LABOUR: Japanese Firms Lose Patience with Workers’ Flexitime

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Nov 12 2002 (IPS) - Sumie Kubo, 36, a salaried worker, opted for flexible working hours in her company in April 2000 to beat what she describes as job exhaustion.

”After years of putting in almost 12 hours a day at the company, I finally called it quits. I was offered a new flexi-schedule and I took it without hesitation,” she says.

Kubo, who declined to reveal the name of her company, was shifted to the publications section from the more aggressive sales section where she had worked before.

The new job with regular pay only requires her to meet a ”core-time schedule” from 10am to 2pm, after which she is allowed to take her official eight-hour working hours, as preferred.

Kubo likes her new job, which, she says, has encouraged her to think of starting a family for the first time.

But despite the popularity of flexitime – which according to a survey of 1,500 working women by the Japan Trade Union Confederation showed a 47 percent approval – its future looks uncertain in the face of drastic cuts.

The Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry reports that 5 percent of Japanese companies used flexitime in 2001, down from 5.6 percent the previous year.

The system, launched officially in 1988, showed 4.4 percent of firms carried flexitime policies in 1997. The proportion increased briefly to 5.7 percent in 1999 before falling steadily.

Sixty-two percent of Japanese women between 15 and 64 in 2000 were part of the labour force, and statistics suggest that number has been rising steadily in recent years, according to the Population Reference Bureau, a Washington-based non-government group.

”The flexitime policy has been not successful in Japan because corporations have loose working rules that ignore workers’ rights to a diverse lifestyle,” says Tomaru Yamaguchi, analyst at Rengo, Japan’s largest trade union.

Workers are expected to follow a loose management style where the focus is the company, not the rights of the worker, he says.

Cannon Inc reports it is currently phasing out its flexitime system for administrative staff in the summer with the aim of abolishing the policy completely by January 2003.

Canon explains that research and development requires working in groups which cannot be promoted if there is flexitime.

Two other electronic firms, Fujitsu Ltd and Sharp Corp, have already scrapped or are planning to scrap flexible working hours.

”We need to strengthen relations with clients and speed up the relaying of information among workers,” a Fujitsu spokesman told the ‘Yomuiri Shinbun’ newspaper last week. Fujitsu introduced the system in 1989.

Osaka-based Sharp Corp was reported in the Japanese media as saying, ”If employees start work at different times, it’s difficult to get hold of them, whether in or out of the office.”

Keiko Tani, spokesperson for the Women’s Union, says the decline of flexitime will affect women workers the most.

”Flexitime in Japan never got off the ground as business practices do not give workers the opportunity to spend time with their families. Against this backdrop, women are particularly disadvantaged, as they are responsible for family chores,” she explains.

The case of Recruit Company, a solid Japanese company with a large number of female staff, seems to be an exception. It reports its flexitime policy is working well.

”The reasons for launching flexible working hours was to help employees to have a free work schedule and enjoy time with their families. Both these targets have been successfully achieved and we will continue,” says Yasutaka Natsuka, spokesman for the company.

Flexitime has received a boost even from the government that is advocating the system in a bid to boost the birth rate.

The white paper submitted by Heizo Takenaka, state minister in charge of economic, fiscal and information technology calls for businesses to develop a working environment where working couples can have families.

Still experts contend that the future of flexible employment is not rosy, given Japan’s economic outlook and the global recession.

Meanwhile, researchers point out that as Japanese companies carry out restructuring, management is turning its attention to the American white-collar system where workers are paid according to a merit system.

Efficiency and profits have taken over the debate for shorter working hours. This is not good for Japanese workers keen to escape the drudgery of long working hours, researchers say.