MORE Japanese companies are now offering a four-day workweek for their employees so that they can improve their work-life balance.
The companies are offering them the flexibility so that they have time to handle responsibilities at home or acquire new skills outside of their workplace.
According to a Kyodo News article, the companies can also benefit from introducing a shorter workweek as it can help attract more talent or prevent employees from leaving.
However, it remains to be seen whether the relatively new workstyle will gain traction in Japan.
Panasonic Holdings Corp. became the latest company to embrace the four-day workweek when it said last month that some of its employees will have the option of taking a third day off.
The announcement came after the Japanese government encouraged firms to offer an optional four-day workweek.
The government said the extra off days can benefit workers in taking care of children or elderly family members and also do volunteer work.
Panasonic said it will introduce the scheme on a trial basis and joins other firms such as Hitachi Ltd, Mizuho Financial Group Inc. and Fast Retailing Co, the operator of the Uniqlo clothing chain, in accepting the four-day workweek.
Hiromi Murata, a senior researcher at Recruit Works Institute, said companies see the shorter workweek as a way to hold onto skilled employees as it took time to hire and train new staff.
"There are many skilled workers, including mothers with small children, who cannot work five days a week. So, firms can improve their chances of hiring someone with good qualifications if they implement the four-day workweek," she added.
A Labour Ministry survey on over 4,000 companies showed that as of last year, 8.5 per cent of companies were giving employees more days off than under a five-day workweek.
Hitachi said last month that it will allow employees the flexibility to take a four-day workweek, as long as they met the necessary work hours per month.
The company said that in a new labour system that will be introduced later, its employees will receive the same level of salary even if they take a third day off.
Senior economist at the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, Takuya Hoshino, said companies that have accepted the shorter workweek in Japan have done so in a way that won't cause a burden on their finance.
"The importance of meeting employees' hopes to work flexibly has increased as Japan's working population is expected to shrink in the future due to the country's ageing population," he said.
However, the Kyodo News article said there were still doubts about whether the new workstyle will gain popularity in Japan, which only saw most companies offering two days off per week in the late 1980s.
A survey by job information provider Mynavi Corp showed that 78.5 per cent of workers between their 20s and 50s said they did not want to take three days off if their pay was cut.
More than 60 per cent of the 800 respondents also said it was impossible to introduce a four-day week at their workplace, for reasons such as being understaffed or too much workload.