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The coronavirus pandemic may have accelerated a trend already in progress for companies to reduce the number of working days from five to four per week.
Nikkan Gendai (Dec 3) reports that one of the latest major firms to announce a revamp its employees' work week is NEC Corporation. From 2022, the company will introduce what it calls "Smart Work V 2.0," a program that expands upon working conditions it had already adopted from 2018.
Company planners have worked to achieve the ideal office size, adopting a "free address" system by which desks and computer terminals are open to any user.
The new system is expected to see the number of staff present in the office at any given time to decrease from the current 70% of the total to 40%. While the amount of floor area at offices in the Tokyo-Yokohama area will decline overall by about 25%, areas devoted to common use -- called "co-creation space" -- are expected to increase eight-fold.
NEC staff will be able to select which days they work, including Saturdays, facilitating arranging of times when they can take off for three consecutive days. This should enable them more time to relax at home or to take short trips.
In general, companies in Japan that reduced their number of working days from five to four have adopted one of three patterns. In the first method, adopted by Fast Retailing (Uniqlo), the idea is to maintain the same number of working hours for the same remuneration. The second method, adopted by the Mizuho Bank, is to reduce the number of working hours and reduce the amount of remuneration. And the third, the enviable system adopted by Microsoft Japan, is to reduce the working hours while maintaining the same amount of remuneration.
As per the above, the Uniqlo model extended the working day by two hours, from 8 to 10 hours. According to Japan's Labor Standards Law, a working day is set at 8 hours. Does this mean that the additional two hours will entitle the worker to receive overtime compensation? Apparently not, if the terms of working hours are agreed upon in a prearranged contract. And needless to say, employees putting in 10-hour workdays are almost certainly less likely to perform much additional overtime.
In the case of the Mizuho model, the reduction in wages depends on whether a worker puts in a four-day week or a three-day week. If the former, wages are set at 80% of what they would have earned in a five-day week; if the latter, their wages are set at 60%.
Mizuho's system is flexible, however, in that it allows employees who are caring for elderly parents, a sick family member or small children to work a three-day week, but eventually return to a five-day week when their family situation allows.
Nikkan Gendai provides a sidebar showing the merits and demerits of the four-day work week. On the plus side for the worker are improvements in achieving a balance between work and life in general; allowing the worker more time to study and acquire additional skills; and reducing the chances for exposure to contagious diseases. On the company side, helping to curb worker resignations; making the company more appealing to applicants; and increased productivity.
On the negative side for workers are lower remuneration and the possibility of inequalities developing between five-day and four-day work week staff. Disadvantages on the corporate side are greater likelihood of lost business opportunities; possible need to hire a greater number of workers, and additional burdens on management to deal with overseeing a mixed system.
A survey taken in 2020 by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare found that on average, 82.5% of all companies surveyed adhere to a 5-day work week; 9.2% to a 6-day week, and 8.3% to a 4-day week or shorter. Adoption of the 3-day week tends to be more common at medium-size firms than larger or smaller ones. At businesses having 1,000 employees or more, the 3-day week been adopted by 8.8%, as opposed to 10.6% at companies with 300 to 999 workers, and 9.2% at companies with 100 to 299 workers. The percentage of small businesses of between 30 to 99 workers that have adopted the 4-day work week was the lowest of the four categories, with only 7.8%.
© Japan Today
17 Comments
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GBR48
If you switch to a 3-day week, effectively part time employment, you couldn't be given any major responsibilities because too much would grind to a halt when you were not there.
kohakuebisu
Are the people working a three-day week still seishain?
Are new recruits coming in on an understanding of doing a three-day week going to be taken on as seishain?
As Eastman says, these provisions are probably just theoretical. It may just be a provision saying you can in theory work a three-day week at Mizuho Bank, just as you can in theory take twenty paid days off every year if you've been there ten years.
Chico3
Sounds like hard core Japan Inc. to me. You probably had to do work during your lunch time, too.
1glenn
I was very happy when I was finally able to use my seniority to avoid working on Saturdays. The company wanted my skill set on the job on Saturday, but the rules of the game were such that unless everyone were told to work a sixth day, those of us with enough seniority could avoid it.
Don't get me wrong, I was happy to have a job, and I worked very hard, but once the kids were grown we didn't need the extra money as much.
snowymountainhell
Interesting explanation of the laws, the ‘work-arounds’ and the disadvantages to both the workers and the corporations:
The third method is best for the employees but not like to be pursued by most Japanese businesses.
1glenn
I used to work for a company where we did ten-hour shifts, five days a week, and then six hours on Saturday.
DiscoJ_2
I think Fast Retailing is the only company mentioned here that is really commiting to the idea.
Mizuho's scheme involving reduced pay probably means many/most just do 5-days weeks and anyway any company that allows for unpaid days off in effect has a 4-day (or less) work week already. It's nothing special.
And I can find no evidence that Microsoft actually did permanently implement a 4-day work week. There was the trial they ran and then misreported as PR for teams, but as far as I could find online, they have been back to 5 days since. I could see a few mentions on Twitter from randoms, but nothing verifiable. Happy to be corrected on this if anyone has solid proof, but as it stands I don't think the thrust of the article can be trusted.
snowymountainhell
Don’t see any of the aforementioned business referred to in last evening ‘good news’:
https://japantoday.com/category/business/48-of-firms-to-raise-wages-even-without-more-tax-incentives-survey
Strangerland
Blanket statement is blanket.
Aly Rustom
That's me now.
And sometimes we have to come in on Sunday.
fxgai
It depends of the type of work doesn’t it…
That’s a plus for both worker and employer actually - if skills are valued at all.
Expecting knowledge workers to work at 80% (4 days a week) would give their brains a bit of room to breath. Whether you tell them it’s a day off or just control the amount of work dumped on them is more a detail, to my mind.
Speed
4-day work weeks would work golden for me. Three days off in a row makes for trips and outdoor activities possible almost every week. An extra couple of hours each day is worth it. You're already there anyway so it's not that hard.
crowbag
unsurprisingly these companies are missing the entire point of a 4 day work week. it's not a punishment (reduced wages) it's a healthy work-life balance. sigh
Iron Lad
Very good news!