Let’s talk about the HR Handbook – Why does Cocone disclose its HR system? ~ (Japanese only)

※This article is machine translated.

Cocone discloses its personnel system and all of its underlying ideas without concealment.
Why do we do it? The members involved talked about the process and thoughts leading up to the release of the film.

introduction

Ishiwatari (photo: middle)
Director Attorney at Law
He is involved not only in Cocone’s legal affairs, but also in the management of the office to realize Cocone’s broad vision.

Kitamura (photo: left)
In charge of Personnel and General Affairs Division Executive Officer
As an HR professional, she is involved in all aspects of Cocone’s philosophy, from HR system design, labor relations, recruitment, and general affairs, to deli (company cafeteria) and wellness (health care).

Watanabe (Photo: Right)
Corporate Designer and Public Relations

Ishiwatari:
Mr. Kitamura, the Human Resources Manager, told me that our handbook is read quite often during recruitment and at social gatherings. In this interview, I would like to look back on the creation of the handbook and talk about our thoughts on the handbook.

Kitamura:
I have a feeling lately that it is well read. I’ve been getting a lot of hits, such as coming up at the top of searches for HR handbooks. I am often asked questions like, “If we disclose so much, will people copy us?” I am often asked such a question.
We hope that our thoughts in this area will be conveyed.

Watanabe:
After all, it is said that our company has what is known as a good benefits package, isn’t it?

Kitamura:
If you look at the fragments, gyms and delis stand out. However, they are not the only ones that are popping up. The gyms and delis that are easily talked about have strong roots and are just the result of strong feelings, and are positioned as a very natural thing.

Watanabe:
That is why I feel uncomfortable with the term “benefits” which implies that it is something that is added and maintained only after the company has grown in various ways and has more capacity.
When I am involved in hiring, I tell them about the deli and gym, but without exaggeration, I explain that “our benefits package is as essential to working for us as a pen tab or a desk and computer are to a designer. I have been explaining to them that “our benefits are just as essential and necessary to have at work.

Ishiwatari:
We built the gym and deli in-house in 2015, when we really only had over 100 employees, so we built the in-house deli and gym and hired a dedicated trainer (we call him a health professional at Cocone).
At first, there was strong opposition within the company, saying that it was “too early” or “not on that scale,” but the founding executive said, “A place where people spend eight hours a day is quite long, even if you think about it in terms of a day or a life. If they are going to spend that much time there, we should at least provide them with an environment where they can be healthy just by being at the company. Our company should start with the happiness of our employees.” I convinced the people around me that this was a good idea.

Kitamura:
Yes, this personnel handbook was created in the process of confirming such a desire of “how we want to be” as a company and putting it into a message that is easy to share with all employees.

Ishiwatari:
Now that we’ve finally gotten to the point, can you talk about the structure of the personnel handbook?

Kitamura:
Yes, I think there are many HR handbooks in the world that only describe the operational part of the business, but Cocone’s handbook starts by explaining in depth the values of the company and the image of the company that we want to achieve.
I think the roots here are very important, and the personnel system is designed as a realization of common company values and philosophy.
So I think it is very important for people to understand why things are the way they are, rather than just knowing the resulting designed system.

Ishiwatari:
You also have a chapter at the end called “Tips for Living.”
To begin with, though, the expression “tips for living, not working tips” also contains a lot of our thoughts.

Kitamura:
In our company, at employee meetings, on internal postings, in messages, etc., there is always a repeated talk about “how we should live our lives.”
This is also, after all, in line with our company’s values and philosophy, which are the root of our personnel handbook.
So, the last chapter of the HR Handbook, “Tips for Living,” is not the first time it is mentioned in the handbook, but it is generally a question that if you are an employee of ours, you are sure to hear “that one.”

Watanabe:
I know it feels more like a compilation of stories that we hear all the time rather than given to us as reading material.

Ishiwatari:
As for how this handbook came to be, I think it can be traced back to around 2014 or so, around the time we put into words what we wanted to have as our mission as “vocation.

Watanabe:
When the number of employees gradually increased and we started to use two additional floors (in 2014), there was a moment when I felt that we were no longer able to “communicate without saying anything, as A-Un and A-Un are generally understood. After that time, I think it became necessary for us to put into ” words” what the company wanted to achieve and what we shared in common.

Ishiwatari:
That is true. But those were the days when you still knew the faces and names of all your employees. We would gather on the same floor, sitting on our haunches, and have a general meeting of employees.
But I guess it means that they were feeling a sense of urgency to “communicate properly in their own language” more and more from now on.

Watanabe:
You tried very hard to communicate the vocation by creating a handbook explaining the vocation after it was created and posting the vocation in the company.

Ishiwatari:
There were things like streamers!

Kitamura:
After all, our personnel system is strongly influenced by this vocation.
I believe that since its inception, Cocone, led by its founding directors, has been thinking about what it wants to achieve as a company, and what it wants its employees to be as a company, and what it can offer to its employees, and one of these ideas has taken the form of the personnel handbook.

Ishiwatari:
What is evaluation? It all started with the question, “What is evaluation? “I can usually see and know who spent their time doing what, but what is the evaluation to confirm that?” That was the starting point of our thinking.

Kitamura:
Yes, it was. We started from the point that “If it is a meeting to check what was done, it can be done without the system. We started from the point that “the evaluation system is meaningful only if it leads to the growth of the company and the employees.

Ishiwatari:
Actually, before that, you had an HR system that you paid an outside consultant to create. For example, it had a detailed formula for calculating salary increases, but it was different from what we wanted to do. After all, a personnel system that was like a ” template ” that was not based on our philosophy or sense of values was not what we wanted. I can’t even remember what it looked like now.

Kitamura:
We didn’t end up using the “imported” system, but created our own from scratch.
First of all, what was important to me was that since they knew what they had done, there was no point in telling them what to do about it, and I tried my best to get them to share the process part, like “What efforts were made to achieve the results and how many mistakes were made before that?”

Ishiwatari:
What is the meaning of a “team” if we can share our successes and failures with others, simulate them, and then take them to the next step, instead of keeping them as individual things? That was the idea, wasn’t it?

Kitamura:
I guess another pillar is self-evaluation, which I call self-review. If the company first gives an evaluation, the employee who thinks something is wrong has to say, ” I could have done better,” which is a strong word for an objection. So we asked the employees to give their self-evaluations first, and then put the burden of communication on the company side to say, “Maybe it’s not right.

Ishiwatari:
This was very labor intensive, wasn’t it? In fact, I feel that it is a heavy burden on the employee’s side, and it may be easier to have them tell you their own evaluation. However, I asked them to communicate their own achievements and processes.

Watanabe:
We wanted to instill this in our employees, so once all employees not only wrote their self-evaluations on paper, but also gave a presentation. I still think that was a great thing, and members from Sendai and Kyoto also came to Tokyo. The board members and leaders of the development and design departments sat down and gave their presentations in front of them.

Ishiwatari:
That was probably very hard for everyone, but there were a lot of very good times. There were tears, laughter, 、、、、 redos, and it was like a theater of life. It really showed how each of us had spent our time at the company.

Kitamura:
If the goal was to share each person’s successes and failures and what they learned from them, I kept a stenographic record of everything and shared it afterwards for the members who couldn’t hear it on the spot.
That momentous occasion is still fresh in our memories.

Watanabe:
You stopped company operations for a week. I’m not sure how you did it. I think the majority of employees at that time thought, “I hate presentations,” but whether they liked it or not, I think the entire company was united in the desire of the directors and leaders to confront each of us and share in our growth.

Ishiwatari:
It was quite a wonderful time, and since then, you have continued it in the form of ” voluntary presentations ” by people who are willing to share the process, on a voluntary basis.

Ishiwatari:
By the way, I’m not talking about the system itself at all.

Kitamura:
It’s good. That is important. As I mentioned at the beginning, I am often jokingly asked if the contents of the HR system will be stolen if I disclose so much. Without that, I don’t think it is possible or meaningful to copy only the system part.
For example, in the institutional area, there is a matrix chart of the organization, but this is not only to share the organization chart, but also to describe first the “thoughts” as to why this organization chart is being created. Therefore, if this thought is not conveyed, the organization chart cannot be interpreted, and it will not come alive as something meaningful.

Ishiwatari:
In fact, we’re changing the content as we go along.

Kitamura:
Yes, every time the evaluation period is over, you have taken employee surveys and reflected on the situation as a company, and have changed the way you operate the next evaluation. This is because I believe that while the philosophy and values are universal and will be maintained over the medium to long term, the specific system based on them should be changed flexibly in accordance with the company’s level of growth, the number of employees, and changes in culture.

Ishiwatari:
This year was the year of Corona, and we reexamined many definitions, such as “What is an office?

Kitamura:
That’s right. The very way we work has changed so much that we are considering changing our evaluation system accordingly. So it is meaningless to look at the system only in a piecemeal manner, and it is vital to continue to operate it exactly according to the actual conditions of the company, which is a living organism.

Watanabe:
At the base of this is the company’s unchanging values and philosophy.

Ishiwatari:
If you would like to see Cocone’s personnel handbook like that, click here!

Personnel Handbook HP
https://www.cocone.co.jp/system.html