Management Society for Promoting Well-Being at Work Established

Image by Hidewo Ishida

Koji Sakamoto, a professor at Hosei University Graduate School of Regional Policy Design and a director of All-Shizuoka Best Community, a non-profit organization that supports employment opportunities for mentally and physically challenged people, established a "Management Society for Promoting Well-Being at Work" on September. 23, 2014. He co-founded the society with people from various fields, who are active in the front lines, such as corporate managers, accountants and local governments.

The society's research focus is on "management that prioritizes employee's well-being" considering satisfaction and happiness of employees to be the main goal and greatest achievement. The society aims to increase the number of companies that better manage their businesses by contributing and raising awareness of its research achievements to society at large.

Under the difficult business environment due to economic and social globalization and shifting from manufacturing to an information and service-based economy, companies have been beefing up productivity and competitiveness. Despite their efforts, the percentage of loss-making companies is increasing each year and has now exceeded 70 percent. On the other hand, there are also increasing number of experts who believe that key characteristics of companies that maintain strong performance, regardless of economic conditions, are those who focus on happiness of employees, rather than financial performance, technological advancement and market share.

The society's main activities include presenting research results at universities throughout Japan and organizing community forums. It also sponsors unique events such as offering a "Japanese Companies Which We Want to Cherish Most" Award to companies that respect their employees.