so don’t make your quota.
what are they going to do, fire you?
Comment on Bandai Namco reportedly tries to bore staff into quitting, skirting Japan’s labor laws
Lauchs@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I think we’re misunderstanding the rooms here. Everyone in the comments is saying “ooooh, I’d love that!” But imagine, the company gives you a tough but manageable quota of lines to write out by hand from the dictionary. Every day, 8 hours of writing. No phone, no music, no talking, no distractions, just quietly writing.
For anyone with a decent salaried job, that sounds horrible.
Varyk@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
orcrist@lemm.ee 2 months ago
Exactly! You accidentally hit the nail on the head here.
The goal of the company is to get rid of employees. But they have permanent hire, so the bosses can’t simply fire them without cause (and the bar for cause is very high in Japan). They want employees to quit, or they want employees to clearly fail to perform their duties.
What the employees want is to keep doing decent work at that company, probably until they retire at age 65. Permanent hire is highly treasured, for good reason. The reason permanent hire exists, and is so widespread as required by law, is that Japan values employee well-being more than it values the bosses’ well-being. It’s hard to get a big loan (for a house or apartment) if you don’t have permanent hire. Many companies will not give you good positions if you’re over the age of 35, too, which makes changing employers in your 40s-60s very challenging.
Varyk@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
not an accident.
Lauchs@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Responded before but if you don’t hit the quota, they can probably fire you for cause (removing the severance, maybe pension etc.)
It’s why all the back to office mandates sorta work (in terms of reducing headcount) you can’t just show up and do nothing. If thr company can prove you’re doing nothing, you can probably be terminated for cause. Happened to guys I know in a public, govt funded job with the reason as, iirc “time theft” and the union didn’t really fight for them because the evidence was pretty damning that they hadn’t done fuck all most mornings.
orcrist@lemm.ee 2 months ago
At most companies in Japan, them firing you would not eliminate your severance or pension. Those are typically mostly paid based on years worked, and not on how your employment terminates.
There tend to be extra payouts if you die on the job, at many companies, so it’s not true to say that your termination status has zero impact, but typically it’s a small adjustment.
catloaf@lemm.ee 2 months ago
For anyone it’s horrible. Making someone do monotonous unproductive work is a form of torture. Just look at Sisyphus.
Lauchs@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I mean, Camus argued he could at least find satisfaction/meaning in rolling that damned rock. (As part of his “why committing suicide is bad” essay, I think called the Myth of Sisyphus.)
ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 2 months ago
That’s not what’s done, though.
Lauchs@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Yes but comparing our Western lack of shame to Japanese culture is also pretty silly. My example is more balancing the scale.
xmunk@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
As a software developer writing out lines from the dictionary isn’t part of my job description… they’d be violating my employment contract.
Bosses can’t just demand you do something… your work needs to be stuff you agreed to do.
Lauchs@lemmy.world 2 months ago
You probably have another duties ad required clause somewhere. If not, fine one dev to another, asking for hundreds of shitty useless QA tests. Same stupidity but if they can demonstrate a reasonable employee should finish X in Y time…
Hupf@feddit.org 2 months ago
As a QA professional, I take exception to that!
xmunk@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
If you get into a situation like this please reach out to a labor lawyer - it’s extremely likely that you could make a case for constructive dismissal.