 What's New
 Index
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 Three groups of employment system |
| Japanese labor management symbolized by lifetime employment, seniority and labor union limited to specific companies used to be the source of the strength of Japanese companies. (Actually, this system is applied only to employees of big companies.) However, people heavily discuss reexamination of this system. Some people say that Japanese labor management is formed on the conditions that companies continues to expand scale of their business under the stable economic growth. Japanese labor management will be destroyed if Japan face zero growthc..Is it really true? I don't think that Japanese labor management will be destroyed but I think it will change. We can see the change if we examine employers' personnel and labor strategy toward white-collar workers. I think employers try to limit range of application of Japanese labor management and begin to choose appropriate workers to whom they apply Japanese labor management. One of the examples is "New Japanese management system" proposed by the Japan Federation of Employers' Association ( "Japanese management of new era - directions and measures" 1995). If I describe its argument briefly, new Japanese management system is to make employment system a multiple track. There are three groups.
Newly employed workers can be divided into two groups, long-term accumulated capability group and highly-developed professional capability group. In the case of white-collar workers, for example, employers hire new workers as members of long-term accumulated capability group ('stock type'). But they begin to choose appropriate workers for 'stock type' by examining their capability formation for the administrative managerial position.("loyalty" is also included as a factor to choose workers although it is difficult to judge objectively) Employers choose some workers as candidates for the administrative managerial position ('stock type') and the other workers as candidates for the specialists ('flow type'). It is said that employees will be polarized, 'stock type' and 'flow type.' But I think it is not polarization but 1.5 polarization because they hire all new employers to raise them as 'stock type' and then divide them into two groups. The Japan Federation of Employers' Association also said that they continue to apply lifetime employment and qualification system and welfare to the best small number people leveled as 'stock type.' Companies which introduce this policy will continue to apply to the elite Japanese employment custom, capability development, wages based on job evaluation and promotion system. On the other hand, employers apply a yearly salary system based on performance to professional capability group. They apply time wages and service allowance to flexible employment group. It is possible for workers leveled as professional group to be positioned as those who will apply their professional ability to wider society. In other words, they can become target of fluidity. They can become workers who can leave companies. It means that professional workers can be divided into two groups, people who will get promoted to use their capability in companies and people who become candidates to be cut. Unless employers use new employment system well, they can invite morale hazard. While employees are forced to work hard, they began to worry about being targets to be cut. Regarding the flexible employment system, companies will reduce full-time workers and increase part-time and dispatched workers in the future. If we check the statistics, we can see the changes have already occurred. The number of employees has been decreasing continuously for 13 months. (statistics of February) When we compare between last February and this February, we can see the number of employees decreased. Although the number of full-time employees decreased by 0.95 million, the number of part-time employees increased by 0.26 million. |
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