Japanese to get better life-work balance
Print Edition
JAPAN’S famously long working hours will get a shakeup this summer, the government said yesterday, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pushing for early starts and European-style flexibility.
In a bid to better balance work and play for Japan’s harried employees, and to encourage them to spend time and money on their private lives and leisure, Tokyo mandarins want the working day to start and end earlier.
“Prime Minister Abe said we would take on changing the summertime lifestyle so that (people) will start working early in the morning and spend time with families and others in the evening,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga.
To begin with, the government will promote early starts and flexible finishes, he quoted the premier as saying.
“It is often said that long work hours in our country keep people from appreciating its benefits,” Suga said.
“We believe reforming work styles is important in letting people feel the benefits of ‘Abenomics’ and making growth sustainable,” he said, referring to the government’s economic reform program.
According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the average Japanese worker put in 1,735 hours in 2013, far more than the 1,489 average for the French and 1,388 for Germans, but fewer than the 1,788 for American workers.
But labor experts suspect Japan’s true number is higher, with employees under-reporting overtime.
Employees are sometimes expected to spend time with their colleagues in the evening, with often-alcohol fueled bonding sessions practically compulsory. The prime minister has told his ministers to talk to private companies about the push for change, in the hope of dragging them along with the initiative, Suga said, adding that summer had been chosen because of its longer daylight hours.
However, he said, the introduction of daylight saving is not currently on the table because of the huge latitude differences of the Japanese archipelago.
In summer months the sun rises in Tokyo about 4:30am and sets about 7pm.
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