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Japanese company will tell your boss you’re quitting for you; sees high demand for its services

13 Comments
By Casey Baseel, SoraNews24

As members of a group-oriented society, Japanese workers are acutely aware that they’re part of a team, and often feel a solemn responsibility to their colleagues. Admirable as that sentiment may be, it can sometimes keep people trapped in bad jobs, or at least jobs that are a bad fit for their skills and personalities.

“After all,” many reason, “if my coworkers are working so hard every day, isn’t it selfish for me to feel bad about how professionally dissatisfied I am? If I were to quit, wouldn’t they all have to work even harder, taking on my workload until the company hires and trains a replacement?” It’s not unusual for Japanese people feel embarrassed or ashamed about wanting to quit their jobs, and even after they make that realization, many are hesitant to actually tell their boss or HR department, out of fear of getting chewed out for what their workplace superiors might argue is a selfish move on their part.

“I worked in three companies before this,” says Toshiyuki Arano, one of the founders of Tokyo-based Exit. “When you quit a job, it takes a lot of energy, so we started this company in hopes of creating a society where it’s easier for people to leave their jobs.”

Exit bills itself as a “resignation proxy service.” Once a client contracts their services, Exit will contact their place of employment and inform the company that the employee is leaving. “Hello. I’m calling from Sentience [Exit’s parent company]. Can I speak to someone in your human resources department?” starts Exit’s polite and professional phone script. Once the Exit agent is connected, he announces “I’m calling today about one of your employees, [name], who will be resigning.”

From that point on, Exit serves as an intermediary, handling all communications between its client and his or her soon-to-be-former employer. After the initial phone conversation, the client prepares a written statement of resignation, which Exit forwards while also obtaining any necessary paperwork from the company, such as the rishokukyo, a document officially recognizing that the individual is no longer an employee and thus eligible for unemployment benefits and other government assistance.

“When we started, we figured this would be a light, simple line of work,” recalls Yuichiro Okazaki, Exit’s other founder. “But we get people contacting us saying things like ‘Please save me’ and ‘I want to die.’ Our clients’ needs are much deeper than we’d originally expected.”

Okazaki’s comment highlights the extreme mental anguish that has to set in before some Japanese workers will finally come to the conclusion that they want to quit their jobs, but at that point, they may feel too much emotional distress to even set foot in their office, and so Exit isn’t just alleviating a hassle, but helping to provide emotional solace.

The company began offering its resignation proxy service in the spring of last year, and says it now handles requests from about 300 clients a month. Exit’s standard fee for resignation services for full-time company employees is 50,000 yen (US$450), while for part-time workers it’s 40,000 yen. And since there’s no guarantee that leaving one nightmare job will lead to you landing directly in your dream position, repeat clients receive a 10,000-yen discount should the need Exit’s services a second time.

“I want quitting your job to be seen as a positive thing,” says Arno. “People should be able to quit their jobs without hesitation.” Achieving that vision on a society-wide scale would, ironically, put Exit itself out of business, but since Japan still has no shortage of companies working their employees well into the night, Arano and Okazaki are unlikely to run out of potential clients anytime soon.

Sources: Exit, Livedoor News/Abema Times via Otakomu

Read more stories from SoraNews24.

-- Japanese worker’s job threatened for drinking non-alcoholic beer during break

-- Japanese salaryman fears backlash against attractive people due to company paternity leave system

-- Five magic Japanese phrases to know before starting a job in Japan

© SoraNews24

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

13 Comments
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Holy hell. Everytime i actually said bye to my boss, i was happy. Am i normal?

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Given the bullying some people will get when they say they want to quit, there will be cases where 50,000 yen is money well spent.

(basic worker rights are what unions are for, and 50,000 yen would be many years' subs)

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Give appropriate time notice, and they can't stop ya

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Paying gor leaving a company is... bullying for me.

Also, it is non-sense to have somebody call in your name to announce an official decision. Only legal jobs are entitled that power.

It is just a sysyem to make head of companies richer and richer. I know that. Like in a feudal system, you know...

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Don't the customers of this firm still have to work out their notice? They will still have to spend two weeks with their boss and colleagues anyway, so why not tell the boss yourself and save Y50000?

5 ( +5 / -0 )

I can understand. My company has like 10 pages of procedures in Japanese on how to quit! I also have a Japanese female acquaintance who says her boss somehow won't let her quit. A kind of mind control?

That's pretty sad for anyone who's in this position.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I think this quite a good scheme, but it does have its down sides and upsides, on the other hand if a boss knows that employee's can quit there so called miserable jobs, so bosses need to up there game or change. to keep them,

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"Japanese company will tell your boss you’re quitting for you"

Good grief.

"People should be able to quit their jobs without hesitation.”

Once you've decided you're better off if you quit, you should absolutely do so without hesitation, and you should tell your boss yourself. I'm sorry, I just can't imagine asking someone else to do that for me.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Spineless

1 ( +3 / -2 )

I can see this as money well spent potentially. If one really hates their workplace & it has depressed them so much( there has to many MILLIONS of people like this out there!) that dealing with the admin bits when leaving to someone who can assist then Y50,000 aint much!

Or for people like us foreign types could be handy to make sure the company doesn't rip you off from monies due & that your pension records etc are properly taken care of & not messed up, again Y50,000 aint much

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I'd love to tell my Bosses Boss that he'd just quit.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

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