Japan Turns to ‘Work-Sharing’ to Avoid Layoffs
February 20th, 2009Via: AP:
Yasuo Igarashi spends a lot of time these days on the jungle gym with his daughter, after his employer joined the growing ranks of Japanese companies adopting “work-sharing” to ride out the global slump.
Common in parts of Europe, work-sharing means slashing employees’ pay and hours instead of firing people outright. Two or three people might share what previously was one person’s job.
The idea is that employees are required to share the pain of coping with hard times while everyone gets to keep their jobs — even if they’re paid less.
Work-sharing is the latest buzzword in Japan Inc. Proponents say it’s a good way to avoid American-style layoffs in a society that has long fostered lifetime employment. Toyota Motor Corp., Mazda Motor Corp., Toshiba Corp. and Fujitsu Inc., have all taken up some kind of work-sharing. Nissan Motor Co. and others are considering it.
Although critics say it’s merely a fancy way to disguise wage cuts, the practice is winning powerful supporters here, including Fujio Mitarai, the head of the major business lobby Keidanren.
The government is now considering earmarking public money for companies that take up work-sharing to curb surging joblessness as the world’s second-largest economy slides into what authorities are calling Japan’s worst recession since World War II.
Companies big and small are expecting losses or drastically dwindling profits. Thousands of job cuts have been announced in recent weeks.
I wish companies in America would do this. I would have gladly kept my job for less pay/less hours/less benefits if they would not have laid me off.