Hello everyone,
This is Demizu from the General Affairs Department at Okudaya Giken.

When I introduce myself to someone outside the company for the first time, I’m often asked, “So, what kind of work do you usually do in General Affairs?”
To be honest, I often find myself struggling to give a clear answer and end up saying something vague like, “We do a bit of everything!”
Lately, that’s been one of my little dilemmas.

So this time, to avoid being at a loss during future introductions, I’d like to take a moment to briefly explore and introduce what the General Affairs Department actually does.

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– The Mysterious Department: What General Affairs Really Does

In the eyes of many, the General Affairs Department is often seen as a “mysterious department” — no one’s quite sure what it actually does.

In reality, our main responsibilities involve a wide range of administrative and coordination tasks, such as personnel and labor management, managing office supplies, submitting reports to government agencies, and organizing internal company events.
At this time of year, we focus especially on responding to annual legal revisions, planning related employee benefits, and reviewing various insurance contracts.

To uphold corporate compliance and help maintain and boost employee motivation, we — the General Affairs Department — sometimes even find ourselves listening to personal concerns from staff.
In other words, we’re working hard behind the scenes as the mysterious General Affairs team.

In addition, our General Affairs Department includes two dedicated system staff members, fulfilling the role of an internal IT department as well.

While our colleague Mr. Takagi handles company asset and information management, the implementation of various policies, and the organization of internal events — all while serving as the strict “internal police” to maintain discipline — the system staff are busy maintaining our IT infrastructure and responding to urgent SOS calls like:

“My keyboard suddenly stopped working!”
“I swear I didn’t touch anything, but the computer broke!”

…Such is the daily life of our General Affairs Department.

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– What Makes General Affairs Tough

One of the common challenges faced by the General Affairs Department is the difficulty of balancing three competing perspectives:
① Management’s vision,
② Employees’ diverse needs, and
③ Legal and ethical requirements.

For example, when promoting remote work, we must carefully navigate between cost and security concerns on one hand, and operational efficiency on the other.
Likewise, in addressing broad societal responsibilities such as the SDGs, GX (Green Transformation), and carbon neutrality, implementing company-wide initiatives that empower “each employee to contribute through their daily work” is far from easy.

As the General Affairs Department, we stand between management, employees, and society (including legal and ethical frameworks), and are expected to provide the optimal response to each.
(This is where the real challenge lies.)

If we lean too far in any one direction, it could disrupt the balance of the entire organization.

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– Smoothing the Way

That’s why the General Affairs Department always keeps the following three goals in mind as the value we aim to deliver both inside and outside the company:

1. To establish reliable systems and foster a comfortable and supportive work environment.
2. For our clients and partners: To maintain a solid foundation for trustworthy company operations so they can engage with us confidently.
3. For the company as a whole: To prevent HR and labor-related issues before they arise and support the smooth functioning of the organization.

These responsibilities are often hard to see in terms of tangible results. The more smoothly the company runs, the less visible our work becomes.
Because of this, the General Affairs Department is often described as the “lubricant of the organization.”

In fact, most of our duties take place behind the scenes — quiet, unglamorous work that involves coordination, compliance, and procedures.

And yet, we firmly believe that this steady accumulation of efforts is what sustains employees’ peace of mind and clients’ trust.
(Lubrication Point)

And one day, we hope to be recognized with comments like,
“Okudaya Giken doesn’t just use high-quality lubricants in their products — they use them in their people and operations too.”

Until then, we’ll continue making steady, quiet efforts behind the scenes each and every day.

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Written by:
Akira Demizu
General Affairs Department
Okudaya Giken Co., Ltd.
(Striving for growth every day.)