On September 10, 2015, disaster struck the city of Joso in Ibaraki Prefecture when the heaviest rainfall recorded in 50 years caused the Kinugawa River running through the city to burst its banks. The city of Joso is about 60 kilometers from the Tokyo head office. Some 6,500 households suffered damage from the large-scale flooding. The damage caused was so great that even after the waters receded it will be a long time before people's lives are restored to normal.
In the past, Polyplastics has supported disaster relief efforts by making monetary donations. This is the first time the company has supported disaster relief by calling for employees to volunteer to go to the disaster site and directly participate in relief efforts. Thirteen employees raised their hands in answer to the request for volunteers and went to Joso three times to help out with volunteer relief efforts. In addition to the thirteen employees who participated, other employees also expressed the wish to help out. However, because the decision was made suddenly, many people were unable to arrange their work schedules and had to give up participating in the volunteer activities.
P-mates talked with President Mr.Goto about the decision to send volunteers to the disaster site.
Q. Why did you decide to support the relief effort in the form of direct activity by volunteers?
Well, in a word, it was something I had been thinking about for quite a long time. The circumstance in which our company finds itself has just been ready.
When I became president of the company in 2008, I thought a lot about what constitutes a "good company."
One thing we can do is to contribute to society by providing good products and technologies to our customers to support their efforts to develop increasingly better products.
Another is to be a company that everyone working in the Polyplastics Group around the world can be proud and happy to work in.
After I became president, the Lehman Shock, the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Thailand flood crisis, and strengthening of the yen occurred in rapid succession, so I concentrated primarily on stabilizing business. But I always was concerned about whether Polyplastics was a company the employees were happy and proud to be working for. Fully aware of what is called work-life balance, I saw participation in volunteer activities as one way for each employee to find fulfillment in both work and private life.
I also believe volunteer activity is important from the perspective of the company's development of employees who have a sound mind, a sense of morality, and the ability to understand human suffering. I visited the area devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 in a personal capacity. As I listened to what people in the disaster area had to say, I kept thinking "Is there anything we could have done as a company to help?" This was a thought that remained strongly in my mind and was another reason we decided to send volunteers to participate in relief efforts in Joso.
All of these thoughts led to the conviction that a company as large as Polyplastics must lay a foundation for social contribution that doesn't seek any return. When the flooding occurred in Joso, I thought here is the company's chance to take action. That's why I proposed sending volunteers to help the relief effort.
President Mr.Goto was one of the persons who volunteered to participate in relief activities at the disaster site.
He reflected on that experience.
As I was working, many of the local people who suffered damage came up to me with warm words such as "Thank you for helping out" and "Thank you for coming all the way here to help us." Those words gave me the feeling that what I was doing really was helping people.
After finishing the work, I came away feeling very invigorated. I thought how great it would be if the employees could share that feeling I had.
Interchange with the local people and other volunteers I worked with was even more enriching than the satisfaction I got from the volunteer work itself.
It was the first time for most of the 13 employees from Polyplastics to participate in a volunteer activity. Typical comments heard from participants were "I learned from that experience that I can make a difference, so I hope to actively participate in volunteer work from now on" and "I didn't realize how terrible the situation was until I actually went to the disaster site. I was directly affected--it wasn't just something you see happening to other people on TV."
I think it was the good results the company achieved in this first effort that gave people who were interested but not quite ready to actually participate in volunteer work the extra push they needed. However, it's also true that some people who wanted to participate were unable to due to business circumstances, and there were some people who couldn't quite make up their minds to participate.
P-mates asked President Mr.Goto what ideally should be done to promote volunteer activity from now on.
This time the volunteer activities to support the relief effort were held at the site where the disaster occurred, but volunteer work doesn't have to be limited to disaster relief. I think the ideal, more than promoting an increasing amount of volunteer activity, is to become a company that inspires an increasing number of employees to want to participate in a volunteer activity and to be of help to other people.
Volunteering means to doing something of your own free will.
The ideal is an eventual cycle of volunteer activity naturally undertaken whether or not there is support by the company.
But nothing is begun without an opportunity. So to give an extra push to people taking the first step, the company experimented with ways to support the volunteer work and make it easier for employees to participate by providing transportation fees, paying volunteers who participated on weekdays the wages they regularly received, and providing volunteers' insurance, goggles and masks.
I hope that the company can do its part to help employees find fulfillment in their work and private life by creating an environment that enables them to act on the wish "to do something," "to be of help to others." And it's also my objective to make the company a place where the employees approach their work energetically and enthusiastically.
The wish I have had since becoming president of the company to contribute to society through direct volunteer work has been realized; and it is a first step for the company as well. Let's draw on this experience with direct volunteer work to move toward making Polyplastics a "good company" in the eyes of society and all of our employees!
Polyplastics' effort to promote direct volunteer work has just begun.
Let's reflect on this first experience and apply what we've learned to make direct volunteer work increasingly successful.
Ms. Maiko Omura