lifestyle

Majority of polled Japanese workers feel compelled to answer calls, emails from office on day off

6 Comments
By Casey Baseel, RocketNews24

Everyone needs an extra day off now and again, and that should go double for employees at Japanese companies, which are notorious for pushing their human resources to the breaking point. But with Japanese society so often prizing group performance over personal enjoyment, does taking a day off in Japan really translate into not working?

To investigate, Internet polling website Creative Survey asked 300 Japanese men and 300 Japanese women, all between the ages of 20 and 49, a series of questions regarding their paid vacation days. Three out of five respondents said, right off the bat, that they found it difficult to ask for time off, which was further reflected by data showing that the vast majority use less than half of their allotted vacation days each year.

How much of your time off do you use? ● None of it (selected by 15 percent of respondents) ● Between 0 and 25 percent of it (selected by 38 percent of respondents) ● Between 25 and 50 percent of it (selected by 22 percent of respondents) ● Between 50 and 75 percent of it (selected by 13 percent of respondents) ● Between 75 and 99 percent of it (selected by 4 percent of respondents) ● All of it (selected by 8 percent of respondents)

But in our modern, connected society, being able to avoid going into the office doesn’t necessarily mean you can avoid work demands. With just about every adult in Japan owning an email-capable mobile phone, they’re, in essence, constantly tethered to their work duties, and when that call comes, many feel compelled to answer, with more than 75 percent either answering phone calls from the office then and there or calling back soon.

What do you do if you get a call from work on your personal phone when you’re taking a day off? ● I answer right away (41.17 percent) ● I let it ring a few times, then answer (24.67 percent) ● I don’t pick up, but I call back a little later (11.83 percent)

The respondents weren’t much more willing to duck work emails, either.

What do you do if you get a message from work through your personal email or SNS account when you’re taking a day off? ● I reply before the end of the day (40 percent) ● I reply right away (30 percent) ● I reply the next day (9 percent)

It should be noted that Creative Survey’s questionnaire didn’t concern itself with the nature of the work the participants do, and it’s entirely possible that many of them are involved in industries or activities with unpredictable schedules which thus make quick reactions absolutely vital. Still, we imagine that sort of constant pressure must make it almost impossible to mentally decouple from work concerns, and so we can understand the feelings of the 0.17 percent of respondents who said that in order to enjoy their days off, they block their office number on their mobile phones.

Source: Excite Woman via Otakomu, PR Times

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6 Comments
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I'm confused. What is this "day off" people keep talking about? Must be for people with better job security than me!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I use all of my vacation days; I don't give out my personal e-mail address to work; I don't have a mobile phone. I do sometimes answer e-mails on my work address if only a short reply is needed, otherwise they get left until I return to work. My default policy is to ignore e-mails unless they are addressed directly to me. If it's really urgent they will send me a follow-up e-mail.

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Only in Japan do some people come in to work on their DAY OFF to make everything is going well! Such dedication!!!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Well of course. They are slaves. Get back to work slaves.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

When I was younger, I lived for work. I was on-call 24/7/365. Work provided remote access and communications devices. At places where they didn't provide communications, when I left, I was gone until my next scheduled workday. Worked on some amazing projects, BTW. The types of things that change the world. You know my work, I'm positive.

As I matured, my thoughts shifted away from work, more towards family and lifestyle. I was NOT on-call anymore and swore I'd never accept a position like that. Earned about 3x the pay.

Being constantly available is NOT a good thing. It leads to companies taking you for granted. If your job is 1 of 1,000 people doing the same work, it just isn't that important. OTOH, if your job is done by you and only you for real purpose to the company, then you really do have more power than you know. Once left a position; it was time to move on. Learned later they replaced me with 3 FT people.

Over the decades, there were some projects that required huge amounts of extra effort, which I did. Worked 80 hrs/wk for a few years when I worked on proposal teams. However, these were the exceptions and only for a few years.

I've always calculated my hourly wage over the years. If we are salaried, there isn't any extra compensation for extra hours if those are worked year after year after year. Run the numbers for yourself. I bet some people are paid mid-level salaries, but actually work for fast-food pay when all the extra hours are added in.

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theFu: Once left a position; it was time to move on. Learned later they replaced me with 3 FT people.

That happened to me several years ago ... recently heard they still couldn't get some of the critical stuff done, and it was still sitting there.

Did the 70-to-90-hour weeks thing to meet deadline at some places. And the double-time thing at another, to fill in for one employee on Social Security leave compounded by another who quit. I'm sure managers appreciate it but didn't notice that it translated into any return effort on their part, except for a bit of understanding re leave at one place. Coincidentally on that job the manager also worked the overtime alongside us (the other jobs I don't remember the managers working hard at all, certainly not overnight). He was sleeping on a couch on breaks and I was sleeping on a conference room table, we didn't go home for a few days at a time.

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