Obstacle to Work Style Reform 働き方改革が進まない理由

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Sachiko, a friend of mine, called me the other night and started to talk as soon as I picked up the phone. (By the way, she's fully recovered from anemia, though she's been under the weather because of the recent heat spell in Japan.) She said that she had found the real obstacle to the current "work style reform" in Japan.

Over the last six months, she has seen at least three executives apologizing for the current work related issues, but the reason is not what we think, i.e., the notorious Japanese tradition that employees are evaluated based on work hours or staying late at the office no matter what they do. They apologized for being unable to allow employees to do overtime. They said that they knew that everyone wants to work long hours, like 12 or even 24 hours a day, but the current legal environment doesn't allow it and so they are very sorry for that.

Sachiko first heard such an incredible statement six months ago from one of the top management in a town hall meeting, but didn’t care much at that time because it was just a comment of one man. But a couple of months later, she heard another executive apologizing for the same reason in another meeting and it happened again a week ago. This is not just a man's comment, but a shared view of the management.

Do they really believe that employees like to work long hours? If so, they should be fired because as long as they remain as board members, the work style reform, which is intended to improve work efficiency and ensure a decent life for everyone, can't be done and Japan's work-to-death culture never ends. But seriously, can you believe that company executives feel sorry that the current work hour cutting initiative dampens the motivation of employees eager to work overtime and frustrates them?

幸子さんから電話がかかってきた。貧血は治ったようでうれしいのだが、「何が働き方改革を妨げているか分かった」といきまいている。

何でも、ここ半年で会社の偉い人が3人も働き方改革について従業員に申し訳ないと謝っているのを見かけたとのこと。でもみんなが思っているような「長時間働かせてごめんなさい」ということではないらしい。「働き方改革のために長く働かせてあげられなくてごめんなさい」と謝っていると言う。半年前に初めて聞いた時は、一人のたわごとだろうと思ったらしいが、こう立て続けに聞かされるとこれはたわごとではなく、経営陣の共通した見方と言ってもいいだろう。

というわけで、幸子さん、経営トップってみんな好きで長時間働いているって本当に思ってんの、そんなトップはクビでしょ、と怒り心頭。繰り返しますが、日本の経営陣の人たち、職員が本当は長時間働きたいのに働き方改革に邪魔されて働けずにイライラしているって本当に思っているの？