Blogs and Articles from Third Way Forum Membrs

・Intellectual property & confidential data security is clearly an issue. But the working time control is the biggest concern for many Japanese companies.

・According to Japan’s labor law, corporate employees can not work more than a certain number of hours a week. If he or she has the second job, that working hours are also counted as a part of the person’s total weekly working hours. Based on that, the overtime payment could incur. The question is who is accountable for that employee’s total working hours? The main employer or the second job employer? What if the person gets sick due to over working, who will be responsible? The main employer, the second job employer or the employee himself?

・Japanese companies are much less enthusiastic than the Japanese government about allowing employees to have the second job because there are still many legal unclarities.

・The government encourages side jobs because it is believed that side jobs will help employees develop more professionalism, actualize their dreams and earn more money.

・However, the above statement may be applied only for highly talented white collar professionals. Lower level employees who are often involved in some kind of physical labors at a lower pay range may suffer even more once they get the second job because their second jobs would also probably involve physical labors and the pay is also low. So they could be over-exhausted and abused. There must be some kind of protection for them.

・Second jobs should probably start with white collar workers only.

・Second jobs can work only if the Japanese people are also paid for the results they are delivering as in the West instead of being paid for time and loyalty as at many Japanese companies. If Japan is serious about promoting people to have second jobs and be more self-reliant for their own future, working hours has to be taken away from the definition of work. Work should be defined as the job delivered. Not as time dedicated for the company. The transition from measuring the work from working time to deliverables is a difficult task and therefore a high barrier for multiple jobs. To overcome this hurdle, a time allocation for each job might support the transition.

・Maybe as the first step, companies should encourage employees to set aside several hours a week for their private enrichment time such as family, study, self-improvement etc. Once employees get used to this rhythm of work, eventually companies can encourage employees to have time allocated for their second jobs in the same way as private enrichment time. Finally, companies can replace the time allocation with the measurement and evaluation of the delivered work without considering the time spend for providing the deliverables.

・Also, the notion of loyalty should be changed. In Japan, traditionally, loyalty means full and undivided loyalty to one master (their company). But real loyalty is about being loyal to one’s multiple responsibilities. You can still be loyal to your company while being loyal to other responsibilities such as family, friends and the second job.