What are the major Work Rules in Japan?

Technics in Management Transfer

There are various work rules exist in the workplace but some of them are major and essential ones to lay the foundation of the firm. These work rules are moderated by the HR team to keep the premises bind.

The major work rules or Rules of employment in Japan are discussed briefly here.

Work Rules in Japan

1. Working Hours

One of the major work rules is the setting of working hours for the employees. The office premises can be different and can be varied depending on the employees' work field. The break duration in his working premises and number of breaks are also settled in this phase. However, all of these measures have to be taken under consideration when it comes to major work rules.

2. Salary Settlement

Wages are the primary concern of the employees and it has to be set for the particular profile which also depends on employees' expertise. However, there are two methods of getting paid in Japan. Some firms allowed seniority-based pay system and some allow skill-based pay system.

Also in some cases after the mergers and acquisitions, the newly employed managers revise the wages distribution by violating the work rules which results in the salary reduction in Japan.

3. Disciplinary Regulations

These rules possess the types of acceptable attire for the premises, behaviors and other disciplinary regulations. In Japan, when an employee leaves before the boss it treated in a bad manner for the employee.

4. Permissible Leaves

The permissible leaves in the account of an employee have also to be discussed and can be considered as major work rules. The penalty would be there in the means of salary deduction for the violation. The work rules in Japan possesses three kinds of leaves for every employee

(i) Sick leave, 

(ii) Annual leave and 

(iii) Maternity leave.

5. Termination Rules

Firing employees/Terminating staff in Japan occurs mainly due to three reasons.

(i) Resignation: Mutual agreement of the employer and the employee.

(ii) Violation Dismissal: When an employee leaked the useful information or found to be accused of any theft.

(iii) As per the Japan Civil Code and Labor Law: Any employer can fire any employee freely if he lacks the ability to work or violates the firm's rules or found to be accused of any theft.

What does HR in Japan refer to?

HR in Japan stands for Human Resources in Japan. The human resources contain the criteria regarding the employment of the employee and other factors associated with an employee. More of that, it would be better to say it handles the tenure of the worker or employee in a firm. HR handles various fields from recruitment to termination of the employee.

The HR team has to take care of various fields which are enlisted below;

 1. Nature of Recruitment

The major task HR team contains is the recruitment of employees. The recruitment can be either contract based or lifetime employment. The contract-based hiring mainly occurs for three years of tenure and can be extended to the next three hours by the employer. The lifetime employment refers that the employer has to work until he doesn’t violate ROE of the firm or resign or reaches to the age of retirement.

2. Payment System

There are two wage-based system exists in Japan. These are; (i) Skill based system, and (ii) Seniority based system.

Skill based system allows the employees to get paid as per their productivity and skills. Very few firms in Japan work on this base pay system.

While the wages determination gets finalized as per the seniority level of the employee in the seniority-based system. As the working tenure increases the wages will also increase.

3. Termination or firing employees in Japan

The laws and conduct in Japan are more employees friendly as compared to the employer or the firm. Hence, termination of an employee occurs only in three possible ways, if; (i) The employee lacks the skill to work, doesn’t obey the rules of the firm or the employer declared the layoffs and couldn’t afford to pay even after limiting the resources. (ii) The employee was found to be accused of a criminal offense or leaking firm’s confidential information. (iii) The employee resigns on his will in exchange for compensation in the form of three months salary.

4. Compensating Japanese employees

The idea of compensating Japanese employees comes forward after the dismissal or terminating staff in Japan. We have already discussed the ways by which an employee can be dismissed. However, the compensation will be taken into account irrespective of the cause of dismissal. The employer has to offer a notice period prior to three months and an average of six months or equivalent pay of it. This happens when the employee resigns after the mutual agreement between him and employer.

In other cases, like; (i) when employee bends the rules or lacks the ability to work, the employer declares the layoffs, and (ii) any employee violated the terms of employment or found accused of any criminal offense. The compensation will be either a notice of 30 days or equivalent pay for it.

The compensation amount gets finalized on the basis of livelihood and family members of the employer.

5. Management of ROE

The managing of ROE in Japan is also considered to be a role of Human resources. The team has to take care of wages distribution regarding over time and night-shifts, data related to leaves and other factors including pensions and retirement schemes.

6. Analyzing employee participation

The growth of a firm depends on the equal participation of employees and employer. The HR team also make sure to notice and heard the opinions of the employee if any issue comes in play. Later, the decision depends on a board member who deals with it after considering the viewpoint of every participant.