Recession Puts More Pressure on Japan's Workers

The current economy makes it even harder for Japanese workers to go home on time, and the results of overwork can be deadly

By Ian Rowley and Hiroko Tashiro

YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images

In the last year or so, life appeared to be getting better for Japan's long-suffering workers. Sure, salarymen still toil long into the evening and are expected to guzzle with their bosses after hours. But employers, at the behest of government, have been taking steps to ease workloads, and recent cases suggest Japan's judiciary is more willing to side with employees who sue companies—a trend that could lead to a better balance between job demands and a worker's private life.

A 44-year-old engineer at automotive supplier Denso is one recent beneficiary. On Oct. 30, 2008, a court in Nagoya awarded $15,000 to the man, whose full name hasn't been officially revealed, because excessive demands at work contributed to his depression. He had been working 14 to 15 hours a day at Toyota (TM), where he had been seconded to help develop diesel engine technology. After going back to Denso, he took six months off to recover from overwork but was demoted when he returned to his job. "It was important that the court recognized that the companies didn't give enough consideration to the working environment," says the man, who still works at the automotive supplier. Toyota and Denso both said that while they don't entirely agree with the verdict, they won't appeal the decision.

A year ago a Tokyo court ruled that the Japanese arm of McDonald's (MCD) had used illegal tactics to avoid paying for overtime. The court found McDonald's had created phony management positions to avoid paying overtime, which regular workers but not managers are entitled to receive. Since the ruling, McDonald's and other restaurant chains have said they will make changes. A spokesman for McDonald's in Tokyo declined to comment on whether the changes are yet in place, but says the company is taking a "proactive stance" on improving the work-life balance.

And in June 2008, Toyota began paying 40,000 factory workers for participating in quality control programs outside normal hours. Until then such work had theoretically been voluntary, but employees were typically expected to attend. That move followed a Nagoya court decision concerning a 30-year-old Toyota employee who died suddenly in 2002 after more than 100 hours a month of unpaid, after-hours quality control work.

Rising Insecurity

Yet, for all the signs of progress, anyone thinking life is getting easier for Japanese workers may need to think again. The economic downturn is weakening demand for Japanese exports, but it's unlikely to slacken many workloads. Thousands of temporary workers are being laid off and job insecurity is rising, which means few workers will want to appear as though they are not busy. In any case, after years of downsizing, there aren't as many people on the job, so a worker who declines to put in overtime knows his colleagues will have to pick up the slack. "Workers in their 30s have to do their own jobs and the work that in the past more junior workers would do," says Toshihiro Nagahama, an economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo.