Wikipedia

Japanese work environment

The work environment in Japan encompasses working conditions, employment practices, workplace culture and labour regulation. Employment in large Japanese firms has historically been associated with long-term employment and seniority-based career structures, although these practices have not applied uniformly across firms or categories of workers. Average annual working hours have declined substantially since the late twentieth century, as concerns about overwork-related illness and mental health led to public debate and labour reforms.

Working conditions

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Working hours

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Average annual hours actually worked per worker in Japan from 1947 to 2023

Japanese working hours have been gradually decreasing. In 1986, the average employee worked 2,097 hours in Japan, compared with 1,828 hours in the United States and 1,702 in France. On average, employees worked a forty-six-hour week in 1987; employees of most large corporations worked a modified five-day week with two Saturdays a month, while those in most small firms worked as much as six days each week. In the face of mounting international criticism of excessive working hours in Japan, in January 1989, public agencies began closing two Saturdays a month. Japanese labor unions made reduced working hours an important part of their demands, and many larger firms responded positively.[1][2] By 1995, the average annual hours in Japan had decreased to 1,884 and, by 2009, to 1,714.

Average annual hours actually worked per worker in OECD countries from 1970 to 2020

In 2019, the average Japanese employee worked 1,644 hours, lower than workers in Spain, Canada, and Italy. By comparison, the average American worker worked 1,779 hours in 2019.[3] In 2021 the average annual work-hours dropped to 1633.2, slightly higher than 2020's 1621.2. Between 2012 and 2021, the average working hours drop was 7.48%.[4]

The average Japanese worker is mandated to have ten to twenty days of paid holidays per year, depending on the number of continuous years worked at the company.[5] Japan has consistently ranked last in per hour productivity among the G7 countries, despite the long work hours since the 1970s.[6] In 2020, Japan ranked 23rd, below Lithuania in per-hour labor productivity compared to other OECD nations.

Employment security

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Japanese employment protection is unique and dynamic compared to other nations.[7] Loyalty to one's company is paramount in Japanese society.[8] Many Japanese firms only promote from within; as a result, individuals may stay with the same company for their entire life.[7] Japanese workers seek to invest and improve their company, while firms attempt to maintain a family atmosphere and look after employees.[9] Disappointing coworkers, calling in sick, and having a poor attitude are unacceptable. Firms in Japan do everything in their power to ensure employment security and prevent laying off employees. Firms' attempts at prevention may include negotiating better deals with suppliers, requesting government subsidies, and eliminating overtime.[9] The relationship between employer and employee promotes employment security, work ethic, and willingness to work long hours.[10]

Impact on Japan's welfare state

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Liberal and conservative philosophies combine to form Japan's welfare state.[11] The welfare state and working conditions are interconnected. As a result of declining working hours over the years, less stress was put on the welfare state.[1] In 2012, the average Japanese citizen visited a medical facility twelve times: three times more doctors' visits than the average United States citizen.[12] This is partly due to low-cost medical expenses and partly due to increased stress from working conditions.[13]

Stress has a huge negative impact on physiological and mental factors for individuals.[14] Work hours vary between firms and company size. In medium to large-sized companies, hours have increased. The stress from working over twelve hours a day contributes to Japanese citizens' frequent medical visits.[2] That a majority of Japanese hospitals are privately owned alludes to conservative influence; the government enforcing strict regulations and pricing on medical treatment alludes to the liberal aspect of their welfare state.[15]

The general Japanese health insurance system resembles a dualist one. The National Health Insurance (Kokumin-Kenkō-Hoken) is directed regionally and provides mandatory health insurance to the non-employed citizenry.[16] Until age 70, those covered by the National Health Insurance must self-finance 30%[17] of their medical costs. Firms are required to provide mandatory health insurance to employees under Employees Health and Pension Insurance, or Shakai Hoken.[18] For the employed, maintaining this access to healthcare is greatly tied to their employment security. As a result, the cost of losing a job also includes losing access to the expansive benefits of employer-provided healthcare insurance. Leaving the workforce due to dismissal, family complications, or health-related issues can potentially diminish access to welfare benefits.[17] Due to the high mandated costs on firms imposed by the Employees Health Insurance scheme, the incentive to provide increased non-mandatory welfare provisions is undermined.

Declining health conditions in the Japanese labor force and the issue of overtime work have led to policy expansion and reform on behalf of the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare. As of March 2018, the Labour Standards Act states that an employer should not exceed a 40-hour work week for employees.[19] Exceeding this work week requires an exclusive worker-management agreement, and overtime and this work is to be compensated for with a corresponding wage increase. For example, overtime and night work require an increase of 25% at the minimum.[20] The increasing cases of Karōshi, or health and workplace accidents resulting from overtime work have led to reforms in the Industrial Health and Safety Law[21] as well. Although non-binding, these reforms mandate employers to arrange for overtime workers to be provided with health guidance.[21]

Resignation

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Quitting a job is highly frowned upon in Japanese work culture, and employees who quit often face harassment, intimidation, bargaining and guilt when giving their notice. Employees are culturally discouraged from quitting jobs even if they are facing severe mistreatment in the workplace. Younger generations of Japanese employees have expressed discontent with these norms and in recent years a proxy resignation industry has taken hold. Employees seeking to quit their job will pay an organization to notify their employer, complete paperwork, return workplace property and handle pushback from employers.[22]

Karoshi

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Karoshi is death associated with overwork, including cases involving cardiovascular disease and suicide.[23] In 2016, labour authorities recognised the suicide of Matsuri Takahashi, a 24-year-old employee of advertising company Dentsu, as work-related after she had recorded 105 hours of overtime in one month.[24] Her death prompted official investigations of Dentsu and renewed public and political debate over overtime regulation in Japan.[25][26]

Future

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There is a growing shift in Japanese working conditions, due to both the government intervention as a result of declining birth rates and labour productivity, and companies competing for increasingly scarce numbers of workers due to a drop in the working-age population as a result of low birth rates. Many Japanese companies are reducing work hours and improving working conditions, including by providing amenities such as sports facilities and gyms. The Japanese government is pushing through a bill that would make it compulsory for employees to take a minimum of five days leave, and to ensure that high-income employees in certain sectors such as finance be paid according to performance rather than hours worked.[27]

The issue of work conditions was even prioritised by the former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. In 2019, the Act on the Arrangement of related Acts to Promote Work Style Reform, which is also known as the Work Style Reform Act, was passed by the National Diet. This law sought to reform eight key labour laws to improve working conditions.[28][29]

There is 3% of Japan's workforce consists of foreign workers, having quadrupled in the past 15 years to million. On the other hand, Japan's population has been shrinking, with a steadily declining birth rate and rapid aging.

See also

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References

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  1. 1 2 "Japanese men working shorter hours: survey". AFP. 2010-11-29. Archived from the original on 2017-05-16. Retrieved 2017-09-01 – via Independent.co.uk.
  2. 1 2 "Sayonara, salaryman". The Economist. Tokyo. 2008-01-03. Archived from the original on 2018-01-22. Retrieved 2011-11-13.
  3. ↑ "Average annual hours actually worked per worker". Archived from the original on 2018-04-13. Retrieved 2011-01-06.
  4. ↑ Takaoka, Butch Yoshinobu (2022-11-28). "Japanese Work Culture: How to Succeed Working in Japan". EJable. Archived from the original on 2024-01-27. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
  5. ↑ "Encouraging Workers to Take Annual Paid Leave" (PDF). Labour Standards Department Osaka Labour Bureau.
  6. ↑ "Japan's Productivity Ranks Lowest Among G7 Nations for 50 Straight Years". Nippon.com. 2022-01-06. Archived from the original on 2022-01-06.
  7. 1 2 Lincoln, Edward J. (1999-09-01). "Job Security in Japan: Is Lifetime Employment on the Way Out?". Brookings Institution. Archived from the original on 2016-12-20. Retrieved 2016-12-03.
  8. ↑ Clegg, Cara (2013-08-26). "Five things that keep Japanese people chained to their jobs". RocketNews24. Archived from the original on 2016-12-12. Retrieved 2016-12-03.
  9. 1 2 Tabuchi, Hiroko (2009-05-19). "Japan Pays a Price for Its Lifetime Jobs". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2016-12-20. Retrieved 2016-12-03.
  10. ↑ Harden, Blaine (2008-07-13). "Japan's Killer Work Ethic". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 2017-06-15. Retrieved 2016-12-03.
  11. ↑ Schwartz, Frank J.; Pharr, Susan J., eds. (2003). The State of Civil Society in Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511550195. ISBN 978-0521534628.
  12. ↑ Squires, David; Anderson, Chloe (2015-10-08). "U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective: Spending, Use of Services, Prices, and Health in 13 Countries". The Commonwealth Fund. doi:10.26099/77tf-5060. Archived from the original on 2016-11-21. Retrieved 2016-12-03.
  13. ↑ "Karoshi-Death from overwork: Occupational health consequences of the Japanese production management". Job Stress Network. 1997-02-04. Archived from the original on 2009-02-14. Retrieved 2016-12-03.
  14. ↑ Kawakami, Norito; Araki, Shunichi; Kawashima, Mieko; Masumoto, Takeshi; Hayashi, Takeshi (1997-01-01). "Effects of work-related stress reduction on depressive symptoms among Japanese blue-collar workers". Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health. 23 (1): 54–59. doi:10.5271/sjweh.179. JSTOR 40966604. PMID 9098913.
  15. ↑ Arnquist, Sarah (2009-08-25). "Health Care Abroad: Japan". New York Times Prescriptions Blog. Archived from the original on 2024-01-27. Retrieved 2016-12-03.
  16. ↑ "Health Insurance in Japan". Nagoya International Center. 2010-09-06. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
  17. 1 2 Ernst, Angelika (1982). "A Segmented Welfare State: The Japanese Approach". Zeitschrift für die Gesamte Staatswissenschaft. 138 (3): 546–564. JSTOR 40750551.
  18. ↑ "Employee's Health Insurance System and Employee's Pension Insurance System". Japan Pension Service. Japan Pension Servie. Archived from the original on 12 July 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
  19. ↑ Yamakawa, Ryuichi (2011-10-01). "Labor Law Reform in Japan: A Response to Recent Socio-Economic Changes". The American Journal of Comparative Law. 49 (4): 627–651. doi:10.2307/841052. JSTOR 841052. Archived from the original on 2024-01-27.
  20. ↑ "Pamphlet: Are Your Working Conditions Fair". Labour Standards. Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare. Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
  21. 1 2 Iwasaki, Kenji; Takahashi, Masaya; Nakata, Akinori (2006-08-17). "Health problems due to long working hours in Japan: working hours, workers' compensation (Karoshi), and preventive measures". Industrial Health. 44 (4): 537–40. Bibcode:2006IndHe..44..537I. doi:10.2486/indhealth.44.537. PMID 17085914.
  22. ↑ Lewis, Leo (2025-02-22). "'You know what? They quit!' Resigning by proxy and the crisis of corporate Japan". Financial Times. Retrieved 2025-04-17.
  23. ↑ (Kumarshiro, 1993: 9)
  24. ↑ Ministry of Labor, Health and Welfare (April 2016). "Labor Law in Japan" (PDF). Ministry of Labor, Health and Welfare. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-05-19. Retrieved 2016-12-03.
  25. ↑ "裁判所 | 裁判例情報:検索結果詳細画面" [Details of the court case results]. www.courts.go.jp. Archived from the original on 2016-10-14. Retrieved 2016-12-03.
  26. ↑ "Suicide of young Dentsu employee recognized as due to overwork：The Asahi Shimbun" [Suicide of young Dentsu employee recognized as due to overwork]. The Asahi Shimbun. Archived from the original on 2016-12-03. Retrieved 2016-12-03.
  27. ↑ Inagaki, Kana (7 April 2015). "Japan Inc says sayonara to culture of long working hours". Financial Times. Tokyo. Archived from the original on 2016-07-16. Retrieved 2016-01-04.
  28. ↑ Demetriou, Danielle (2020-01-18). "How the Japanese are putting an end to extreme work weeks". www.bbc.com. Archived from the original on 2024-01-27. Retrieved 2022-08-21.
  29. ↑ "Work Style Reform Act". Anderson Mori & Tomotsune. Archived from the original on 2024-01-27. Retrieved 2022-08-21.

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