This June will mark the first anniversary of my first ever job in Japan. Recruited right out of university, it was a sudden transition to the slick Japanese corporate culture that is known for its life time employment. In recent years, there has been much fuss about nenkō joretsu – the seniority wage system (which rewards you for the number of years you have worked at the same company) that is a hallmark of traditional Japanese companies.
When I look back at my home country, India, I cannot even imagine such a system, especially among the white collar workers. As one of my dōki pointed out, Japanese employees consider their company as their first family and live through, if not for, their jobs. This is a stark contrast to the Indian and if I am not mistaken, Western mindsets as well.
Companies like mine recruit fresh graduates and retain them up to retirement with full ‘job security’, unless that employee happens to commit a criminal offense. A friend of mine working with British Petroleum in UK fell prey to the job cuts that BP announced this year. One cannot deny that foreigners are often the first victims of such downsizing but not so in Japan. I am a ‘permanent employee’ of my company and hence, I am accorded the same benefits as other Japanese colleagues, no less and no more.
However, given the dynamic nature of modern business, is lifetime employment truly viable, from either point of view – the employer or the employee? A relative of mine worked for 22 years at an Italian FMCG company in India before switching jobs when he realized that his growth had come to a standstill. My brother-in-law left the comforts of his Indian consulting firm after 7 years, owing to a heightening dissatisfaction, to join an American investment firm.
I am certain that most of us can relate to such workplace issues. The sole motive of business is generating profits and Japan has been increasingly lagging behind due to its obsession to keep excess, and in some cases even unnecessary, workers on payroll.
An Indian co-worker with much international work experience highlights the US ‘hire and fire’ policy. The key is to maintain a good workforce balance, he says, neither ‘iron-caging’ of employees nor being downright brutal. In India, many university graduates typically gain some work experience at a company and then proceed to pursue a management degree at a business school. Hence, the concept of lifetime employment is shattered at the very outset.
And the alarming cause of worry for Japan is that this unspoken binding is not just limited to traditional companies but extends to famous international brands like Nissan Motors and NEC Corp. There’s no doubting the sheer systemic nature of the Japanese work culture. However, as companies go increasingly global, they must pick up key international business practices to stay competitive.
Japan is still one of the world’s best source of intellectual capital but to sustain it, it must break free of age-old shackles. There is a greater need of professional approaches than psychological codes of conduct. China has already overtaken it to become the world’s 2nd largest economy. Other may not be far behind.
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