Haruki Osawa, president of Openwork. Openwork became a consolidated subsidiary of Link and Motivation in 2020, but Mr. Osawa originally came from Link and Motivation.
On December 16, 2022, the largest employee word-of-mouth service, OpenWork, was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market.
The opening price is 3,500 yen, which exceeds the public offering price (3,150 yen), and the closing price is 4,200 yen. The market capitalization based on the closing price was 21,588 million yen (added at 18:00 on December 16).
Openwork started service in 2007 as Vorkers. The number of users continued to increase gradually, and the number of registered users exceeded 5 million in July 2022 (about 5.15 million as of October 2022).
According to the earnings forecast, in the fiscal year ending December 2022, operating revenue is expected to increase 28% year-on-year to 1.97 billion yen, and net income is expected to increase 63% year-on-year to 380 million yen.
In April 2020, Haruki Osawa (37), who was appointed as the new president of Openwork, will focus on connecting “employee word of mouth” and “recruitment information” to strengthen the business model that earns profits from the company.
However, there is a risk that the platform’s credibility will be called into question if the model for profiting from the company side is likely to be “Are companies manipulating word-of-mouth to be advantageous for recruitment?”
How will OpenWork grow, and what growth strategy will it draw in the future?
Re-edit and post an interview article with President Osawa conducted before the listing announcement(The interview article at that time was published in October 2022).
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The past that was said to be “toilet graffiti”
Employee word-of-mouth was initially ignored by companies as “something you don’t know who wrote it” (the photo is an image).
“Employee word-of-mouth has been seen as “graffiti on the toilet that you don’t know who wrote it” and has been ignored by corporate personnel.However, seven years after the service was launched, around 2016, the number of users increased, and this time, it became a ‘annoying existence’ and ‘the number one company I disliked’ for HR.”
Mr. Osawa joined Link and Motivation in 2009 after graduating from the University of Tokyo Graduate School.At that time, Mr. Osawa was involved with a client company as an employee of Link and Motivation, but for the client company, the service called OpenWork (then Vorkers) wasGrowing into a “annoying existence”and look back.
“Word of mouth has become a hot topic, with clients in charge of consulting consulting with me saying, “The personnel system was written in tatters by word of mouth.
The reason why employee word-of-mouth has become a threat is that the number of word-of-mouth has increased, and the presence has also increased in searches.When searching for “company name” and “annual income” together, word-of-mouth services came to be displayed at the top, and employee word-of-mouth recognition spread rapidly.
“I noticed that the process of ‘reading word of mouth’ was included in the process of changing jobs and getting a job.”
In the era of “SNS” rather than company communication
OpenWork has slowly increased its user base.
In 2018, when the influence of word of mouth was gradually increasing, Openwork (then Vokers) reached a major turning point.
Link and Motivation acquires 20% stake at 2.25 billion,Capital and business alliancetied.At the same time, Mr. Osawa was seconded from Link and Motivation.
“Vorkers, who were often seen as an unknown entity, received funding from Link and Motivation,I came to think that it is a proper service”
Since then, there has been a change in the way employee reviews are received.
“My feeling is that rather than ignoring word of mouth, highly conscious managers have come to think that they cannot acquire human resources unless they face word of mouth and change the company.”
It is said that changes in society are a big factor behind the increasing acceptance of employee word-of-mouth.
Changes have also begun to occur on the part of those who have changed jobs.
sociallyThere is a tendency to emphasize information provided by third parties rather than information provided by companies.”.
“I feel that it’s the same as choosing a restaurant recommended by someone on Instagram, or being liked by Matsuko Deluxe who expresses his opinion.”
Another change on the side of the job changer is “The presence of BizReach is also large” is also analyzed.
“BizReach popularized the model of submitting your own resume and getting scouted.A culture of finding a good company on your own instead of leaving everything to a career change agenthas been completed.”
In addition, the corona crisis that hit Japan just before he was appointed president was a tailwind for employee word of mouth.
“The job market has cooled down, but online selection is still being completed. It is difficult to convey the atmosphere of a company online.
The Double-edged Sword of “Recruitment Service”
If you look at OpenWork’s site, you’ll see job listings along the top with “Job Search” and “Pick Up Jobs.” The screen shot was taken when the author opened the site, and there is no intention to introduce a specific company.
Employee word of mouth, which was said to be “toilet graffiti”, has become a presence that companies cannot ignore.
One area OpenWork hopes to grow its business is the hiring function.
Currently, there are two main sources of openwork revenue. One is a user fee charged for viewing word of mouth, and the other is a “recruitment business” that earns profits from companies by matching job vacancies with human resources.
Revenue from paid subscriptions has remained relatively flat, but the recruiting business has grown “several times over the years.”
Recruitment business “OpenWork Recruiting” is increasing sales.
The “recruit business” is a business model in which job postings are posted on OpenWork’s word-of-mouth page for free, and companies receive a “flat rate of 800,000 yen” if they are hired.
Posting of recruitment information was implemented around 2016, but it started full-scale operation from around 2018.
However”Word of mouth” and “recruitment services” don’t necessarily go hand in hand.This is because there are concerns that companies will allow stealth marketing, or remove bad reviews, in order to gain an advantage in hiring companies.
“There are contradictions between job sites and word-of-mouth services.For more than 10 years after the founding, I did not do it as a recruitment service.Services that are thought to be manipulating word of mouth are quickly weeded out. I want to thoroughly guarantee the quality of word of mouth for that part.”
At OpenWork, in addition to mechanically reviewing submitted reviews, they also review them visually. Although the details of the examination are not disclosed, it is said that personnel who have undergone training, including employees and subcontractors, are in charge.
“We get hundreds of thousands of posts a year, so honestly, it’s quite costly. But word-of-mouth credibility is our lifeline.”
Currently, about 7% of posted content is judged to be inappropriate.
Even in a company that says “It’s like a religion”…
Mr. Osawa responded to the interview at WeWork where the office is located.
Although it is difficult to achieve both “trust in word of mouth” and “support for corporate recruiting”, Mr. Osawa emphasizes that “users benefit from knowing the opinions of companies in addition to word of mouth.”
“I believe that in order to understand a company, we must perceive it three-dimensionally from multiple perspectives.It’s not just word-of-mouth from employees that’s important, but it’s also important to have the information that the company officially disseminates, as well as the numbers that show up as business results.”
Employee word-of-mouth tends to be biased toward negative opinions, as they are often written by people who want to change jobs from the company.
“For example, there are cases in which word-of-mouth about a company that says it’s “religious” is said by the company to say that “everyone is passionate about their mission.”In this case, it is possible to understand that “the company is a type of company that has a strong centripetal force rather than a centrifugal force management,” and can reduce mismatches.
I think that the word-of-mouth from employees and the company’s opinion will only make sense if both sides are present.”
As a new business, we also started a business that provides processed data of “word of mouth”. Overseas, the business of providing data indicating employee engagement to hedge funds that select companies for ESGs investment is expanding.
Openwork has also developed a technology that quantifies a company’s “job satisfaction” based on “word of mouth”, and it is said that these numbers were correlated with stock prices.
Employee voices needed now
There are large differences in the number of reviews and the number of hires posted by companies. This company has over 20,000 reviews. I am working on a part of the screen.
It can be said that OpenWork, which has continued to grow by collecting word-of-mouth from employees, is approaching the fruits of its cultivation.
Mr. Osawa says, “We still don’t have enough word-of-mouth information. We will be able to get much more fruit in the future.”
“Currently, the reviews posted are biased towards large companies, and there is a lack of information on startups. There is also little information on newer occupations, such as data scientists.”
The Kishida government is also promoting a transition to job-based employment, and has set forth “mobilization of employment” as an economic policy.HoweverIn Japan, membership-based employment and seniority-based systems are still deeply rooted in many companies, and it is difficult to know the current situation within the company.
“Where can I get the skills I need to work? How many job openings are there? What is the income?
Now is the time to decide your own career.I believe that the role that we, the word-of-mouth infrastructure, should play will continue to increase in the future.”
Source: BusinessInsider
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