The article talks about the work culture in Japan. Currently, Japanese workers are entitled 18.5 days paid holiday per year, however, very few use it which is leading to rising levels of stress. The primary reason for this volunteer spirit and overwork is not only to show worker loyalty but there is also an invisible pressure to match their colleagues hour to hour.
While a dedicated workforce may have helped Japan become a superpower, it also has led to a decline in population, suicides due to overwork, and decrease in labor productivity which could ultimately affect the economy negatively.
What could be a solution to this extreme worker loyalty embedded into the Japanese economic system?
Link
While a dedicated workforce may have helped Japan become a superpower, it also has led to a decline in population, suicides due to overwork, and decrease in labor productivity which could ultimately affect the economy negatively.
What could be a solution to this extreme worker loyalty embedded into the Japanese economic system?
Link
4 comments:
This is an interesting article. Although many Japanese are tired of working long hours everyday, they refuse to take vacation. This is due to the group mentality that exists in Japan. Deviating from the norm is unacceptable. Also there has been a recent rise in power harassment, putting more pressure on workers. It is hard to combat something that is cultural. However, I think making it a legal requirement to take vacation days will help this situation. Forcing Japanese workers to take days off may be the only solution.
Some of my friends in japan told me about another reason why they work over time is that it is the only way to earn extra income. This is also the issue of them growing up and being told to go to school and get a good job in a corporate and stay there till retirement. Japanese do not have the entrepreneur mentality. So i think the way to fix this is to change the education system
I agree with Jonel about creating mandatory vacation in order to fix the negative externalities caused by long working hours, but it may not be realistic in Japan because of the group mentality. A change like that is so different from cultural norms will be difficult to make possible
Generally, longer hours lead to lower productivity and general inefficiency. So the Japanese needs to encourage Japanese companies to lower the work load.
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