Japan and Employee Well-Being: Updated Feb. 2, 2024.

 

[Graphic News] Japan ranks last globally in employee well-being

Article Source: http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20231121000806

Article:

Japan came in last in a global ranking of employee well-being, measured by assessing workers’ physical, mental, social and spiritual health, the results of a survey conducted by the McKinsey Health Institute showed.

Employee well-being in Japan was at 25 percent in the poll of more than 30,000 workers across 30 countries, according to the study. Turkey ranked the highest at 78 percent, followed by India and China. South Korean employee well-being came in below the average at 48 percent to rank 23rd. The global average was 57 percent.

Although Japanese businesses have built a reputation for offering lifetime employment and job security, it also means employees can find it hard to change jobs if they aren’t happy. Japan consistently has had low ratings in workplace satisfaction and levels of stress in international surveys and the results reflect it, according to Rochelle Kopp, who advises companies on cross-cultural communications and business practices.

According to the survey, employees who had positive work experiences reported better holistic health, are more innovative at work and show higher job performance. (Bloomberg)

Ideas:

Japan companies, for a very long time, have been mired in traditional workplace practices that go against what is happening globally. But that has been Japan for a while as traditional Japanese companies don't change that much.

But as younger workers are entering the workforce in Japan, they want better work/life options and not want to work the long hours that their parents did.

Younger workers are also shunning what be considered less prestigious jobs such as factories, convenience stores, or anything that requires long work hours that doesn't fit their lifestyle.

The same can be seen in South Korea, where young university graduates only want to work for large companies that give better wages and better benefits.

Many small and medium sized companies in South Korea are having challenges hiring workers because young university graduates just don't want to work for them.

But some, maybe many South Korean companies, at least the large companies, see that the young workers want better work/life situations including less overtime work, less dinner meetings, and less weekend work.

Some Japanese companies too, see that in order to get the best talent needed for their companies they need to offer better work/life balances, better benefits, and less hours to attract the best possible talent for their companies.

The challenge is what about those who are unhappy with their present jobs? In Japan its not easy to change jobs. The Japanese government has been trying to make the Japanese workforce more flexible, able to change jobs more easily like in the US.

Will the situation change anytime soon in Japan? Probably not but as more and more younger graduates enter the workforce, they will vote by choosing companies that cater to what they need and other companies will notice and they too, to keep up, will begin to offer better hours, better work/life balance situations, including less overtime and or less weekend work.

We live in a global world and young people everywhere see what's going on in other countries, and young Japanese workers will not want to be left behind from the rest of the world.

Have a nice day and be safe!