A Boring Dystopia

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Workers in Japan can’t quit their jobs. They hire resignation experts to help (www.cnn.com)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Asking to leave work on time or taking some time off can be tricky enough. Even trickier is tendering a resignation, which can be seen as the ultimate form of disrespect in the world’s fourth-biggest economy, where workers traditionally stick with one employer for decades, if not for a lifetime.

In the most extreme cases, grumpy bosses rip up resignation letters and harass employees to force them to stay.

Yuki Watanabe was unhappy at her previous job, saying her former supervisor often ignored her, making her feel bad. But she didn’t dare resign.

“I didn’t want my ex-employer to deny my resignation and keep me working for longer,” she told CNN during a recent interview.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I think we have to have some context here.

Japan has I believe something called "tenured work position".

It is literally a guaranteed job for life. The company can't fire you and usually you will get paid till your retirement whether you work the job decently in your life.

I believe the term is Seisha-In ( https://japan-dev.com/blog/seishain )

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

正社員 sei shain - true company employee. The retirement thing kinda depends on a lot of things, but it is really hard to get fired.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 months ago (2 children)

My understanding is that the employer side of this contract quit getting honored religiously during the lost decade and employment in Japan is increasingly contingent and precarious.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Citation? The legal protections are all still very much there.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I mean then it makes no sense, as a two way street I can see the appeal (kinda).

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The way this has worked is that the Japanese economy has bifurcated with the graduation-to-retirement employment being available to a ever smaller group of white collar workers called salary-men. To become a salary-man you have to go to college and get hired the year you graduate through campus recruiting. If you miss your "window" then you can't become a salary-man and will be stuck in contingent work for the rest of your life.

The people quitting in this case are not salary-men (a salary-man quitting would be pretty unthinkable) but their bosses probably are, hence the cultural divide.

Sometimes salary-men do lose their jobs due to bankruptcy of the organization for instance. Typically the solution if that happens is to jump in front of a train.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

The social pressure and societal loss of face is very bad in Japan. There has to be a better way.