「人は財なり」 and Ideas for Rakuten to Help after the Quake
The impact of the big earthquake yesterday no longer requires any further elaboration. Emergency team was created at the company to assess the damage done while employees got together to comfort and support each other. But as the seas returned to their usual calmness and the ground ends its seemingly endless tremors, perhaps it is a time for me to look ahead, at least at my personal level, what this quake will mean for us and the company.
As I mentioned in my personal blog, this quake proved the weakness of human intelligence in the face of nature's power, but at the same time revealed the unifying quality of human emotions. But either way, the quake, at the ground level here in Japan, was and still is an entirely human experience. For Japan, and Rakuten, to stand back to her feet under the shocks will depend on whether her workers can stand back up.
In this way, the quake attributes a whole new level of meaning to the company slogan「人は財なり」(roughly translated, "humans are the treasure"). For now, at least, the unity of Rakuten employees, especially those stranded at the office last night, seems to allow the company to focus on businesses rather than the employees. And the discipline law-abiding nature of the Japanese (no looting or murders despite largely invisible police presence) can assure that all the employees will be back to the offices on Monday morning.
However, obvious the same cannot be said of our shops. As 営開 stopped all outbound phone calls last night, we cannot help but wonder how our clients are doing up in the hard-hit 東北 area. No actions are yet taken to confirm their safety, and even if they are safe and sound, the same cannot possibly be said for all their products. To be sensitive, we do have to stop our sales activities, and we are not sure for how long....
Moreover, as for employees with families and friends in the affected regions, normal working capacity cannot possibly return in such a short time. With transportation to the region still remaining shaky and their concerns for family growing by the day from unfortunate separation, how the company behave in the next week or so can affect the satisfaction level of both the shops and the employees dramatically.
On the flip side, though, the natural disaster is a golden opportunity for the company to improve its image, both inside and outside the company. For one thing, mental stress of the employees should be soothed a more open and low-context approach to their management. Gone should be the days of "forced bonding" through 飲み会 with punishments for the absent. And gone should be the enforcement of quietness (i.e. not expressing their opinions) for the できない employees, who, at their worst, are not even feeling gratitude for getting paid.
For the shops, a definite plan for financial support need to be put in place. Those who suffered major damages should be allowed to delay payments to Rakuten (certainly, nothing could be more cruel than taking away their online shop when their real shops probably already got washed away by gigantic waves). And even more, special pages should be set up on Rakuten to promote shops from the affected areas to encourage them to stand back up financially.
As for the orders that will inevitably be delayed by damages to the merchants, actions similar to the Rakuten Books fiasco should be taken, involving large numbers of willing employees from all departments. The merchants who do not have the capacity to deal with al the cancellations should be supported by Rakuten DU, and all the sales personnel (who cannot do sales now anyways) should be diverted to calling up existing shops to offer condolences.
Of course, all of this will be highly costly for Rakuten, and without short- and even mid-term expectations of extra revenues for the company. But think of these acts this way: Too often has Rakuten been portrayed as the "troublesome bad boy" in Japanese corporate world through endless emails and phone calls, this is our time to shine for once as a "responsible stakeholder" in Japanese society through open display of our "empowerment spirits."
As I mentioned in my personal blog, this quake proved the weakness of human intelligence in the face of nature's power, but at the same time revealed the unifying quality of human emotions. But either way, the quake, at the ground level here in Japan, was and still is an entirely human experience. For Japan, and Rakuten, to stand back to her feet under the shocks will depend on whether her workers can stand back up.
In this way, the quake attributes a whole new level of meaning to the company slogan「人は財なり」(roughly translated, "humans are the treasure"). For now, at least, the unity of Rakuten employees, especially those stranded at the office last night, seems to allow the company to focus on businesses rather than the employees. And the discipline law-abiding nature of the Japanese (no looting or murders despite largely invisible police presence) can assure that all the employees will be back to the offices on Monday morning.
However, obvious the same cannot be said of our shops. As 営開 stopped all outbound phone calls last night, we cannot help but wonder how our clients are doing up in the hard-hit 東北 area. No actions are yet taken to confirm their safety, and even if they are safe and sound, the same cannot possibly be said for all their products. To be sensitive, we do have to stop our sales activities, and we are not sure for how long....
Moreover, as for employees with families and friends in the affected regions, normal working capacity cannot possibly return in such a short time. With transportation to the region still remaining shaky and their concerns for family growing by the day from unfortunate separation, how the company behave in the next week or so can affect the satisfaction level of both the shops and the employees dramatically.
On the flip side, though, the natural disaster is a golden opportunity for the company to improve its image, both inside and outside the company. For one thing, mental stress of the employees should be soothed a more open and low-context approach to their management. Gone should be the days of "forced bonding" through 飲み会 with punishments for the absent. And gone should be the enforcement of quietness (i.e. not expressing their opinions) for the できない employees, who, at their worst, are not even feeling gratitude for getting paid.
For the shops, a definite plan for financial support need to be put in place. Those who suffered major damages should be allowed to delay payments to Rakuten (certainly, nothing could be more cruel than taking away their online shop when their real shops probably already got washed away by gigantic waves). And even more, special pages should be set up on Rakuten to promote shops from the affected areas to encourage them to stand back up financially.
As for the orders that will inevitably be delayed by damages to the merchants, actions similar to the Rakuten Books fiasco should be taken, involving large numbers of willing employees from all departments. The merchants who do not have the capacity to deal with al the cancellations should be supported by Rakuten DU, and all the sales personnel (who cannot do sales now anyways) should be diverted to calling up existing shops to offer condolences.
Of course, all of this will be highly costly for Rakuten, and without short- and even mid-term expectations of extra revenues for the company. But think of these acts this way: Too often has Rakuten been portrayed as the "troublesome bad boy" in Japanese corporate world through endless emails and phone calls, this is our time to shine for once as a "responsible stakeholder" in Japanese society through open display of our "empowerment spirits."
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