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In order to improve work-life balance, the Japanese government will encourage companies to let employees choose between working four days a week or the standard five days, the Mainichi reported.

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The government encouraged a four-day work week that would be optional for employees in its annual economic policy directive, which was finalized on June 18 by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s office. The option of working four days has been included in the policy guideline for people who are caregivers or those who need time off to learn new skills. However, experts are still divided on the subject. Hisashi Yamada, vice president of an appointed think tank Japan Research Institute, said he did not anticipate a four-day work week to be common in Japan. Yamada attributes this to the shortened week which makes it harder to manage and evaluate employees.

“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 to assess (performance) equally of those who take two days off per week and those who take three, ”Yamada said. .

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“From the employees’ point of view, they would not want their income from their main job to decrease.

Yamada added that he believes some small and medium-sized businesses will struggle to afford the extra days off, and some businesses may try to cut labor costs by widely implementing the four-day work week. to all employees, even if they wish to work more days.

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

At the end of April, the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party currently in power made a policy recommendation to adopt the four-day week. The LDP said it anticipates the reduction in the week to promote “diverse work styles” and could help workers acquire new skills that allow them to transition to growth sectors, including IT.

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In mid-April, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told an economic and fiscal policy meeting that the government would consider strengthening support for people seeking to improve their careers through concurrent education.

Some companies in Japan are adopting fewer workdays, one of which is Yahoo Japan. A spokesperson for Yahoo Japan said about 100 of the company’s 7,000 employees requested a four-day work week in April. However, the extra vacation is unpaid and the spokesperson said people who wanted more days off to learn new skills or work in a secondary job were not eligible.

The introduction of the four-day workweek may not encourage employees enough to use their free time productively, or for the benefit of their careers, said Yakuya Hoshino, economist at the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.

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“It is important that companies make it clear what they intend to adopt by adopting such a system,” Hoshino said.

According to a survey conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, several other large economies have employees working longer hours than Japan, including the United States, Canada, Australia and Italy.

Despite the total number of hours worked, the bbc reported that Japan is facing “some kind of epidemic” when it comes to unused leave time. According to government figures As of 2018, Japanese workers took only 52.4 percent of the paid leave they were entitled to in 2018. According to the BBC, this can be partly attributed to a sense of guilt felt by employees who take leave. With official government policy encouraging shorter work weeks, attitudes towards time off may change.