Stopping Quits Before They Happen: What Itekureya Shows About Workplace Conflict

“The origin of the name? When we were discussing internally about starting a resignation-prevention service, a young female employee suggested it. She said she got the idea from a famous phrase in Michiyama Miki’s signature song Lifetime Respect.”

So says Tsuyoshi Nishikubo, president of the PR company Okuri Bunt (Shinjuku, Tokyo). The company’s uniquely named resignation-prevention service Itekureya, launched this summer, has drawn attention as a potential aid for business owners and companies troubled by the outflow of personnel, at a time when resignation-agency services like Mōmuri and Torikeshi have become widespread and more employees feel little resistance to quitting (comments below are from Mr. Nishikubo).

“In December last year, I received a consultation from Mr. A, president of an engineering firm I know, who said, ‘Employees quitting through resignation-agency services just won’t stop.’ What he wanted was ‘to enhance employee benefits in order to keep staff from leaving.’ Having originally worked in something like personnel consulting, I felt that simply improving benefits wouldn’t fundamentally solve the issue, and I began seriously considering creating a resignation-prevention service.”

Itekureya does not forcibly stop people who wish to resign. The law guarantees freedom to resign. Its main work is to identify the causes leading to resignation and present points of improvement to the client.

The sound of my boss chewing gum is unpleasant

“First, we conduct interviews to analyze dissatisfaction from both the employer and the employees. We ask, ‘What do you think could be the reasons for resignations at your company?’ What I came to realize after starting this service is that there is a serious mismatch. For example, Mr. A, who came to consult with us last December, was thinking about structural issues from a broad and strategic perspective: ‘There’s a limit to the range of work at our company,’ ‘Employees who have built up their careers to some extent might want to step up at other companies.’

Meanwhile, what the employees voiced were more realistic and raw complaints. ‘I was told I could expense work-related books, but when I actually submitted a request, they made snide remarks,’ ‘Mr. A’s behavior scares me’. Mr. A is a passionate person who cares about his employees. His passionate behavior expressing his strong feelings for the company was probably perceived as scary by the staff.”

Among the ten employees Nishikubo and his team interviewed, many had latent intentions to resign. However, once improvements such as clarifying the rules for expense use and increasing communication between the president and the staff were presented, those ten employees reportedly became more positive about continuing their work, saying, “I’ll try a little longer.”

“Revealing a company’s issues is, in a sense, exposing its shame. We are a PR company, so we sometimes publicly share the achievements of Itekureya as examples of issues companies face. To stop resignations and release the ‘poison’ for organizational improvement, managers need real resolve.

When we convey, ‘This kind of dissatisfaction exists within the company,’ some owners respond by hunting for ‘Who said that?’ So far, we’ve had requests from around twenty companies, but most have not fully confronted their issues to the point of truly improving. Only a few have actually made improvements. Costs vary. In the case of Mr. A’s company, which I’ve mentioned several times, the investigation took three months and cost about three million yen.”

Employees sometimes voice unusual complaints as well.

“There was a complaint that ‘The sound of my boss chewing gum is unpleasant.’ At first glance, it may seem trivial. But from another perspective, it suggests that the relationship between the boss and subordinate has deteriorated to the point where the employee can’t even advise the boss about the gum-chewing.

An environment where anyone can communicate freely on a daily basis is crucial for an organization. Even if someone ends up resigning, as long as both sides understand each other without verbal mismatches, they can part ways in a win-win manner.”

These days, whether resigning or trying to prevent a resignation, people tend to choose easy methods. But since these are choices that affect one’s life, it’s only natural that both employers and employees must have a considerable level of resolve.