Conformity in Business and Labor

Life-time employment and seniority-based salary systems are still in place in Japan’s labor market, in spite of somewhat increasing job hopping and new pay-scale system. Hiring new graduates at the beginning of the fiscal year, 1st April, has been creating increasing inconveniencies, difficulties, and squeaks from both the newly hired and the management side. Japanese workers are known to have less satisfaction from work, higher complaints, and lower worker engagement, while they do not move jobs and companies as often as in other countries. Workplace anomalies are observed in such areas as high karoshi (death from overwork) incidents, high middle-age male worker’s suicide rates that are caused mainly by troubles in human relations at workplace, and the public press conferences for apology to the public by organizations. The workplace is not functioning well with the mass media, companies, business associations, and labor. The government interventions to business world seem to reluctantly just touch the surface of the problems. Systemic or institutional reforms and revitalization are needed, but each actor is bound within their own small seken, not being able to see and act wider society in Japan.