Ongoing work style changes

For residents working in domestic businesses, either in the public or private sector, you may have noticed some gradual changes in the way your employer operates as 働き方改革 hataraki kata kaikaku, or work style reform, first instituted by the Japanese government in 2018 took effect. The ongoing reforms continue in 2024.

Changes in routines

Since recording employee’s working hours became a requirement, I’ve had to make a big change in my routine. It used to be standard for teachers at the school to simply turn over their 名札 nafuda on a board in the staff room. Colour side up, you are away, white side up you are present. One of the tell-tale signs that work style reform was rolling out was the day our school principal handed out our nafudas to us as relics. We’ve been using a swipe time card system for precision time management since 2019.

At first, we simply got in the habit of swiping our cards and our administration passed us handwritten notes and sent emails when we missed recording. Eventually, our administration introduced an online management system. We can make various applications from our mobile devices and the administration can track our mandatory paid leave use. Now the labor law specifies that working hours must be documented.

The hustle at Shibuya crossing photo, Tony Wu

Paid leave

The mandatory paid leave was another major change. By law, employees who have accrued 10 paid leave days must take at least five of them. There is a monetary penalty for organizations that fail to ensure employees take those five days. The reasoning is that surveys revealed that 16% of full-time workers had not taken even one in a fiscal year. Sure, Japan has Obon and New Year which companies customarily close for, and 16 statutory holidays.

However Japanese employees were reluctant to take paid leave. Nippon.com reported on a survey in 2018 that revealed many reasons but I think they can all be summed up in one word - 面倒くさい, mendokusai, a lot of bother. Between the pressure to appear loyal to the company, not inconvenience and overload coworkers, and the dread of returning to backed-up tasks on return, taking time off is a hassle.

Challenges in my specific work environment

For me, it was an extra hassle as I’m on a fixed academic schedule. To plan for a day off, I might be able to exchange hours with another teacher. This prevents interruption to busy school schedules and keeps students on track. Because of the labor category under which my employment falls, I can’t use paid leave for days with no teaching hours. Mendokusai.

The 2024 Problem

And then there is the 2024 problem - as part of the labor reforms, truck drivers will see their overtime capped starting in April. Truck drivers’ earnings are lower than the national average, but the long overtime they do has made up for it. The cap is a perfect storm - a reduction in capacity and lower earnings which are likely to turn off prospective professional drivers. The fallout may be that your online delivery may be backed up.

Have the work style reforms impacted how you work? In what ways, good or bad?