Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012
EDITORIAL
Throwaway workers
Recently Japanese workers have been quitting
their jobs in larger numbers. At the end of October, the Ministry of
Health, Labor and Welfare issued statistics on the percentage of new
employees who resigned within three years of being hired. The average
for all industries was 28.8 percent.
That figure suggests a massive shift in the basic nature of employment in Japan.
In education-related businesses, the
percentage quitting within three years of being hired was even higher,
at 48.8 percent. Hotel and food and beverage services industries lost
48.5 percent of new employees within three years, and retailing, 35.8
percent.
While those job sectors perhaps always had a
certain turnover, the numbers suggest that the relation between employer
and employee, their attitudes toward each other, and workplace
conditions have all undergone a transformation in Japan.
Nowadays, many companies recruit at
universities knowing full well that a certain percentage will quit
within a short time. In 2011, only 62 percent of the graduating class
found jobs. That means nearly 40 percent of young people lag in getting
workplace experience early in their careers.
Combined with the high numbers of workers
quitting in certain industries, the general level of work experience for
young employees has decreased sharply.
Japan prides itself on high-quality customer
service, but to keep standards high, young people need to develop those
skills. Dealing with customers and colleagues, for example, requires
significant experience and supervised practice. In some companies,
training has become an expense they no longer can afford, especially
when an increasing number of new employees quit soon.
It wasn't long ago that many company employees
had only one entry on their resume. Young people these days may have
handfuls of various positions, giving them broader but not necessarily
deeper experience.
The main reason for quitting and changing
jobs is surely overwork. Some companies either do not pay overtime
adequately or fail to provide sufficient compensation for "extras" such
as commission-based sales.
The presumption of lifetime, or even long-term,
employment, is no longer a realistic one for many workers, and that
makes their workplace more stressful, not less. Even when workers are
selfless and self-sacrificing, loyalty to an employer depends on
conditions and treatment.
The practice of working employees hard and
then discarding them is not a viable one in the long run. Only those
companies that do manage their employees by finding ways to train and
handle them over the long term will find profitability.
Establishing a humane and positive workplace
environment that keeps employees is not easy, but it is an essential
task if the quality of employment is to improve for both employees and
employers in the future.
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