Yuka Shimada: How the New HR System "WAA" is Changing the Way Japan Works

WAA stands for "Work from Anywhere and Anytime." It removes restrictions on where and when you work, increasing the options for how you work. This concept itself is a major feature and, I believe, the "selling point."

While working from home has become more common recently, in Japan, it has always been taken for granted that you work in an office. In contrast, with WAA, you can work in a park or a cafe. As for working hours, as long as it's between 6:00 and 21:00 on weekdays, you can work and take breaks whenever you like. As long as you produce results, it's a way of working where you can decide for yourself and proceed in your own way. This might be very different from the traditional "norm." I think that's exactly why it's getting so much attention.

The name WAA has two meanings. One is the sound "Waa!" that people make when they have a pleasant surprise. For many people, work might be something boring, something they have to endure for money. But wouldn't it be great if everyone could enjoy working so much that they wanted to shout "Waa!"? I put that feeling into the name. The other meaning is that I want it to spread out with a "Waa!" (laughs).

I believe that work-style reform is essentially life-style reform. It's not just about creating a system and saying, "Okay, this is work-style reform." What we aim for is for everyone to work vibrantly and lead healthy, happy, and fulfilling lives. WAA is one means of realizing that vision.

I think it's one of many factors. For example, you get caught in the commuter rush to get to the office by 9:00 AM, and just when you finally arrive, you're told to "increase productivity." That might make work boring for some people.

A bigger problem is the sense of being "forced to do it." You can't enjoy any job if you feel like you're being forced. I want to change this. In reality, the individual should know best how to improve their own work performance. I hope that WAA will trigger a shift in workers' mindsets from "being made to do it by someone" to "doing it myself," allowing them to work more like themselves and find more joy in their work.

Exactly. It won't work unless you have both the system and the mindset to utilize it. That's why the WAA logo is designed like a bicycle that runs while balancing on two wheels.

In our internal training, we emphasize the mindset rather than just introducing the system. The traditional concept of "work-life balance" seemed to imply that work and life are separate things. But in reality, work is an important part of life. It's "Work-in-Life." I tell our employees that I want them to use WAA as an opportunity to ask themselves what kind of life they want to lead and what kind of work style they want to choose.

Before introducing WAA, there were voices asking, "What if everyone stops coming to the office?", "Will we lose communication and teamwork?", or "What if people start slacking off?" However, as we deepened the dialogue with employees and actually moved forward with WAA, we realized that many of those anxieties were just assumptions.

It's true that if a colleague is working outside the office, you can't meet them in person. But does that really mean you can't communicate? If you want to talk, you can use Skype or the phone. Sometimes that's even a better use of time. The problem isn't that you can't meet; it's the assumption that you can't talk unless you meet.

The role of a leader is to think about how to maximize team performance and achieve goals when there are no constraints on place or time. Because of this, the skills of a manager are being tested more than ever. Therefore, we are increasing training opportunities for managers.

I believe there are five success factors for WAA, and one of them is technology. Without tools that allow for remote work, the system wouldn't have been possible.

The second factor, as I mentioned earlier, is starting from a vision. This is a point that is hard to see, but I believe it's the biggest success factor. If you focus only on issues like long working hours or low productivity, you lose sight of the purpose—why you're doing it—and the introduction of the system itself becomes the goal. It's important not to confuse the ends with the means.

Exactly. The third success factor is leader commitment. The fact that WAA was introduced so early was largely due to the leadership of the previous president (Fulvio Guarneri), who is Italian. It started when the previous president, upon arriving and seeing the way Japanese people work for the first time, asked me, "Why does everyone work late every night?" and "Why is there a commuter rush?" When I said, "I also have doubts about the Japanese way of working. I want to change it," he said, "Then let's change it." Just four months after his arrival, we were able to announce the project to introduce WAA to all employees.

The fourth success factor is what we call a growth mindset. For example, with the same glass of water, you can see it as "only this much left" or "this much is in there." Similarly, when you decide to do something, you can list 100 or 200 reasons why you can't, or you can keep your focus on how you can do it. If you look for them, you can find 100 or 200 ways to make it happen. At the root of WAA is this positive outlook, a growth mindset.

The final success factor is clarity of work. At Unilever, meritocracy is thorough, and the roles and areas of responsibility for each department and employee are clear. This doesn't mean there's a job description for every single task, but rather that the supervisor makes it clear what is expected of you, and you are clear about what you are doing. If this is unclear, it might be difficult unless subordinates are always within sight.

I believe these five factors are the background to why WAA is working well.

If I have an idea, I just say it first. When I do, the reaction is usually "Huh?" (laughs). Even so, if I really want to make it happen, I don't give up. People who oppose always have a reason. Instead of viewing them as resistant forces and fighting them, I move forward while listening to their needs.

HR is a job where people say all sorts of things when something happens, so it might not have a very good image in general. But HR is about "human affairs," so it's closest to the employees. At the same time, it's also closest to the management. You can speak to both and have an impact.

If HR changes, the company changes. If the company changes, society changes. If society changes, the country changes. If the country changes, the world changes. There is a huge opportunity in HR. So, I don't really mind if people say things. Even if I'm opposed or disliked, I get interested in the reason why that person is that way. I've always been good at getting along with people who others find difficult.

This is probably innate. I don't remember it at all, but apparently, when I was in kindergarten, I came home crying, clung to my mother's leg, and said, "Mom, what's the difference between being meddlesome and being kind?" (laughs). I'm sure someone called me "meddlesome." Hearing that from my mother, I realized it's been that way since then. If someone isn't feeling well, I wonder "What's wrong?" Being meddlesome might be uncalled-for interference, but it's about being interested in people and connecting with them.

Everyone has strengths and potential they were born with. I want to create a place where everyone can bring those out to the fullest. I hope to do that from a corporate standpoint.

Lately, I haven't been using the word "balance." The traditional concept of "work-life balance" has an image of allocating a fixed amount of things. For example, if work was 70 and home was 30, it's considered good if it gets closer to 50:50. But what's really important isn't the ratio, but whether you're doing what you want to do. In my case, there are times when it's 80:80 and times when it's 200:10; I feel like the sum isn't 100.

Of course, I've thought that women are at a disadvantage because they have to do so many things, or wondered why it's always me. At the same time, I have pride as a mother. After all, for children, mom is number one until a certain age. Since they chose me to be born to, I think it's only natural that I'm the one to take them to the hospital when they're not feeling well.

But I clearly tell my husband about those thoughts and feelings. I tell him both what I want to do as a mother and what I want to achieve through my HR work. If I were to point out a key to "balancing," it's largely that my husband understands and supports what I want to do.

You really can't do it alone, so you need the understanding of those around you. I have nothing but gratitude for everyone—not just my family, but also the people I work with. I'm always being helped.

That's right. There are moms who end up wondering "Why is it only women?", but I want to tell them, "Think about it. It's because you're a woman that you can play so many different roles."

That might be true. I was surprised at first. It was more rural than I thought (laughs). But there were brand-new school buildings with classrooms full of the latest Macs, and students were given laptop computers... It felt like we were carving out a new era in a new place. It was like coming to a different world, and it was very attractive. In Professor Mitsuyo Hanada's seminar, we thoroughly practiced discussing and thinking, and moving our hands and feet to go see things for ourselves. I also took programming classes because they were interesting. That kind of environment probably influenced the formation of my way of thinking.

When I entered university, I wanted to work in international relations. However, taking Professor Hanada's organizational theory class in the fall semester of my sophomore year was a turning point for me. People from various companies would come and talk every week, and after a lecture one day, a person from a bank said, "Companies aren't doing well right now. We want new talent like you to join us." Hearing that, I felt that since an organization is a collection of people, if each individual is energetic, the organization should be energetic too. If there are people who aren't energetic, I want to energize them. That's when I realized there was a job called HR. I thought it sounded interesting and decided to join Professor Hanada's seminar that very day.

Yes. Since I've been doing new graduate recruitment every year since joining Unilever, I meet a huge number of students every year. While there are very talented and motivated students, I also see many people for whom getting a job has become the goal, or people whose attitude in the waiting room is completely different from the interview room, and I feel a sense of crisis.

Thinking about why that is, I remembered my experience when I studied abroad. It was only after studying abroad that I realized that in Japanese education, mistakes are not allowed. You don't want to make a mistake in front of others, so you spend a lot of time thinking about what to say in your head before raising your hand. But if you do that in the US, you can't keep up with the speed and can't voice your opinion. I realized that even if we promote globalization, as long as this kind of education continues, Japanese people will never be able to speak up.

It's not that Japanese people aren't thinking about anything; of course that's not the case. In fact, they have incredibly deep thinking skills and many ideas. And yet, they don't say them. I hope this changes. I want students and workers to have more freedom regarding being themselves and being true to themselves.