Japan, a nation so hardworking its language has a term for literally working oneself to death, is trying to address a worrisome labor shortage by coaxing more people and companies to adopt four-day workweeks.
The Japanese government first expressed support for a shorter working week in 2021, after lawmakers endorsed the idea. The concept has been slow to catch on, however; about 8% of companies in Japan allow employees to take three or more days off per week, while 7% give their workers the legally mandated one day off, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
Hoping to produce more takers, especially among small and medium-sized businesses, the government launched a “work style reform” campaign that promotes shorter hours and other flexible arrangements along with overtime limits and paid annual leave. The labor ministry recently started offering free consulting, grants and a growing library of success stories as further motivation.
“By realizing a society in which workers can choose from a variety of working styles based on their circumstances, we aim to create a virtuous cycle of growth and distribution and enable each and every worker to have a better outlook for the future,” states a ministry website about the “hatarakikata kaikaku” campaign, which translates to “innovating how we work.”
It always surprised me that the country that pioneered Lean production techniques has always had such an enormous waste of labour resources in their office culture.
They have one of the lowest GDP per hour worked of all Industrial nations.
Italy, Spain and Germany have way higher labour productivity, while even Turkey edges out Japan.
Also, it’s established practice for workers to stagger their off days across the week.
This way both the company and things like services, banks, stores etc. can be available 7 days a week without any undue pressure.
So they’re already well positioned to take advantage of flexible working time.
Was listening to an interview with NY Governor on imposing cell phone ban in schools. Said if they left it to individual schools or school districts, there would be lots of pressure from parents or individual groups not to do it and the whole thing would fail. And if they made it voluntary, some kids would comply, but there would be social pressure to keep things as-is, due to FOMO.
Instead, the government would pass a uniform, mandatory law and take the heat.
Seems like that’s what will be needed to change everyone to a 4x8 week. Similar dynamic. Do, not ask.
That sounds like classic Game Theory. Nobody’s going to do it because it a few don’t they have an advantage, except when it’s forced from above changing the playing field.
4-day week seems overwhelmingly positive for all parties. Why is it so slow to catch on?
Dunno if it has improved, but Japanese work ethic is an entire beast by itself. It’s so hierarchal and culture based that lots of business management classes even use it as a prime example of how different the system can be depending on where you are.
Someone I knew worked as an engineer at a US company, and they had also brought in some engineers from Japan.
He was expected to work 9-5 yet he said no matter how early he came in, there were always several Japanese workers there, and they would stay as late as 11 pm.
All this despite it being a US company, which doesn’t expect it’s workers to go insane on overtime.
Point being is that it is so ingrained into their society, it is difficult to change, even if there are immediate benefits from a new system.
Point being is that it is so ingrained into their society
Kinda. Doing that would actually run them into legal problems in recent days due to cracking down on working conditions. If an employee works without clocking in, they could even be found in violation of law (which is how people used to get around that; social pressure would mean clocking in late and clocking out early yet still working). There is still a social pressure issue to fix, but I think the younger generation has had enough of it on this front; wages are stagnant, inflation is rising, the lifetime employment system is eroding, bonuses are low or gone, etc.
If I had to guess, it’s probably because the entities in charge of these changes are very old and very stuck in their ways.
But will they feel safe to use it? I feel like they tried this with time off, but workers felt like they couldn’t use it without repercussions to their career and work social life.
It’s like those jobs with “unlimited” PTO in the US. Yeah go ahead and use it all you want then see if you ever get a raise or even how long you last. I’m sure some companies do it right but I think it’s a trap.
Most jobs like that, or really any pay scheme other than piece work or an hourly wage usually has the process of:
- You can take as much PTO as you like.
- You can take as much PTO as you like…provided you get all your work done.
- You work like a dog, get all your work done, and take time off.
- Since you were able to get everything done and have time left over to not work, your boss increases your workload, so now you have to work like a dog, all the time, or else you’ll never get everything done.
It’s like playing chess, and while the other player can’t change the rules as they go, but a condition for playing with them is that they get two moves every turn.
legally mandated one day off
As a french : what the fuck, Japan ?
