HITOWA's business began with addressing social issues

Modern Japanese society faces various changes and issues: a rising number of dual-income households, a declining birth rate, a super-aged society, and a shrinking labor force, together with issues such as climate change, resource and energy depletion, and more.

Since our company's foundation in 1997, we have met the increasingly diverse needs of consumers, driven by these social changes. We have done so by operating nursery schools and nursing homes, providing house cleaning and housekeeping services, catering services for nursing facilities, and other business activities that contribute to people and lifestyles.

Addressing social issues has always been our job, and our objectives are the same as those ensconced in the SDGs for creating sustainable societies. People are born, grow up, live healthy lives, and enjoy peaceful golden years. In each of these stages of life, we support the lives of our customers with services that have a human touch, delivering satisfaction and moving experiences. We believe that this is the purpose of our Group's existence.

Our goal is to create a society in which everyone lives rich, happy lives now, five decades from now, and a century from now. Our Group will continue to address social issues with sincerity, maintaining a strong focus on people and lifestyles as we support a brighter future.

Supporting the working generation and in turn revitalizing Japan

With the declining birth rate and aging population, the shrinking labor force, and the increase in dual-income households, a heavy burden has been placed on the working generation as they support their families and society through childcare, nursing care, housework, and work. For a while now workstyle reforms have been promoted at various companies, and we recognize that the childcare support, life support, nursing care, and food service businesses operated by our Group contribute to improving the work-life balance of the working generation and serve as the foundation for a daily life in which the working generation can work with peace of mind. We aim to come together as a Group and solve social issues based on our strong desire to revitalize the entirety of Japan by supporting people with the services we provide.

Addressing social issues through digital transformation

Digital transformation (DX) has always been and will continue to be an area in which our Group focuses its efforts. We are working to improve the quality of our services while raising operational efficiency of our employees and reducing the burdens placed on them by promoting digitalization. We have particularly high expectations for DX in the childcare and nursing care fields, where operations have tended to remain somewhat analog, involving handwritten application forms and the like.

One example of a specific DX activity being implemented by the Group is our introduction of a supervision system that uses IoT and AI technology to reduce the operational load placed on nighttime nursing staff and provide customers with safe, secure living environments. LIFELENS, which we developed in conjunction with Panasonic, uses sheet sensors on beds to detect body movement, respiration levels, and pulse levels. This system enables 24-hour monitoring of customer conditions and situations, which in the past was only possible through actual room visits. The ability to remotely make decisions regarding care needs and priorities has cut the time taken for nighttime rounds by roughly 90%. The time freed up for staff members is being used to spend more time directly dealing with and providing care to customers.

In nursery schools, parents and guardians, nursery schools, and local governments have been faced with a large amount of complicated tasks. To dramatically reduce this workload, we digitized the handwritten entry of the notebooks used for communication between nursery school staff and parents. Health records, such as body temperatures, meal information, sleep information, and toilet use information were also digitized. We developed "Kids Diary," which provides timely access to this digitized information from smartphones and other devices, and "Kids Connect," a system which integrates various operations performed by nursery schools and local governments, such as billing, screening, and wage calculation. These systems have been well received by a wide range of users.

We will continue to use DX to create services that provide greater satisfaction to all those involved in the childcare and nursing fields, and promote the use of DX that includes collaboration within the Group.

A company in which each and every employee can thrive

Women already account for 70% of the Group's employees and 40% of its management personnel. We are a more woman-centric Group than most companies. Because of that, we have implemented workstyle reforms from an early stage, such as introducing a super-flex system that ensures that female employees have time to spend with their families and that enables all employees, including male employees, to achieve an ideal work-life balance.

Our efforts have been met with high acclaim over the past few years. We received Eruboshi certification (level 3) from the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare for our promotion of the advancement of women in the workplace and Kurumin certification for the support we offer to raising the next generation of children. Furthermore, we were recognized as a Certified Health & Productivity Management Outstanding Organization and certified as a Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Excelling in Its Initiatives Related to the Employment of Persons with Disabilities.

In addition, we believe that the growth of individual employees and better employee experiences gained through one's duties contribute directly to the Group's goal of solving social issues. We carry out human capital development initiatives to enhance our employees' experience values, so that by constantly providing customers with higher levels of satisfaction and moving experiences, they will continue to feel motivated.

Continuing to support people around the world and their lifestyles, now and for future generations

The problems our group is addressing, such as the graying of society and falling birth rates, are not problems faced by Japan alone. They are social issues that countries around the world are grappling with. Recently, we have seen an increase in the number of people from other countries coming to inspect our group's business operations. In the future, we will use the expertise and insights we have cultivated since our group was founded to take on the challenges of supporting the lives of people around the world.

We live in an age where we are deluged with information. That is why we will continue to cherish the harmony between people, providing them with comprehensive lifestyle support services that they can truly enjoy as we support the lives of people worldwide.

HIDAKA Hiromi
President and Representative Director