Japan Advocates Four-Day Workweek Amid Labor Shortages

• Large companies have begun offering a four-day workweek, signaling a shift in Japan’s traditional work culture.
• Japan is encouraging a four-day workweek to address labor shortages and improve work-life balance.
• The government’s “work style reform” campaign promotes shorter hours, flexible arrangements, and overtime limits.
• Despite these efforts, uptake has been slow, with traditional work pressures and uncompensated overtime being common.

In a significant shift from its traditional work culture, Japan is encouraging its citizens and companies to adopt a four-day workweek. This initiative is a response to the country’s labor shortage and the need for a healthier work-life balance. The Japanese government first expressed support for a shorter working week in 2021, following lawmakers’ endorsement of the idea. However, the concept has been slow to gain traction. According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, only about 8% of companies in Japan currently allow employees to take three or more days off per week.

Government’s Efforts to Promote Shorter Workweek

To stimulate more uptake, particularly among small and medium-sized businesses, the government launched a “work style reform” campaign. This campaign promotes shorter hours and other flexible arrangements, along with overtime limits and paid annual leave. The labor ministry recently started offering free consulting, grants, and a growing library of success stories as further motivation. The ministry’s website states, “By realizing a society in which workers can choose from a variety of working styles based on their circumstances, we aim to create a virtuous cycle of growth and distribution and enable each and every worker to have a better outlook for the future.”

Despite these efforts, the initiative faces significant challenges. The department overseeing the new support services for businesses reports that only three companies have come forward so far to request advice on making changes, relevant regulations, and available subsidies. Furthermore, of the 63,000 Panasonic Holdings Corp employees who are eligible for four-day schedules at the electronics maker and its group companies in Japan, only 150 employees have opted to take them.

Work Culture and Challenges in Japan

The traditional pressures to conform and sacrifice for one’s company are intense in Japan. Citizens typically take vacations at the same time of year as their colleagues — during the Bon holidays in the summer and around New Year’s — so co-workers can’t accuse them of being neglectful or uncaring. Long hours are the norm, and some Japanese even do “service overtime,” meaning it’s unreported and performed without compensation. A recent government white paper on karoshi, the Japanese term that in English means death from overwork, said Japan has at least 54 such fatalities a year, including from heart attacks.

The four-day workweek is seen as a crucial strategy to maintain a viable workforce amid Japan’s nosediving birth rate. At the current rate, which is partly attributed to the country’s job-focused culture, the working age population is expected to decline 40% to 45 million people in 2065, from the current 74 million, according to government data. Proponents of the three-days-off model say it encourages people raising children, those caring for older relatives, retirees living on pensions, and others looking for flexibility or additional income to remain in the workforce for longer.

The Future of Work in Japan

Several large companies, including Fast Retailing Co, the Japanese company that owns Uniqlo, Theory, J Brand and other clothing brands, pharmaceutical company Shionogi & Co, and electronics companies Ricoh Co and Hitachi, have also begun offering a four-day workweek in recent years. The trend has even gained traction in the notoriously consuming finance industry. Brokerage SMBC Nikko Securities Inc started letting workers put in four days a week in 2020, and banking giant Mizuho Financial Group offers a three-day schedule option.

However, critics of the government’s push say that in practice, people put on four-day schedules often end up working just as hard for less pay. But there are signs of change. A annual Gallup survey that measures employee engagement ranked Japan as having among the least engaged workers of all nationalities surveyed; in the most recent survey, only 6% of the Japanese respondents described themselves as engaged at work compared to the global average of 23%.

In conclusion, Japan’s push for a four-day workweek represents a significant shift in the country’s traditional work culture. While the initiative faces challenges, it also presents an opportunity for a healthier work-life balance and a more sustainable workforce in the face of demographic changes. As Kanako Ogino, president of Tokyo-based NS Group, aptly put it, “The view in Japan was: You are cool the more hours you work, putting in free overtime. But there is no dream in such a life.” This sentiment reflects a growing awareness of the need for a better work-life balance in Japan, and the four-day workweek could be a significant step towards achieving this goal.