In post-Covid era, firms invest in offices to bring back employees

Asahi Shimbun

4 days ago

An employee of IVRy Co. takes a shot at scaling the bouldering wall set up in its office in Tokyo's Minato Ward on May 19. (Takeshi Owada)
After remote working became the new normal following the COVID-19 pandemic, a question arose: What are offices for?
Realizing that face-to-face interactions are key to innovation, companies started giving their office spaces a makeover to entice employees to resume the daily commute.
And in a surprise spinoff, they also found it easier to recruit workers.
IVRy Co. in Tokyo's Minato Ward relocated its office to another floor in the same building in late April. The company develops and manages automated telephone answering and artificial intelligence dialogue systems.
Th new floor, home to around 210 employees, is about 1.9 times larger than the previous one.
Particularly eye-catching is a 7-meter-wide and 3-meter-high bouldering wall adorned with colorful holds. It is available for anyone to use whenever they want.
'It is part of our effort to provide an environment where employees can have fun and switch off during work hours,' said Tsuyoshi Imanishi, who heads corporate functions at the company.
The indoor climbing wall encourages exchanges among the employees. At least one person decided to join the company after seeing it during an office tour.
There are no pillars, partitions or even executive rooms on the floor.
'It is an open space, which allows employees to share the company's ambience and culture. And that leads to innovation,' Imanishi added.
Sansan Inc., an IT firm based in the capital's Shibuya Ward, relocated to the Shibuya Sakura Stage complex directly connected to JR Shibuya Station last September. The company develops and sells digital transformation services that change the way people work.
About 1,800 people work in the office with a total floor space of around 13,200 square meters spread over five floors.
According to Yosuke Kagaya, manager of the Office Strategy Department, the company combined several operational bases that had been scattered in other buildings.
The main feature is a 'free space' with a total floor area of about 660 square meters, which is called Park.
Employees can use the space in any way they like: for meetings, hosting events, eating lunch and so on.
They now hold gatherings of two or more people, referred to at the company as 'yoriai,' more frequently.
Job seekers admit to being curious to seeing the office layout.
'We are living in the age of AI, and that is all the more reason we want to place importance on face-to-face communication,' Kagaya said.
Tanaka Ai Co., a chemical trading firm based in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, remodeled its main office in Tokyo to give it a total floor space of about 580 square meters.
After a layout change in March, four sections, each of which is allocated to a different division, were placed diagonally across the floor, to make the space look more spacious.
The sections are rearranged to encourage communication among employees.
After working from home (WFH) became common practice during the pandemic, many companies scaled back their offices when the leases came up.
Now that employees are being encouraged to return to working in a corporate setting, companies are moving to improve their office environments, including relocating, expanding their businesses and hiring more staff.
According to Miki Shoji Co., a leading office leasing agency, the average vacancy rate of office buildings in central Tokyo's Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Shinjuku and Shibuya wards hit 6.49 percent in September 2022.
But the figure dropped to 3.56 in May this year.
A 5-percent vacancy rate is considered a balanced level, so when the percentages are between 3 and 4 percent, renters can find tenants even if rents are high.
After the Mori Trust Group noted a sudden increase in inquiries for office improvement, it started offering interior consultation, design and remodeling services in August 2023.
It received 11 orders, exceeding its goal, in the business year ending in March.
'Seeing offices not as costs but as investments, businesses have shifted their thinking to how they can trigger innovations and increase productivity,' said Chiharu Fujioka, an executive managing officer at Mitsui Fudosan Co. 'This trend has been apparent since the pandemic ended.'