Japan also wants to introduce the 4-day work week to reduce stress

The Japanese government is considering introducing the short workweek to give citizens more free time and increase births

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Japan, a country where people die from too much work, said it was ready to experience the short working week. And for two good reasons: to reduce stress and fight the country's birth crisis.

A few days ago the Japanese government announced a new plan in which companies are encouraged to let their employees choose whether to work four or five days a week. A measure that will help Japanese citizens to update their professional skills, but above all to have more free time to devote to family and other activities such as volunteering.

"It is important to promote more diverse work styles to balance work and private life, including child rearing, nursing and disease control," said Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato.

The benefits of the short workweek

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, many Japanese companies have introduced smart working and made some changes to working hours. In addition, they were more likely to give employees more days off. But for a country where every year thousands of Japanese die (phenomenon known as "karoshi") due to suicides or diseases such as heart attack and stroke, derived from inhuman work rhythms, it would be a very important step. Working one day less could serve above all to protect the psychophysical well-being of the population and which could also help reduce the pollution rate in the country, as confirmed by various scientific studies on the impact of the short working week.

According to a survey by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Japanese employees enjoy fewer vacation days during the year than workers in other countries such as Canada, Australia, the United States and Canada. But now the government will propose a system in which the employee will decide the plan that best suits his needs. More and more countries have decided to go in this direction, including Spain which is experimenting with the 4-day work week with the aim of improving the mental health of workers and reducing the risk of Burnout, whose cases have increased. since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic. And it could soon become a reality in the UK as well.

Fonte: The Asashi Simbun / The Mainichi