22 Feb Thoughts about Yaraku, Inc. – from the perspective of office relocation

Yaraku, Inc. relocated its head office on January 11, 2022. The background of this relocation includes our CEO Sakanishi’s vision and the history of Yaraku.

This article introduces our office history, where we started our business, our office relocations, and our thoughts on our new office!

The start of Yaraku, Inc.

Yaraku, Inc. started out in one room of a small apartment near Shibuya station. The increase in the number of employees and lack of space made us move, which was about two years ago.

The new location was a spacious room for 12-13 people, with a meeting room, a bathroom and a kitchen. We had many developers coming from outside Japan, including some who worked in very casual outfits – T-shirt and half pants like Aiden. It may have been a little awkward to outsiders, but the space had a friendly and warm atmosphere. Sometimes the members from the dev team cooked lunch in the kitchen and served everyone. The office space had warmth and kindness, as if we were a family.

At the end of 2019, we decided to move again.

The reason was that we were in the phase of expanding the business. Also, it was becoming difficult to obtain loans and human resources while working from a one-room of an apartment building. We needed a new environment.

On Valentine’s Day of 2020, we moved again to the office in Shibuya.

It was a glass-walled, sophisticated, and fashionable office. Makiko Nakayama from Human Resources says it was then that she realized that we had become bigger.

Impact of COVID-19 after office relocation

After the office relocation in February 2020, the COVID-19 infection spread. Yaraku has many members from overseas. For foreign members who do not speak Japanese as their mother tongue, the worries and anxieties were serious about what would happen if they were infected, and what they do at a medical institution.

We often saw situations like a member from Human Resources or Accounting Departments sitting and working alone in an office for 20 people. Since we had the whole floor, we did not feel the presence of other people at all.

However, it was inappropriate to force members who were worried about even going to a medical institution to come to office.

Then we had a realization: “Make the spread of COVID-19 a good opportunity to increase diversity and flexibility.”

We decided to shift to a new way of working, centered on remote work. Before the spread of COVID-19, we had introduced remote work and had actively promoted efficient work styles that make full use of IT. Thanks to that, there was no major confusion and the work style changed smoothly.

Then we decided to move to this new location.

CEO Suguru Sakanishi’s thoughts on this move

Sakanishi wanted to create an office where you can feel the atmosphere of people and their warmth. We have moved to WeWork Link Square Shinjuku, a flexible office space that can embody his vision.

(Location：WeWork Link Square Shinjuku)

Flexible office space allows the members to feel the presence and atmosphere of people nearby while at the office.

In addition, it has large and small meeting rooms and spaces which can be rented according to the event.

We want to place more emphasis on communication in remote work situations. The office can be used not only as a place of work but also as an opportunity to interact.

Work style in the future

As in the past, we would like to continue our efforts to promote diverse work styles for the employees. We will also strive to create an environment where employees can work actively by establishing a new “communication hub” with this relocation. We would like to show the possibility of creating great teamwork and culture while working remotely, and aim to realize diverse work styles.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of relocation, we will make further efforts to expand our business in order to realize our mission “For Enjoyable Global Communications.”