From Ibaraki Prefecture | Organizational Transformation in Caregiving Workplaces Starting from Dialogue
TRAPE Co., Ltd., appointed as an advisor for Ibaraki Prefecture's caregiving technology platform, implemented hands-on support focusing on dialogue in model facilities, achieving significant overtime reduction and increased care time.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 22, 2026 at 22:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 23, 2026 at 00:02 (2h 2m after Published)
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 23, 2026 at 06:19 (6h 17m after Collected)
TRAPE Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture; President & CEO: Motohiro Kamata), which has been leading the transformation of the caregiving sector since 2017 by being involved in national policy-making such as creating guidelines for improving productivity in caregiving workplaces, aims to realize caregiving offices full of well-being. The company provides 'Productivity Improvement-kun®', a free online tool that supports 'team building' and 'visualization/analysis of issues' essential for frontline operational improvement and DX. It also offers 'Sociwell', a hands-on support service that simultaneously achieves 'productivity improvement', 'increased job satisfaction', and 'leader development'. Amidst these developments, TRAPE was commissioned as a 'Business Advisor for the Ibaraki Prefecture Desk in the FY2025 Caregiving Technology Development, Demonstration, and Dissemination PR Platform Project', holding productivity improvement promotion seminars and providing hands-on support to model facilities.
What is the FY2025 Caregiving Robot Development, Demonstration, and Dissemination PR Platform Project?
As the shortage of caregiving human resources becomes a severe social issue, the utilization of technologies such as ICT and caregiving robots is expected as one of the solutions to promote the independence of the elderly and realize high-quality care. On the other hand, in caregiving workplaces, there are many voices saying, 'We don't know which type of caregiving robot to choose' or 'The workplace is too busy to work on operational reform.' This project aims to promote the flow of development, introduction, PR for dissemination, and utilization of caregiving technology by supporting the establishment and operation of local consultation desks and publicizing/introducing the results of nationwide initiatives. (Secretariat: NTT Data Institute of Management Consulting, Inc.)
Source: 'FY2025 Navigation for Initiatives and Dissemination Support for Productivity Improvement in Caregiving Workplaces'
Initiatives of the Ibaraki Prefecture Desk and Our Support Details in This Project
- Back-office support for desk consultations
Strengthening the consultation function of the desk by supporting responses to consultation contents and providing evidence-based information.
- Seminar instructor
Promoting workplace transformation through planning and speaking at training sessions to deepen the understanding of productivity improvement.
- Hands-on support for model caregiving facilities
Providing hands-on support to facilities in accordance with productivity improvement guidelines, etc., and backing up the dissemination and ripple effects of the initiative contents and results within the prefecture.
- Support for regional councils
Our President, Kamata, attends council meetings to support effective discussions and operations based on his expert knowledge.
Initiative Contents and Results (Partial) of Two Model Caregiving Facilities
Special Intensive Care Home for the Elderly: Tamajuso
To break through the current situation of 'being pressed for time and unable to even sufficiently watch over the users,' they began reviewing their daytime monitoring tasks.
By visualizing the daily workflow and strictly implementing 'assigning staff in charge of monitoring' and 'clarifying rules for clearing meals', the monitoring time increased by about 65 hours per month, and the dialogue time with users doubled (an increase of 45 hours). On the other hand, overtime decreased by 22 hours.
As a result, user satisfaction greatly improved, and the entire facility changed into a bright atmosphere full of smiles. Furthermore, even after the hands-on support ended, the facility has autonomously started moving towards improving 'bathing operations' based on this initiative.
Geriatric Health Care Facility: Rikaen
To break through the workplace's resignation that 'accidents cannot be prevented because there are not enough staff,' leaders and frontline staff repeatedly held dialogues to bring to light the staff's latent desire to 'eliminate accidents.'
By aligning their perspectives on the common goal of 'zero accidents' and establishing a 'person in charge of monitoring,' they continued to have zero fall accidents caused by staff and achieved a reduction of 37.5 hours of overtime per month.
Furthermore, utilizing the generated time, recreational activities became more active, and the organization, which used to rely on individual play, transformed into a 'positive team' that thinks and acts on its own. In addition, they plan to use intercoms even after this project ends, and further development is expected based on this initiative.
Voices from Model Facilities: What We Felt Through the Initiatives (Excerpts)
In both facilities this time, the leaders emphasized dialogue as 'shadow warriors' and approached it with an attitude that tolerated trial and error, saying, 'If we try it and it doesn't work, let's change it again.' This attitude encouraged staff to take 'personal ownership' of workplace issues and built a foundation where spontaneous opinions and challenges were born one after another from the frontline.
[Enrichment of involvement with users and positive changes in the workplace]
We are proud as staff that we have taken a step closer to the care we aim for, as the time users spend leisurely in the dining room has increased, resulting in more conversations among users and new proposals from the staff.
The organization changed from 'resigned individuals' to a 'positive team', and the shifting of blame and fault-finding among staff members disappeared.
Staff began to think about accident prevention and involvement with users not passively but as 'their own matter,' leading to an increase in staff proposals and actions.
[Deepening of mutual understanding through dialogue]
I was worried that there would be opposing opinions, but by gathering the courage to have a dialogue, we realized 'Oh, that's what you were thinking.'
What is the FY2025 Caregiving Robot Development, Demonstration, and Dissemination PR Platform Project?
As the shortage of caregiving human resources becomes a severe social issue, the utilization of technologies such as ICT and caregiving robots is expected as one of the solutions to promote the independence of the elderly and realize high-quality care. On the other hand, in caregiving workplaces, there are many voices saying, 'We don't know which type of caregiving robot to choose' or 'The workplace is too busy to work on operational reform.' This project aims to promote the flow of development, introduction, PR for dissemination, and utilization of caregiving technology by supporting the establishment and operation of local consultation desks and publicizing/introducing the results of nationwide initiatives. (Secretariat: NTT Data Institute of Management Consulting, Inc.)
Source: 'FY2025 Navigation for Initiatives and Dissemination Support for Productivity Improvement in Caregiving Workplaces'
Initiatives of the Ibaraki Prefecture Desk and Our Support Details in This Project
- Back-office support for desk consultations
Strengthening the consultation function of the desk by supporting responses to consultation contents and providing evidence-based information.
- Seminar instructor
Promoting workplace transformation through planning and speaking at training sessions to deepen the understanding of productivity improvement.
- Hands-on support for model caregiving facilities
Providing hands-on support to facilities in accordance with productivity improvement guidelines, etc., and backing up the dissemination and ripple effects of the initiative contents and results within the prefecture.
- Support for regional councils
Our President, Kamata, attends council meetings to support effective discussions and operations based on his expert knowledge.
Initiative Contents and Results (Partial) of Two Model Caregiving Facilities
Special Intensive Care Home for the Elderly: Tamajuso
To break through the current situation of 'being pressed for time and unable to even sufficiently watch over the users,' they began reviewing their daytime monitoring tasks.
By visualizing the daily workflow and strictly implementing 'assigning staff in charge of monitoring' and 'clarifying rules for clearing meals', the monitoring time increased by about 65 hours per month, and the dialogue time with users doubled (an increase of 45 hours). On the other hand, overtime decreased by 22 hours.
As a result, user satisfaction greatly improved, and the entire facility changed into a bright atmosphere full of smiles. Furthermore, even after the hands-on support ended, the facility has autonomously started moving towards improving 'bathing operations' based on this initiative.
Geriatric Health Care Facility: Rikaen
To break through the workplace's resignation that 'accidents cannot be prevented because there are not enough staff,' leaders and frontline staff repeatedly held dialogues to bring to light the staff's latent desire to 'eliminate accidents.'
By aligning their perspectives on the common goal of 'zero accidents' and establishing a 'person in charge of monitoring,' they continued to have zero fall accidents caused by staff and achieved a reduction of 37.5 hours of overtime per month.
Furthermore, utilizing the generated time, recreational activities became more active, and the organization, which used to rely on individual play, transformed into a 'positive team' that thinks and acts on its own. In addition, they plan to use intercoms even after this project ends, and further development is expected based on this initiative.
Voices from Model Facilities: What We Felt Through the Initiatives (Excerpts)
In both facilities this time, the leaders emphasized dialogue as 'shadow warriors' and approached it with an attitude that tolerated trial and error, saying, 'If we try it and it doesn't work, let's change it again.' This attitude encouraged staff to take 'personal ownership' of workplace issues and built a foundation where spontaneous opinions and challenges were born one after another from the frontline.
[Enrichment of involvement with users and positive changes in the workplace]
We are proud as staff that we have taken a step closer to the care we aim for, as the time users spend leisurely in the dining room has increased, resulting in more conversations among users and new proposals from the staff.
The organization changed from 'resigned individuals' to a 'positive team', and the shifting of blame and fault-finding among staff members disappeared.
Staff began to think about accident prevention and involvement with users not passively but as 'their own matter,' leading to an increase in staff proposals and actions.
[Deepening of mutual understanding through dialogue]
I was worried that there would be opposing opinions, but by gathering the courage to have a dialogue, we realized 'Oh, that's what you were thinking.'