Yahoo Japan eyes 4-day workweek for all its employees

[bill]

http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Yahoo-Japan-eyes-4-day-workweek-for-all-its-employees [asia.nikkei.com]

Yahoo Japan eyes 4-day workweek for all its employees

Yahoo Japan Corp. is considering introducing a four-day workweek for all its 5,800 employees, sources familiar with the matter said Saturday.

The subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp. plans to implement the system in stages over several years, but wages under the new system have not been determined, they said.

[engine]

This looks an interesting move. I'm sure it's mainly to do with the financial benefit to the business. It's long been said that the trend for working less is coming to society, with developed countries being the first to move in that direction.

Can it work?

[bill]

Despite the incredible average connectivity rates in Japan it's very surprising that they've been so resistant to this sort of working arrangement. In larger companies they still can't see the benefit of letting employees work outside the office, so this is a pretty big development, especially if it catches on elsewhere.

[engine]

It has to start somewhere.

There are already great moves in my region for people to have much greater flexibility in their hours of work, and, where appropriate, to work from home. If you've got young kids that last thing you want to do is to take them at a very early hour to school and then battle through traffic to get to work for 9am, and then to do the same in reverse at 5pm.
The Net is a game changer and has brought us all the opportunity to work away from the traditional desk. Of course, it's not for all, and some people don't have the discipline to work from home. Also, working from home can be quite lonely and has its own challenges. Interacting with other human beings can be missed greatly by some.

The challenge for Japan is that changing the culture of a work week will be much tougher.

Perception: Is it a four-day working week, or a three-day weekend!