Bloomberg writes that Panasonic’s concern is to offer a four-day work week at its Japanese subsidiaries. The extra day off is intended to help employees maintain a work-life balance. This is another company that decided to take such a step.
“Our commitment to our employees is to provide them with the perfect work-life balance,” Panasonic CEO Yuki Kusumi said, announcing the decision to shorten the workweek. It is also expected that the company will be more appropriate in evaluating requests to perform duties from home.
Panasonic’s decision is in line with the trend observed among technology companies around the world. The four-day work week will be a recipe for increasing difficulties in finding qualified professionals and a means to attract the greatest talent.
Four-day workweek tested in companies and countries
Introducing an extra day off for employees has already been tested by companies and countries around the world. Amazon conducted a pilot program to shorten the workweek for selected employees in 2018. Unilever has also been testing such a solution in New Zealand since December 2020. The effects of the four-day workweek are also being analyzed and evaluated in countries such as Ireland and Iceland. And foreign media praised the results of the tests in the last country “wow”. Due to the short working time, employees often complained of fatigue and irritability, and their efficiency in most cases increased or at least remained unchanged.
The United Arab Emirates From 1 January they were transferred to a four-and-a-half-day working week. The weekend starts on Friday afternoon and runs through Sunday. But the solution is for administrative bodies and private companies to define their own working week.
Japanese lawmakers are considering making three days of mandatory vacation days for all businesses. However, at the moment, in Japan, companies that allow a four-day work week are still in the minority – according to local Ministry of Labor data, in 2020, there were just over 8 percent of them.
However, the number of such employers is growing rapidly. Pharmaceutical maker Shionogi wants to introduce a four-day work week starting in April. Whereas Yahoo Japan Corp. And Sompo Himawari Life Insurance gives an additional third day of leave for employees who have to take care of children or elderly relatives.
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