More Japanese Firms Adopt 4-Day Workweek to Improve Work–Life Balance

Office workers are reflected in a glass railing as they cross a street during lunch hour in Tokyo on June 1, 2015. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

More Japanese firms have shortened the working week to four days, instead of the typical five days, following the government’s annual economic policy guidelines that aim to improve the nation’s work–life balance.

Panasonic Holdings Corporation ADR was the latest company to adopt the four-day workweek, joining global bank Mizuho and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing Co., local media Kyodo News reported May 3.

Panasonic CEO Yuki Kusumi said the company strives to achieve an optimum work–life balance for its diverse workforce. Employees will be able to work side jobs on their days off under the new working rules.

Japan is known for its rigid work structure, where long hours at the office symbolize a strong work ethic. However, in recent years, cases of so-called “overwork,” in which employees have committed suicide or suffered health issues, have forced the country to reckon with its work culture.

The government first introduced an optional four-day workweek in its 2021 economic policy guidelines, encouraging firms to allow employees to work four days a week to improve work–life balance, particularly for those with family care duties.

Japanese multinational conglomerate Hitachi Ltd. is one of the organizations that has adopted the optional four-day workweek, allowing its employees to arrange their own work schedule as long as they meet the required monthly working hours.

Pharmaceutical firm Shionogi & Company Ltd. has also allowed its workers to take an extra day off to acquire new skills or build networks through education or a second job. Workers on a four-day workweek will receive 80 percent of their regular salaries.

“Companies see the four-day workweek as a way to hold onto skilled employees as it takes time to hire someone new and raise them to the same level,” Hiromi Murata, a senior researcher at Japan-based Recruit Works Institute, told Kyodo News.

Japan’s third-largest lender Mizuho Financial Group Inc. offered some 45,000 staff members three- or four-day options, while Microsoft Corp. said in 2021 that its productivity increased 40 percent after giving its 2,300 Japan-based employees Fridays off.

But there are concerns over how the four-day workweek will work in Japan. Hisashi Yamada of the Japan Research Institute told Kyodo News that the four-day workweek could complicate personnel management and evaluation.

“Let’s say, if employees take second jobs, it would be difficult for managers to know how long they work in total and to evaluate equally those who take two days off a week and those who take three. From the employees’ standpoint, they would not want to see their income from their main jobs decrease,” Yamada said.

Reuters contributed to this report.