Companies in the service industry are now forced to review 24-hour service, even on new year’s day in Japan. We wonder if this hash work situation has been generated by working style renovation policy or Human Resources creation policy by the government, or aging society, or manpower reduction.
There is a movement to partly review 24-hour service of Japanese convenience stores. The argument about 24-hour service in Japan is quite active in terms of labor’s burden.
So, conveniences stores with 24-hour service will end up gradually reducing because of deterioration of labor-management relations.
On the other hand, “Night Time Economy”, discussing a political theory that targets the economic effect of 5 trillion yen during the night time for foreign tourists, holds contradictive expectations that complicate between qualitative, quantitative service enhancement for tourists and labor’s excessive burden.
The cause that almost all the companies belonging to the service industry including the restaurant industry is forced to review the working environment against 24-hour service and even New Year’s Day service as well, comes from not just manpower reduction but labor exploitation system running rampant around the industry.
The labor problem caused by the biggest restaurant chain, “Zensho”, that let only one staff handle entire tasks in the peak time at one restaurant, is still fresh in our memory.
The service industry’s exploitation attitude towards labors was as terrible as it was whispered among people that the service industry was fully supported by wage theft for overtime by the management side as looking a part of labor’s overtime benefit as the company’s profit.
We all are in the internet society. The company’s injustice which is nearly fraud can be detected in public as soon as victims raise the issue on the internet. Company’s in-house issues about labor’s treatment never disclosed in public so far have been problematized these days and the labors’ right has been supported strongly among people.
However, If we focus only on the Asian region in terms of harsh work style, labor exploitation is one of the Asian cultures. It is really difficult to realize as high productivity as the western countries realized unless world nation’s perspective changes like Japan is the first country that challenges the working style renovation.
The only way to success Abenomics by covering the lack of manpower in the aging society is to enhance labor productivity. The Working style renovation policy and Human Resources creation policy came from the solution of productivity enhancement.
The productivity of Japanese service industry is half the productivity of American’s.
In Japan, 80 percent of employees in major chains in the service industry are temporary workers.
It is acceleratingly increasing that major fast food chains in Japan, operating 24-hour service, stop doing 24-hour service.
Staffs in Japanese convenience stores display products and clean up from midnight to early morning. When comparing and contrasting surging personnel costs during night time and 24-hour operating cost, because restaurants have obviously fewer visitors than that of convenience stores, the stream of abolishing 24-hour service will inevitably accelerate from now on.
Moreover, the transition of people’s lifestyle is one of the factors that people can’t feel benefits to 24-hour service. It is obvious that the advantage of 24-hour service will fade generally out from the management side.
Labor population keeps reducing and employment costs and personnel costs keep increasing. In Japanese society, the older people become, the more the relationship with acquaintances and friends weaken, and the more nightlife activity reduces.
Rather, the transition of lifestyle that people tend to use early morning time effectively may be the essential factor to review 24-hour service.
Then, how we can think about New Year’s Day service when people normally take days off?
There are two benefits of doing business even on New Year’s day. For example, Personal consumption tends to reduce from January to February in the whole 12 months in Japan.
The first sale in the first week of New Year is the days to be able to make a good profit. However, companies in Japan has accelerated the date to start selling in the New Year, major retailers and restaurants have no exceptionally resulted in starting the business on the first day of the New Year. Which means people in such companies need to work even on New Year’s Day without taking days off.
This phenomenon has been caused by an intensification of competition by every single company in the service industry rather than the consumer’s potential hope. It is a fact that the earlier the company starts selling, the more people it can attract and collect.
People almost buy nothing but lucky bag at retail stores on New Year’s day. So, it may be possible to sell by subscription through mail order depending on the company’s ingenuity on other days than New Year’s day.
However, if stores and shops stop doing business on New Year’s Day, there is a possibility that the profit of the remaining players is generated to other stores and shops doing business on that day. How can retailers just look on enviously at the scene that rivals occupy the market share even on New Year’s day without doing anything?
How those companies can deal with such a cat-and-mouse game for market share hides a secret of maintaining the working style renovation policy that the government established.
Anyways, it is probably the right timing for the Japanese government to discuss seriously the New Year’s holiday special tax reduction policy for service industry if allowing the leeway of the first week in the New Year to entire labors, working without taking days off.
Some companies belonging to the service industry receive benefits from foreign visitors on New Year’s day.
The Japanese government established diet members caucus for night business economy effect even in the mood that industries in Japan urge to review 24-hour service.
Foreign visitor’s consumption amount during night time is comparably big and the government has a movement that aims to raise this economic effect up to 5 trillion yen by promoting this policy.
Of course, there are countries that realize economic effect by taking advantage of 24-hour service. For example, subway in London provides 24-hour service on weekend and in some western countries, a nighttime show is popular among foreign tourists.
However, even though Japan is still bad enough to force labors to work in a non-productive way, introducing those business practices may result in exhausting labors pointlessly by making them shoulder an excessive burden.
Whether this policy, counting on economic effect on business during night time, can succeed or not is how seriously the Japanese government can work out details of IR (integrated resort) Promotion Law.
If the majority of the population is occupied by old people in a city, which is famous for touring, it is impossible to collect people who will work at night time.
There is a lot of homework prior to introducing nighttime business for foreign tourists.
In the early future, the theories of deregulation or fiscal stimulus in order to fall in step with realities of each region will come out on the discussion.
From now on, 24-hour business and New year’s day business surely reduce. If the government legislates a system to make the franchiser bear the risk of rising labor costs, convenience store’s franchise system and other agency systems that let a contractee over-labor will be on the way to improving.
The Japanese government needs to pay more attention to solving the contradiction between economic growth during night time and working style renovation.