it is now!" Even something as simple as this would be greatly appreciated if it could actually be done. A company is made up of each and every one of our colleagues. This has created a virtuous cycle in which capable people create an even better environment for themselves, accelerating the company's growth. These days, I'm having a lot of fun working at KOMA , a company where I can feel the company evolving every day.
