TRYT Announces Acquisition of Childcare Job Agency WELKS

Contribute to improve childcare environment by leading childcare HR service industry

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Osaka-shi, Osaka – January 6, 2022 – TRYT Inc. (an entity that controls TRYT Group), a leading provider of HR recruiting and temporary staffing services in the medical, welfare and childcare industries, announced today that it has acquired all shares of WELKS Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Taito-ku, Tokyo;), a provider of HR recruiting and temporary staffing services in the childcare industry. With this acquisition, TRYT Group is expected to lead the fee-charging employment placement market for childcare workers in Japan.^*1

【Background to This Acquisition】
The utilization rate of private fee-charging employment placement services at daycare centers and other childcare facilities has been on a continuous and steady growth trend. According to the latest Employment Placement Report^*2 released by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (hereafter “MHLW”), the number of new applications for nursery teachers to employment agencies in FY2019 was down 1.8% year on year for free employment agencies, while the number of applications to private fee-charging employment agencies grew 8.6% year on year. This can be attributed to an increase in demand for nursery teachers due to the growth in the number of nurseries, as the Child-rearing Security Plan, a policy that has been in effect until FY2020, followed by the New Child-rearing Security Plan^*3 are being promoted. The new plan aims to newly accommodate 140,000 children in the four years starting in FY2021.

TRYT Group’s career support service for childcare workers was launched in 2016 by TRYT Career Inc. as the third pillar of business after the services for long-term care and nursing care workers. In addition to providing recruiting and temporary staffing services for nursery teachers and other childcare workers, the company also operates a service website for jobseekers called “Hoikushi Worker”, which provides information on job openings for childcare workers as well as beneficial information for career change activities and childcare work. Against the backdrop of the growing market trend, we have been working to strengthen our organization by actively expanding into regional areas and the Group’s market share in fee-charging employment placement services for childcare workers has become one of the largest in the industry.^*4

WELKS, now a TRYT Group company, was established in 2013 as a breakthrough company that takes on a challenge to solve issues in the childcare industry. The company is operating service websites for job seekers such as “Hoiku no Oshigoto”, and holds a large share in the fee-charging employment placement market^*5 for childcare workers. The company also utilizes its web marketing expertise in childcare and related fields operating media businesses such as “Hoikuraifu” and advertising businesses. WELKS leads innovative initiatives in the childcare HR recruiting and staffing industry and was on of the first to enter direct recruiting business in the childcare field.

【Future Prospects】
With the participation of WELK to TRYT Group, we will be able to create one of the industry’s largest fee-charging employment placement agencies for childcare workers. We will endeavor to improve the service level and earning capability by strengthening the group-wide operational structure, and to increase the capability to gain clients by combining sales and marketing knowledge. We aim to increase our presence in the growing fee-charging employment placement market for childcare workers.

TRYT Group’s mission is to “empower challengers” and the vision is to “change lives for better, transform the future of society.”.  With them, we have been challenging to solve social issues from the field of HR businesses. Together with WELKS, we will strengthen the Group’s structure, to further contribute to the realization of well-developed childcare environment that supports the future of society and children.

■Comments from Hidetaka Sasai, CEO
“It is a pleasure to welcome WELKS to our group, which has built a strong presence in the market since 2013 in a short period of time.
The growth in the market means that there is a transformation of society and accompanying challenges. In order to address one of the challenges, which is to achieve people’s diverse workstyles and increased participation in the labor market, we must continuously increase childcare capacity and realize diversified work styles for nursery teachers themselves. Our strengthened group structure enables higher-quality proposals than ever to the challenges and further consideration of service development required in the field of childcare. Please look forward to seeing the TRYT Group endeavor with new strength to further explore the possibilities of the industry.”

* 1     Based on our research
* 2     Aggregate results of reports from job placement agencies in 2019 (MHLW: in Japanese)        
　　　https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/11600000/000761347.pdf
* 3     New Child-rearing Security Plan (MHLW: in Japanese) 
　　　https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/11922000/000707805.pdf
* 4     Based on our research
* 5     Based on our research

【WELKS Co., Ltd. Company Overview】
Headquarters: Ueno Frontier Tower 13th Floor, 3-24-6 Ueno, Taito-ku, Tokyo
https://welks.co.jp/

【TRYT Inc. Company Overview】
Headquarters: Seiwa Umeda Building 13th Floor, 2-12-7 Sonezaki, Kita-ku, Osaka City, Osaka
Tokyo Head Office: Itoshia Office Tower 16th Floor, 2-7-1 Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
CEO: Hidetaka Sasai
https://tryt-group.co.jp/