Rank Up Co., Ltd. (Head office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Yumiko Iwasaki) has won the Grand Prize in the Career Transformation Category for small and medium-sized enterprises at the Career Ownership Management AWARD 2026, operated by Persol Career Co., Ltd. as the executive committee. The award recognized Rank Up’s integrated initiatives built around the idea of starting from “one person’s concern.” The company has developed three measures combining shared values, workplace visibility, and life-stage support to increase the number of employees who exercise career ownership, while balancing individual autonomous growth with enhanced corporate value. Under its “visualize” initiative, the company makes employees’ aspirations, life stages, and workload visible through career intention interviews every three months, visualization of overtime hours by team and individual, and company-wide workshops every six months to share values and survey results. Under its “increase” initiative, Rank Up creates an environment where employees do not have to give up their careers because of life-stage changes. Measures include fully company-paid sick-child sitter costs, flexible systems such as hybrid work, shorter hours, staggered working hours and hourly paid leave, as well as “childcare experience” programs to deepen mutual understanding. Under its “connect” initiative, the company links challenges that begin with individual concerns to actual businesses and internal systems. Examples include the development of Acunal, a skincare brand born from an employee who struggled with acne for more than 10 years; the founding of Craver Kids, an after-school-style program inspired by concerns shared by the vice president’s family and employees’ own experiences; and daily company-wide sharing of customer feedback, followed by immediate improvements through meetings focused on resolving dissatisfaction and inconvenience. The results are visible in the company’s culture. In employe