Participating in the Greeting Campaign

The Greeting Campaign is an initiative in which labor union leaders and our company's executives together greet employees at the company entrance during the morning work period.

This is a campaign that we have been engaged in for many years, and we made rounds at each of our business locations on an irregular and unannounced basis.

It was suspended for a long time due to the Corona pandemic, with the agreement that employees should refrain from greeting each other aloud, but it was revived after a long absence, and this time it was conducted at the Global Head Office in Nagoya.

Greetings are important, though our working style may have changed!

Actually, I was really looking forward to this event, as I had been seeing my employees less and less recently. However, I was a little sad to see that fewer people were able to see each other than before because of telecommuting and staggered work hours.
Nevertheless, since this is also part of the reform of work styles, even when you work staggered hours, anytime in the morning, it would be a good idea to say "Good morning!“.

By the way, do you greet people on a regular basis? If we say "Ohayo gozaimasu" (good morning), they say "Ohayo gozaimasu" (good morning) in return. It is especially pleasant in the morning.
Of course, I not only say "Ohayo gozaimasu," but also "Konnichiwa"(Hello!) when I pass by them in the hallway. And when I walk in the evening at the plant, I say "Otsukare sama"(thank you for your hard work.) etc., even if I don't know the person I am talking to. Thus, I try to communicate with people on a daily basis.

Communication is only possible when you understand the feelings of the other person!

It is often said that greetings are the first step in communication. There was a time when we were hesitant to greet each other even when walking in the park in the morning because of the Corona pandemic, but recently we have started to greet each other with a careful eye contact.Greetings have the effect of "Mutual Recognition”.
This is to acknowledge each other's existence.

I believe that greetings have the effect of conveying the message, "You are important to me”. When working with various people, both inside and outside the company, it is difficult to understand each other's thoughts at first. According to a union leader, a "Thank You Campaign” is also currently underway.

They are adding a new "Thank you" campaign to the "Greetings" campaign.This is a campaign to encourage employees to say "thank you" to each other so that they can build a good relationship with each other.

I’m sure this will help build a relationship of trust even across organizations.

Let’s greet lively, as the Corona pandemic is subsiding!

I hope that everyone will recognize each other and act in a way that leads to building trust. I feel that more and more people are gradually getting to understand who I am as a person through my blog and other means. It’s good that the number of people who approach me when I am standing at the gate or entrance, or when I visit your workplaces, is gradually increasing.

From now on everyone, please feel free to speak to me. I would like to deepen communication with all of you, starting with the first step, greetings. I look forward to seeing you all with lively greetings.

SUMITOMO RIKO President's Blog

The contents of this blog are compiled by the Public Relations and Investor Relations Department of Sumitomo Riko Company Limited as the secretariat and posted on the blog based on the speeches and wr