Japan's Panasonic offers staff four day work week

Mon, 17 Jan 2022

Japan's Panasonic offers staff four day work week

Robert Besser
13 Jan 2022, 22:50 GMT+10

Panasonic said it will offer its Japanese workers a four-day work week, in a bid to improve productivity and attract better workers
The move comes after the Japanese government made recommendations to private employers in 2021, which included a shorter working week
Despite having a reputation in the U.S. as a workaholic culture, Japanese workers actually work fewer hours than American workers

TOKYO, Japan: Panasonic said it will offer its Japanese workers a four-day work week, in a bid to improve productivity and attract better workers.

The move comes after the Japanese government made recommendations to private employers in 2021, which included a shorter working week.

Companies that have sought to put in place a shorter work week have found no loss of productivity, in general, said officials.

Despite having a reputation in the U.S. as a workaholic culture, Japanese workers actually work fewer hours than American workers, according to the most recent data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Among the OECD, the U.S. ranked 11th for most hours worked by the average worker, while Japan ranked 26th.

Americans have been promised a shorter work week for generations, and economic experts in the 1960s predicted that robots would perform the majority of work and Americans would be working only 16 hours per week.

Watch latest videos

News RELEASES

Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Florida Statesman.

More Information

24 ℉

Light Snow in Montgomery

International

Section

FedEx asks US to let it install laser defenses to planes

MEMPHIS, Tennessee: FedEx is seeking permission to arm its cargo planes with defensive systems to thwart attacks by heat-seeking missiles. ...

Australians rejoice in potential death of Djokovic's sporting career

Not since the 1936 Olympics in Berlin has a government tried to prevent an athlete from competing in a sporting ...

French government's Covid policies cause teachers to strike

PARIS, France: French teachers have begun a nationwide strike organized by teachers unions to protest against class disruptions caused by ...

Great excitement in Tokyo over newborn twin pandas

TOKYO, Japan: Twin panda cubs have made their first public appearance before devoted fans at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. However, ...

After 5,000 cranes die from bird flu, Israel acts to stop virus

TEL AVIV, Israel: An avian influenza upsurge has claimed the lives of over 5,000 cranes in Israel, resulting in the ...

Poland joins other EU countries with 100,000 Covid-related deaths

WARSAW, Poland: Poland has emerged as the most recent country in Europe to have reported 100,000 fatalities linked to COVID-19, ...

Business

Section

Nikkei 225 advances more than two hundred points, Hang Seng slips

SYDNEY, NSW, Australia - Stocks in Asia were mostly higher Monday, although the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lagged.The U.S. ...

Seeking money for programming, Netflix raises monthly price to $15.49

LOS ANGELES, California: Netflix has raised its monthly subscription price from $13.99 to $15.49 per month in the United States. ...

British energy company scolded by customers after sending warm socks

LONDON, England: The large British energy firm E.ON Next has delivered an apology after sending warm socks to 30,000 customers ...

French government's Covid policies cause teachers to strike

PARIS, France: French teachers have begun a nationwide strike organized by teachers unions to protest against class disruptions caused by ...

Delta Airlines reports $408 million quarterly loss due to Covid

ATLANTA, Georgia: With a business slowdown caused by a COVID-19 surge in December, Delta Air Lines lost $408 million in ...

Outpacing industry, TSMC set for huge chip manufacturing expansion

TAIPEI, Taiwan: Chip manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), a supplier of Apple, Qualcomm and other major tech companies, has ...

Movie Review

Diamonds of the Night (Dmanty noci)