World of HR: Japan eases overtime regulations for some employers

Japan, a country known for its culture of overwork and a dwindling labor pool , recently changed its enforcement of overtime regulations, the AFP reported.

The Labor Standards Inspection Office will no longer ask employers to limit overtime to 45 hours per month, news outlet the Asahi Shimbun reported. About 40% of employers in Japan were encouraged to limit overtime to this degree, although they were legally allowed up to 100 hours.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made the policy change after hearing from business groups that the government was limiting corporate activity. One in five small and mid-size employers said the limit was “restricting,” according to a survey from the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Channel News Asia reported.

However, worker advocates are concerned about the adverse impacts of the change.

“This is an unacceptable shift away from, and abolition of, the policy that urged companies to shorten work hours,” the National Confederation of Trade Unions in Tokyo said in a statement.

The Japanese labor ministry assured the public that it will focus on worker health and well-being, issuing a statement that it will “continue to provide the necessary guidance if there is a high risk that health problems caused by excessive work may arise.”

Japan’s government has turned to robot workers and recruiting employees over 70 to offset the labor shortages that have resulted from its aging population. More than half of employers in the country (60%) report being short-staffed, leading many to rely on overseas workers to offset talent shortages, according to a recent Japan Chamber of Commerce survey reported by the Japan Times. Some 66% of employers with foreign workers said their business would be disrupted if they could not continue recruiting workers from overseas.

“It would be good if Japan could reverse its declining birth rate and see more young people entering the workforce, but that’s a job for politicians,” Kei Kato, chairperson at Chojukai, a social welfare organization, told the Mainichi newspaper. “Unless we support Japan as a whole while accepting a certain number of workers from overseas, it won’t be sustainable.”