Friday, January 13, 2017

Japan firm considers 3-day weekends as nation rethinks culture of long work hours...

Japan is stepping up its drive to pressure companies into abandoning a culture of long working hours.

Prosecutors this week began reviewing whether Mitsubishi Electric Corp forces its employees to work excessive hours — a move that follows an investigation of Dentsu Inc, Japan’s biggest advertisement agency, where a female worker who put in more than 100 hours of overtime in a month committed suicide.

Mitsubishi Electric said in a statement that it will “deal sincerely with the matter” and will monitor work hours closely and educate managers and employees on the issue. The labour ministry will continue to take a firm stance against long work hours, according to a spokesman who asked not to be named due to ministry policy.

The government is also seeking a shift in the corporate mindset to encourage flexibility and boost a labour force being depleted as the population shrinks. Mr Yoshihide Suga, the top government spokesman, said Wednesday (Jan 11) that Japan needs to “end of the norm of long working hours so people can balance their lives with things like raising a child or taking care of the elderly.” Full story...

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