"Black" Companies; Japan's Demonic Businesses

The 2003 Franco-Japanese film, "Stupeur et Tremblements" (In English, "Fear and Trembling"), directed by Alain Corneau and starring Sylvie Testud is based on 1999 Belgian Francophonic novel by Amélie Nothomb which depicts the life of a young Belgian woman who has an unarguably negative experience working in Japan for a Japanese company. While many of the travails experienced by the main character might be (possibly correctly) ascribed to cultural difference, they are quite similar to experiences many Japanese employees who work in "Black Companies" endure on a regular basis.

While the terminology is fairly new, "burakku kigyo" or "black companies," are not. While a casual definition for a "black company" might be "a company that employees don't want to work for," the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare does have a list of characteristics. So to channel, Jeff Foxworthy, "You may be a black company if:"

• Employees work long hours (including unpaid overtime), and may have extreme output quotas
• Labor laws are regarded as a nuisance to be worked around, rather than complied with. Some violations might include the aforementioned unpaid overtime, called "service overtime" in Japanese, and rampant power harassment, called "powa hara" in Japanese.
• Singling out of particular employees for the two conditions highlighted above.

The converse of a "black company" is a "white company" which complies with labor laws and has relatively good working conditions and wages.

Black companies follow many of the same practices. Work weeks in excess of 40 hours are common (some European readers must be shocked to hear that a 40 hour work week is standard.) Employees don't use their annual paid leave. (See "Bakansu: Unused Japanese Paid Vacation"), wages are too low, overtime is unpaid, harassment of all kinds is rampant, and production quotas are unreasonably high and deadlines are unreasonably short. As a result, the company will probably have high turnover.

The website Diamond Online recently created a ranking of businesses it considers "black companies." And the list contains some high profile names. Top is JR East, the Japan Rail company which covers geographically everything from Central Japan east to Hokkaido. JR East is a sister company of JR Central. (See "JR Central Hits Right in the Feels") In the survey Diamond Online conducted, JR East had the most respondents, totally 84. Some quotes included:

• "Working on holidays has become the norm everywhere because there is a shortage of workers. In some workplaces, holidays have been reduced by more than 20 days per year. Because there is always a shortage (of personnel), some people work on holidays two or three days a month."
• "Even if there is a childcare and nursing care system, it's usually not possible to use it. People around you in the workplace don't appreciate childcare and nursing care, and often you aren't able to return home in time to pick up your children or older relatives."
• "I've been assigned multiple tasks, but even though I'm doing more, my salary has decrease."
• "Very few employees show initiative in the field. Even if they do try to innovate, management suppresses it. Regardless of the type of risk, there is an extreme aversion to taking even minimal risk. Therefore, even if you have an idea for a new business or structural reform, there's no way to make it happen."
• "Employee evaluations are determined by how well they are liked by their superiors when they participate in drinking parties, etc." (See "Should Old Bonenkai Be Forgot?")
• "The current situation is that we can no longer survive on railway revenue alone, so we must generate alternate income streams, but when I look at what is being proposed, I don't feel optimistic."

Another visitor to the ranks of "black companies," is insurance giant Nippon Life with 79 responses. Some of the comments there include:

• "There's a minimum sales quota, and if you can't meet it, you'll be fired. It's not a stable work environment. I've seen people severely damage their health using our sales methods."
• "Working overtime and on holidays is the norm, making it impossible to have a personal life outside of work."

Retailer AEON came in third with 54 posts. Comments from this major company were equally bleak.

• "Particularly in the food section, people are almost forced to work unpaid overtime, and there are many people suffering physically and mentally as a result."
• "The higher up you are, the more likely you are to engage in power harassment. It's a company that doesn't take good care of people."

Some might say that it's generational. That millennials and Gen Z in Japan just don't want to work, but this is not supported by much evidence. It's more the work with no opportunity for advancement that Japanese workers are shying away from. Consulting is becoming increasingly popular, which requires a great amount of work on a concentrated project, but also provides many chances for advancement when work is done well.

While "Black Companies" may be a Japanese term, there is evidence that many of these problems are common throughout the world. Most Japanese corporations have strong ethical roots. (See Sanpo Yoshi - Japan's Historical ESG) Many might argue that economic forces make it harder for firms to behave virtuously. But abusing employees just to make sales numbers is not a long term recipe for success.