Blogs and Articles from Third Way Forum Membrs
Nov 24, 2022
Discussion#4 How should business leaders deal with life-floating employees who have no aspiration and no goals?
Blogs from The Third Way Working Group
- Floating employees need some kind of re-set in order to start fresh. Company leaders can provide this reset through interventions such as appointing a new manager, assigning a new role, providing a coach or mentor etc.
- Floaters usually become floaters due to the floating environment which they are in. In such an environment, employees have no clear roles & responsibilities, no clear objectives and no meaningful benefits or punishment for their performance. Sometimes even managers and executives could be floating in Japanese companies as they are not held as accountable for the results as their counterparts in the West.
- The major difference between floaters and swimmers is whether or not the person has a destination. So if everybody can have a career destination, the number of floaters in the company should dramatically decrease.
- However, it is very difficult in Japan not to float. Floating is so natural and easy. It almost feels like it’s the only way. In Japanese companies, it is like being in a very rapid current of a narrow river and there is a fence on both sides of the river banks. So there is no way for you to swim in any other direction. You can only float along the river.
- Many Japanese people feel powerless when it comes to their own career. One of the most frequently mentioned frustrations from young Japanese high-performers is that they can not choose their career path within the company and have no idea in which department they will end up next. Also, they complain that there is so little difference in compensation if you perform well or not so well at all. This sense of having no control over one’s own career and finance gives them despair and then apathy that leads to their floating.
- Foreigners and globally experienced Japanese always wonder by saying “why don’t you talk to HR or your boss about your career aspirations?” or “why don’t you quit and join a global company?”. But the Japanese who joined the company as new grads and developed as generalists don’t find it strange to have no control over their career. They think that is the way because that is the only way they know.
- Clearly, the traditional Japanese HR system has been one of the major issues and the Japanese leaders who can not change this system are also a big problem. They can not change this system because they were developed by this system and they are in a way protected by this system. So, to change this system, a great number of senior Japanese leaders will be impacted. That’s why it’s so hard.
- What kind of practical interventions can we implement then in order to save many Japanese from their floating? We believe that as the first step the Japanese companies should have a way more transparent internal job posting practices. All the internally available jobs should be posted and it should be guaranteed that anybody can apply for open positions based on their career aspirations and skillset. Their managers should not be able to stop them from applying. Just submitting a career aspiration sheet to HR, knowing that it is just a ritual as the company can not grant the desired jobs most of the time, is a terrible practice. It demotivates people further. Rather, let people proactively seek what’s available and apply for it. In this way, at least, the employees can see some hope, some destinations, or some cracks in the fence, in which direction they can swim rather than just floating down the river.
- Floaters usually become floaters due to the floating environment which they are in. In such an environment, employees have no clear roles & responsibilities, no clear objectives and no meaningful benefits or punishment for their performance. Sometimes even managers and executives could be floating in Japanese companies as they are not held as accountable for the results as their counterparts in the West.
- The major difference between floaters and swimmers is whether or not the person has a destination. So if everybody can have a career destination, the number of floaters in the company should dramatically decrease.
- However, it is very difficult in Japan not to float. Floating is so natural and easy. It almost feels like it’s the only way. In Japanese companies, it is like being in a very rapid current of a narrow river and there is a fence on both sides of the river banks. So there is no way for you to swim in any other direction. You can only float along the river.
- Many Japanese people feel powerless when it comes to their own career. One of the most frequently mentioned frustrations from young Japanese high-performers is that they can not choose their career path within the company and have no idea in which department they will end up next. Also, they complain that there is so little difference in compensation if you perform well or not so well at all. This sense of having no control over one’s own career and finance gives them despair and then apathy that leads to their floating.
- Foreigners and globally experienced Japanese always wonder by saying “why don’t you talk to HR or your boss about your career aspirations?” or “why don’t you quit and join a global company?”. But the Japanese who joined the company as new grads and developed as generalists don’t find it strange to have no control over their career. They think that is the way because that is the only way they know.
- Clearly, the traditional Japanese HR system has been one of the major issues and the Japanese leaders who can not change this system are also a big problem. They can not change this system because they were developed by this system and they are in a way protected by this system. So, to change this system, a great number of senior Japanese leaders will be impacted. That’s why it’s so hard.
- What kind of practical interventions can we implement then in order to save many Japanese from their floating? We believe that as the first step the Japanese companies should have a way more transparent internal job posting practices. All the internally available jobs should be posted and it should be guaranteed that anybody can apply for open positions based on their career aspirations and skillset. Their managers should not be able to stop them from applying. Just submitting a career aspiration sheet to HR, knowing that it is just a ritual as the company can not grant the desired jobs most of the time, is a terrible practice. It demotivates people further. Rather, let people proactively seek what’s available and apply for it. In this way, at least, the employees can see some hope, some destinations, or some cracks in the fence, in which direction they can swim rather than just floating down the river.
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