Japanese casual wear chain store Uniqlo’s parent company Fast Retailing announced on Aug. 20 that from October, employees will be allowed to extend their daily working hours and have three holidays per week as long as the total working hours remains unchanged. Since total working hours remain the same, so do wages.
Current Japanese law stipulates that the maximum working hours per week is 40 and that, in principle, daily working hours should not exceed eight. Some industries with special needs can adjust daily working hours as long as total weekly working hours remain the same.
Among the new staff that Uniqlo hired in Japan in 2012, 30 percent resigned within three years. Uniqlo has therefore decide to allow a flexible work week with three weekly holidays in order to reduce turnover.
Photo: Wu Chun-feng, Taipei Times
照片:自由時報記者吳俊鋒攝
“Marvelous! Even the service industries can give employees three weekly holidays. That will surely make the bosses in our nation think seriously about the positive significance of implementing three holidays per week,” exclaimed Wu Hsing-fang, manager of the Eurasian Publishing Group. “One more holiday will not make people lazy or ineffective, because no one wants to encumber others. People will want to perform their duties even better to be able to take their holidays with more dignity. Working for four days is better than working for five days, and it is a very virtuous circle.”
The Eurasian Publishing Group is a Taiwanese pioneer when it comes to implementing three weekly holidays. They have improved their performance for the past three years and have been the champion of the publishing industry. In 2013, six of the 10 best-selling books were their, and last year they had four best sellers. “Three weekly holidays will give people more steam to both work and live better, a win-win solution for industries and employees alike,” said Wu.
(Liberty Times, translated by Ethan Zhan)
日本成衣連鎖店優衣庫(UNIQLO)的母公司迅銷公司八月二十日宣布,十月起員工可選擇在總工時不變的情況下,延長每日上班時數,彈性週休三日。由於總工時不變,薪資不會受到影響。
日本現行法定勞動時間上限為每週四十小時,每天以不超過八小時為原則,部分職業若有需要,可在每週工作總時數不變的情況下實施彈性工時。
日本優衣庫在二○一二年聘用的新進員工中,有三成在三年內辭職,因此決定實施彈性週休三日制以降低離職率。
「太好了,服務業也能週休三日,一定能讓國內企業老闆認真去思考週休三日的正面意義。」圓神出版社經理吳幸芳興奮指出:「多放一天假,其實沒有人會變得懶惰或效率不彰,因為大家都不想拖累他人。大家想要休假休得更有尊嚴,就會把工作做得更到位。上四天班比上五天班更到位,是一種非常良性的循環。」
圓神出版社是台灣率先實施週休三日的企業,三年來,業績蒸蒸日上,始終居出版業冠軍;年度十大暢銷書,圓神前年就占了六本,去年亦有四本。「週休三天,會讓同仁更有動力來工作及生活,對企業和員工堪稱雙贏。」吳幸芳說。
(自由時報報導)
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