If it's not the boss's orders or an unfinished job, what brings these Toyota employees together after the workday ends?
Happy and healthy to 100
In 2023, the contest was won by the Marumo Retirement Plan. The concept behind this business is to begin supporting retirement-age employees several years before they leave the company, helping them to stay healthy.
In carmaking lingo, Marumo refers to a full model change. This time, it is about making proactive changes in life.
The team, consisting of members who themselves are nearing retirement age, confronted the concerns of its customers.
knowing how to spend time at home. The team sought to organize communities that could prepare for these troubles well in advance through seminars or network-building workshops.
In an age when living to 100 is not uncommon, someone retiring in their mid-60s would still have 40-odd years ahead of them. The prospect of wasting this period in a state of anxiety is what spurred the team’s business idea.
“We want to help people remain happy and healthy through retirement, by supporting them to be active instead of staying cooped up at home,” explained Masahiro Tomiyama (Vehicle Engineering Development Division) during his presentation as the team’s leader.
The next step is to form a community for Toyota employees approaching retirement. If the community grows well, the team says it will look into setting up an NPO for people outside the company.
It’s all up to you
Many ideas presented at past A-1 contests have been turned into outside startups or company events.
In the 2018 edition, Nakai of the Software PF Development Division came up with a “radio-controlled autonomous driving programming trainer.”
While it missed out on the award that year, the idea has been brought to life in collaboration with the Toyota Engineering Society and as a volunteer program for children.
Since the A-1 offers neither prize money nor project funding, he says that what matters is your own personal motivation.
Nakai
Having gone through the A-1, I realized that whether an idea becomes something or not is entirely up to us.
In that case, let’s go and do what we want to do. I met some interesting people through the contest and decided to make the most of those connections.
If you take the initiative to act, you can start something new. That’s the mindset I gained from the A-1.
Post-contest goals range widely, from building communities within the company to volunteering.
“You can commit to getting a business off the ground or settle on company events,” says CDO Yamashita. “It feels very true-to-life—in a good way—allowing you to choose your own path.”
For one employee, the A-1 contest even spurred a career change.