Opinion

A New Attitude Toward Work

By CHRISTINE CUNANAN-NOMURA

The harsh effects of Japan's longest postwar recession have forced many companies to fire employees. For example, according to the Management and Coordination Agency, Japan's unemployment rate rose to 4.9 percent, and 3.19 million people were out of work in July 1999.

While this is clearly a difficult and unfortunate situation, it may be helpful to look at things from another perspective. In many other countries, for instance, unemployment and job instability are facts of life.

Japan has long insulated itself from such realities, maintaining a lifetime employment system that has seemed both ideal and unbelievable to many foreign observers. This Japanese system worked well for a certain period, but it also made many people complacent about their work lives. Not a few employees felt that they would always have a job as long as they showed up at the office every day and did what was asked of them.

The bursting of the bubble economy changed the situation radically. Suddenly, companies that made bad management decisions were being allowed to fail, while workers who were not useful enough to their companies were being fired. These drastic changes were very hard for many people to accept. To the suddenly unemployed, the end of their jobs was also the end of their lives.

In many other countries, however, the possibility of losing one's job is a fact of life that employees must always consider. Therefore, many employees constantly strive to improve themselves and think of ways to become more valuable to their employers. While this continuous striving may seem very stressful, those who have grown used to such an environment see it as a challenge to keep developing themselves as professionals.

Such thinking also encourages workers to regard themselves with more respect. They learn to view themselves as professionals with skills and abilities to offer instead of merely being ordinary members of a company. This sense gives them more psychological freedom and power.

Another difference is the way Japanese and foreigners view job mobility. Until recently, a job change was regarded negatively in Japan. Employees who left their companies often had to accept new jobs with lesser pay or fewer benefits.

In many other countries, job mobility can definitely offer a chance to change or improve one's situation. In fact, not a few people expect to have a better life by finding work at various companies and even different industries over their lifetime.

I recently accompanied the president and vice president of a U.S. high-technology company to the Kansai region. While negotiating a contract with a Japanese company, the two sides discussed time frames for the development of a new product. One of the Japanese managers mentioned that it would take 10 years to properly develop the said product — a normal expectation in Japan.

"Ten years? That's too long," said the U.S. company president. "It's very possible that neither of us will be in the company then!" The Japanese managers were very surprised at this kind of thinking. However, many foreign executives would find such expectations perfectly normal.

Which system is better? Both have their advantages and disadvantages. However, it now seems apparent that Japanese companies are slowly discarding the lifetime employment system, so employees had better learn quickly how to adapt to the situation.

Shukan ST: Sept. 24, 1999

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