GREE, Inc. Prequel

*This article is based on the interview conducted in June 2013; some details may differ at present.

An Open, Flexible Office Concept That Creates a Sense of Unity

It has been almost two years since GREE, Inc., a company that continues to enjoy rapid growth, relocated to Roppongi Hills. Since its founding, the company has moved repeatedly, but always within the Roppongi area. Following the opening of its first U.S. subsidiary in January 2011, it has continued to establish bases in various countries worldwide and plans to push ahead with further global development going forward. We spoke to this leading SNS company about its devotion to its office concept.

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At the time of its founding in 2004, GREE, Inc. started out in an office of just 10 tsubo (approx. 33㎡/356ft²) or so. Subsequently, as its business has expanded and the number of employees increased along with it, it has continued to move offices within fairly short spans of time. GREE's rapid growth is immediately apparent when you look at its corporate history, which we have extracted from the company's website below.

February 2004	Founder Yoshikazu Tanaka launches alpha version of GREE as a personal website
March 2004	Number of GREE members reaches the 10,000 mark
December 2004	GREE, Inc. established for the purpose of operating GREE (starting from a 10 tsubo (approx. 33m2/356ft2) office)
July 2005	(Relocation to the office with 50 tsubo (approx. 165㎡/1,780ft²) of floor space)
November 2006	Release of EZ GREE
February 2007	GREE for mobile platforms becomes an official DoCoMo service
February 2007	(Relocation to the office with 160 tsubo (approx. 530㎡/5,690ft²) of floor space)
March 2007	Number of GREE members reaches the 1 million mark
March 2008	(Relocation to the office with 400 tsubo (approx. 1,320㎡/14,230ft²) of floor space)
December 2008	Listed on Mothers section of Tokyo Stock Exchange
April 2009	Number of GREE members reaches the 10 million mark
June 2010	Listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange First Section
July 2010	(Relocation to the office with 1,051 tsubo (approx. 3,470㎡/37,400ft²) of floor space)
August 2010	Release of GREE for smartphones
January 2011	Establishment of U.S. subsidiary
July 2011	Establishment of Chinese subsidiary
September 2011	Announcement regarding establishment of subsidiaries in five countries: South Korea, Singapore, U.K., the Netherlands, and Brazil
April 2012	(Office expanded to 4,500 tsubo (approx. 14,880㎡/160,125ft²) of floor space)

The simple office layout, designed first and foremost to provide a sense of unity, represents the open culture that has been part of the company since the very beginning.

Looking at GREE's office, it's an efficient workspace based on universal design, with no special features built into the physical structure. This very simplicity makes it seem fresh and appealing in today's business world.

The concept of an office layout that provides a sense of unity is something that has not changed since the company was founded. Indeed, it's one of GREE's management principles.

"Other companies have a more clearly defined hierarchy, and in many cases, different desks and chairs are provided along with offices for executives. But at GREE, all the employees interact on an equal footing, so executives normally do their work sitting alongside other employees in the work area. The result is that this has encouraged the creation of a free, open corporate culture with a strong sense of unity. Another benefit of a simple office is that when there are sudden organizational changes or employees move to another department, the changes can be made smoothly with minimal renovation costs."

This doesn't mean, however, that no steps are taken to facilitate communication within the office. GREE, needless to say, understands how important that is.

"There's a break room on the floor, which is an area where employees can communicate freely. At lunchtime, lunch boxes are sold there, and we believe that this leads to more active communication between colleagues. Beds and massage chairs for relaxation have been placed in one corner of the room, with no restrictions on when they can be used. On Friday evenings, we also hold a dinner for employees known internally as the 'Friday party'."

"The break room has a simple but elegant layout that can easily be adapted to handle growth in employee numbers. There are about 300 chairs available for using it as a communication space. The materials were also selected with care: we went with the designers and contractor to look at flooring and the like."

What's more, there are three seminar rooms with enough space to accommodate over 300 people each.

"In the past, one seminar room was enough, but as the number of employees increased we no longer had enough space, so now we have three rooms in the office. We also take off the removable sliding walls dividing the three rooms to hold our general staff meetings every Monday and monthly meetings at the end of each month. It's possible for people at branches other than Tokyo to see and hear what's happening at these meetings by attending remotely via computer network."

"Having about 1,200 people gather in one room every week has a really strong impact in terms of giving employees a sense of togetherness as they do their work."

"In addition, we have set up a space near the development team where we hold training for engineers, called the GREE Boot Camp. It's a place that the leader and other team members can use for training new employees whenever they like. The desks and chairs differ from those in the rest of the office."

Some other distinctive aspects of the office are described below.