Gen Yamaguchi
CEO, Benesse Socius Co., Ltd.

1. Overview of our company

Benesse Socius is a company established in 2016 with the aim of employing people whom it was difficult for special subsidiary companies to hire. The company name, “Socius”, means “companion” or “friend”, and is also the root of the word “social”.

Despite their name, special subsidiary companies are independent corporate entities, with deadlines and responsibility for the quality of the work which is entrusted to them. Therefore, whether or not a person can deliver the expected output is the standard for hiring decisions. In Benesse’s case, this standard is high and, as a result, we were only able to hire the top one or two of ten apprentices. A desire to be able to hire the fifth and sixth apprentices, too, to create an area of work with lower barriers, was the starting-point for our company.

There were three conditions for the new area of work, as follows:
(1)A form of work in which support staff and users carried out tasks as a group (≒ easier to provide support)
(2)A task for which there was a sufficient volume of work and which could not easily be mechanized in the future (≒ the work would not disappear even 20 years from now)
(3)A personnel structure which eliminated competition and evaluations as far as possible (≒ respect for each person’s own pace)

After going around various sites inside and outside our corporate group over the course of a year, we decided to run large-scale laundry centres entrusted with the work of washing the clothes worn every day by the residents of nursing homes as support for continuous employment type A workshops (hereinafter, “type A workshops”), and established a new company with the aim of providing welfare services. 84 “companions” (people with disability IDs) currently work at three laundry centres.

2. How we came to take on the challenge of a social firm

We set up our first centre in Inagi City and our second in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo, both as type A workshops. Then when I was thinking about how to expand next, I learned about “social firms certified by Tokyo Metropolitan Government”. I myself had felt uneasy, troubled by questions such as “Is a workplace which brings together only disabled people OK?” and “How about people who do not have disability certificates?”, so I was attracted by the concept of “social inclusion”. I immediately submitted a proposal to Holdings (the holding company which oversees our corporate group), and was granted approval to launch it as a business.

The business concept was “a high-efficiency laundry centre for people aiming for social independence but who face difficulties with employment”. For disabled people, it would be “a place where they could make the most of their individual strengths, feel at ease, and work for a long period”; for NEETs or single mothers, it would be “a place to regain a daily rhythm and confidence in their ability to work, in preparation for moving ahead to the next stage”.

There were two objectives, “realize an annual income of 2 million yen (the minimum amount needed in order to live alone in Tokyo)” and “be commercially viable without benefits”. For this reason, we aimed at a rate of productivity 1.5 times higher than that at our existing centres.

We applied to Tokyo Metropolitan Government for preliminary certification in October 2020, and our third centre went into business in Nishirokugo, Ota Ward, in August 2021.

3. What kind of people work here?

Aiming to create a workplace in which both disabled and able-bodied people work together, we set up two recruitment routes: via Support Pia (Ota Ward Comprehensive Support Centre for Disabled People) for people with disability IDs who faced difficulties with employment, and JOBOTA (Ota Ward Life Reconstruction and Employment Support Centre) for people without such IDs who faced difficulties with employment. We gradually gathered people together along these two axes, and at present (January 2023), 24 people work here.

The breakdown is 3 staff (centre director and support staff), 10 people recognized by Tokyo Metropolitan Government as facing difficulties with employment (simply being a NEET or a single mother is not enough for recognition), and 11 other part-time staff. The people facing difficulties with employment include people with disability certificates (intellectual, mental, physical), a person who had not left their home for 20 years, and a foreign single mother.

4. The content of the work

The content of the work is washing the clothes worn every day by the residents of nursing homes and the towels provided by these homes, just as at the type A workshop laundry centres. We are currently entrusted with the laundry for about 750 people living in 17 nearby nursing homes.

[Workflow]
Receipt and return of laundry → pre-wash check (check inside pockets, decide whether or not the material can be washed, etc.) → operation of machines (industrial washing machines, driers, boilers) → folding → preparation for return

The main task is folding people’s everyday clothes. Almost all of the work takes place standing up, so it is by no means an easy job physically.

5. Adjustments to allow everyone to work

We make adjustments so that people with and without disabilities and foreign people can all work together. We have carried over the mechanisms and know-how accumulated at our type A workshops into both the work aspect and the support aspect. These do not feel like anything out of the ordinary to us, but I have tried organizing them along “three axes” here.

[Creating an environment in which it is easy to work]

• A favourable space: we pay attention to the air conditioning, in order to avoid the extremes of heat and cold and the cramped spaces associated with laundry centres, and to the rest space.
• Organisation: on the premise that many of our staff primarily take in information visually, we divide the laundry bags and baskets by colour according to the stage in the laundry process or the type of laundry, and give detailed instructions about where to place things along the routes of movement.
• Freedom concerning attendance and absence: we deliberately chose an hourly pay system. We set each person’s number of working days and hours flexibly, according to their lifestyle rhythm and condition.

[Fostering motivation and self-esteem]

• Setting things up so that “thank you” is frequently heard: we allow chatting while working, and encourage staff to talk to and help one another. The support staff take the initiative in saying “thank you”.
• Sharing the outlook for the work: we display the day’s work schedule. As each person feels “We are moving ahead” or “We are behind” while they work, a sense of togetherness develops.
• Participation in improvement: we encourage suggestions and activities regarding the workflow, tools, layout, and so on, and have an award system. As each person’s suggestions are put into practice within the workplace, their motivation and sense of belonging increase.

[Support system for when a person is in poor condition]

• We assign personnel with a degree of knowledge and insight into caring for people: all of our staff are certified job coaches or care workers.
• We have built a support system in partnership with external supporters on the premise that some kind of trouble or poor condition will occur within three years. “Three years” is a value based on our experience at type A workshops. For each person facing difficulties with employment, we maintain relationships with Support Pia and JOBOTA, of course, but also with local government agencies (disability welfare section, life and welfare section), Hello Work (job center), their group home, their family, and so on. We send out information regularly, and if there are signs that a person’s condition is worsening, we immediately get in contact and provide support in partnership.

6. The current situation and the future

One and a half years have passed since this center went into business. I feel that one answer to the questions which used to trouble me has started to take shape. What feels great to me when I am on the ground is seeing disabled and able-bodied people chatting normally with one another and working together. The person who had not left home for twenty years began by working three days a week for three hours at a time; they are now working four days a week for five hours at a time, and their expression is completely different from when they joined us. The process of connecting with society by working is unfolding in front of our eyes. This leads directly to motivation for our staff.

At the same time, new concerns have developed, such as whether the current contract type and personnel structure (which developed out of those used at the type A workshops) are the right ones. We also need to raise wage levels higher. I intend to resolve these nagging concerns one by one, further improving the current business model.

Our current business came into being with the support of a great many people, including everyone at the Bureau of Industrial and Labor Affairs, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and the Tokyo Foundation for Employment Services. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have supported us.

Folding laundry on the second floor. Everyone folds it carefully, thinking of our customers.