Kouryu Kyoju

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Japan institute
  • Japanese foundation
  • Japan government
  • Japan company
  • Japanese currency

Kouryu Kyoju

Header Banner

Kouryu Kyoju

  • Home
  • Japan institute
  • Japanese foundation
  • Japan government
  • Japan company
  • Japanese currency
Japan government
Home›Japan government›Experts divided as Japanese government backs four-day workweek

Experts divided as Japanese government backs four-day workweek

By Jane R. Chase
June 19, 2021
0
0


The government plans to encourage companies to let their employees choose to work four days a week instead of five, with the aim of improving work-life balance for people with family responsibilities or in need of more. free time to learn new skills.

The government included the promotion of an optional four-day work week in its annual economic policy directive finalized by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s office on Friday.

Experts are divided, however, on whether the new initiative, aimed at addressing challenges posed by the country’s labor shortage, will be widely accepted, with unions and management expressing concerns over possible unwanted results.

For employers, while people working four days a week may become more motivated, it may not improve their productivity enough to make up for the lost workday. Employees, for their part, fear wage cuts.

Among the expected benefits are helping people with family responsibilities avoid having to quit their jobs, promoting recurrent education and helping more people take on side jobs, the government said. .

The coronavirus pandemic has helped the idea of ​​a four-day work week gain traction as the health crisis forces people to spend more time at home.

At the end of April, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party recommended that the government take political measures to facilitate the adoption of the system.

The LDP said working fewer days should promote “diverse work styles” and spur workers with new skills to move into growing industries such as IT.

At a key economic and fiscal policy meeting in mid-April where the promotion of a four-day work week was discussed, Suga said his government would consider expanding support for people wishing to improve their lives. career through recurrent training without leaving their job.

Among large economies, Australian, Canadian, Italian and American employees work longer hours than the Japanese, according to the OECD survey. But Japan’s labor market remains rigid, with productivity showing limited improvement as people take fewer vacations compared to other developed countries and labor mobility remains low.

According to a survey last year of more than 4,000 companies by the Ministry of Labor, 8.3% of them gave their employees more days off than under a five-day work week.

Internet services and e-commerce giant Yahoo Japan Corp. started allowing employees who need more time to take care of themselves to take three days off per week in April 2017.

“This has been generally welcomed, with some employees saying it has become easier to match their days off with their children’s activities,” a Yahoo Japan spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Hisashi Yamada, vice chairman of the Japan Research Institute think tank, said he did not expect a four-day workweek to spread quickly in Japan, even as the government l ‘pushes it, because it would complicate the management and evaluation of the staff.

“Let’s say if employees take a second job, it would be difficult for managers to know how long they are working in total and also to assess those who take two days off per week and those who take three. From an employee’s perspective, they wouldn’t want to see their income from their main job go down, ”said Yamada, who is familiar with labor economics issues.

At Yahoo Japan and many other companies that offer a reduced working day option, additional time off is not paid. The Yahoo Japan spokesperson said about 100 of the company’s 7,000 employees requested the four-day work week in April. Those who want more days off to learn new skills and take on side jobs are not eligible for the program, he said.

Japan Research’s Yamada said he believes some small and medium-sized businesses can’t afford such extra days off, and some businesses might try to cut labor costs by applying a week. four-day shift even to employees who wish to work longer days.

“It will be important for the government to develop a framework that guarantees the right of a worker to choose whether or not to take three days off per week,” he said.

Takuya Hoshino, an economist at the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, says simply introducing a four-day work week won’t necessarily encourage employees to use their free time in a way that benefits their careers or contributes to the economy.

“It is important that companies make it clear what they intend to adopt by adopting such a system” and provide the necessary support to employees to do so, he said.

In a time of both disinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
By subscribing you can help us tell the story well.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

PHOTO GALLERY (CLICK TO ENLARGE)



Related posts:

  1. The Japanese government will likely bear most of the damage from the earthquake
  2. The nuclear crisis and the Japanese government | MIT News
  3. NTPC signs loan deal with Japanese government
  4. Japanese government altered documents in Abe’s wife scandal
Tagsprime minister

Categories

  • Japan company
  • Japan government
  • Japan institute
  • Japanese currency
  • Japanese foundation

Recent Posts

  • Computational Toxicology Predictive Modeling Service Market Analysis by Trends, Size, Share, Company Overview, Growth and Forecast by 2031
  • ANA urges the Japanese government to remove international constraints
  • A Japanese company develops a bin that freezes garbage to prevent bad odors
  • Foundation Repair Services Market Outlook 2022 and Forecast to 2029
  • Japanese government not liable for damage to refugees from Fukushima nuclear disaster, high court rules say

Archives

  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • September 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • February 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • January 2018
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • February 2017
  • December 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • November 2015
  • August 2015
  • January 2015
  • April 2014
  • October 2012
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • November 2010
  • September 2009
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions