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▼ More People Apply for Labor Inspector Jobs After Dentsu Incident
- Category:Event
TOKYO Japanese authorities have seen a rise in applicants for jobs as labor-standard inspectors in the wake of the death of a young female employee of the nation's top ad agency after working excessive overtime.
The karoshi (death from overwork) incident at Dentsu Inc in 2015 shocked the nation and led to the firm's summary indictment in July this year.
"I once fell sick because of long working hours," a 24-year-old male applicant said after finishing the first round of examinations for the job in June in Tokyo. "I want to become an inspector so I can protect workers."
Two years earlier, he had started work at a manufacturing company in Tokyo, but quit about 12 months later after becoming mentally unstable, even contemplating suicide, due to working an average 80 to 90 hours overtime per month. The monthly peak was 140 hours.
He then took a part-time job at a sports gym and started preparing for the labor-standard inspector exam.
Another applicant, a 22-year-old male university student, said the death of the 24-year-old Dentsu worker had shocked him, especially as she belonged to his own generation.
"I want to eliminate karoshi," he said.
According to the labor ministry, a total of 3,711 applicants sought the inspector job in fiscal 2017, which started in April, up from 3,673 in the previous fiscal year. The rise, although small, followed two consecutive yearly falls from fiscal 2014 when the number stood at 4,991.
Labor-standard inspectors are national public employees whose primary job is to keep an eye on the rights and safety of workers in the workplace.
Belonging to the 321 labor-standard inspection offices under 47 prefectural labor bureaus, they check workplace employment conditions. They are authorized to conduct on-site inspections without notice and conduct searches if necessary as well as to arrest violators of the labor law.
Labor-standard inspectors are expected to take a key role in achieving one of the policy goals the government has set to shore up the nation's economy -- raising productivity through reforms in labor and employment practices.
The job is, nevertheless, a low-key one in which inspectors usually work alone, making patient efforts until problematic practices and conditions are remedied.
Yusuke Hori, a 24-year-old inspector in his third year working for the Yokohama Minami labor office, said he got fiercely shouted at last year by a manager at a metal-processing factory that had been neglecting obligations to conduct regular tests for toxic materials as its business deteriorated.
Hori had to visit the factory in question many times and make phone calls until the company finally agreed to follow his instructions.
"People don't listen to you if you simply say 'please follow regulations'," said Yoshinori Chinda, 40, at the labor office in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. "You need tenacity. You need to listen to them and persuade them." Reports are only filed with authorities if problematic practices are deemed serious and malicious, and the situation remains unchanged despite repeated instructions, he said.
In 2015, inspectors conducted about 160,000 on-site investigations across Japan, in which violations were found in 110,000 cases, including 1,000 where reports were sent to authorities, according to the labor ministry.
The problem of long working hours has continued to exist in Japan.
To address the problem, the labor ministry set up in April 2015 a special task force in its Tokyo and Osaka bureaus to keep a close eye on firms -- particularly major ones -- that are repeatedly found to operate with illegally long working hours.
In December of the same year, Matsuri Takahashi, a 24-year-old worker at Dentsu, jumped to her death from her company dormitory, less than a year after she joined the ad agency.
The Tokyo bureau task force conducted a criminal investigation of Dentsu, concluding that she had lost the will to live due to excessively long working hours.
"We pay attention to all sorts of information," said Yukihiro Nishida, 42, a member of the Tokyo task force.
However, labor inspection work as a whole suffers a chronic shortage in the number of inspectors, with only about 3,200 covering the over 4 million business offices across the nation.
Chinda at the Tokorozawa office said the lack of manpower means an inspector usually deals with 20 to 30 cases simultaneously.
The government is considering allowing private-sector labor and social security officers to take over part of the inspection work.
But Mieko Takenobu, a professor at Wako University, doubts such a measure is the answer.
"Duties are quite different between labor and social security officers who advice employers and labor-standard inspectors who protect workers," she said. "If the government is serious about reforming workplace practices, it should increase the number of labor-standard inspectors."
© KYODO
The karoshi (death from overwork) incident at Dentsu Inc in 2015 shocked the nation and led to the firm's summary indictment in July this year.
"I once fell sick because of long working hours," a 24-year-old male applicant said after finishing the first round of examinations for the job in June in Tokyo. "I want to become an inspector so I can protect workers."
Two years earlier, he had started work at a manufacturing company in Tokyo, but quit about 12 months later after becoming mentally unstable, even contemplating suicide, due to working an average 80 to 90 hours overtime per month. The monthly peak was 140 hours.
He then took a part-time job at a sports gym and started preparing for the labor-standard inspector exam.
Another applicant, a 22-year-old male university student, said the death of the 24-year-old Dentsu worker had shocked him, especially as she belonged to his own generation.
"I want to eliminate karoshi," he said.
According to the labor ministry, a total of 3,711 applicants sought the inspector job in fiscal 2017, which started in April, up from 3,673 in the previous fiscal year. The rise, although small, followed two consecutive yearly falls from fiscal 2014 when the number stood at 4,991.
Labor-standard inspectors are national public employees whose primary job is to keep an eye on the rights and safety of workers in the workplace.
Belonging to the 321 labor-standard inspection offices under 47 prefectural labor bureaus, they check workplace employment conditions. They are authorized to conduct on-site inspections without notice and conduct searches if necessary as well as to arrest violators of the labor law.
Labor-standard inspectors are expected to take a key role in achieving one of the policy goals the government has set to shore up the nation's economy -- raising productivity through reforms in labor and employment practices.
The job is, nevertheless, a low-key one in which inspectors usually work alone, making patient efforts until problematic practices and conditions are remedied.
Yusuke Hori, a 24-year-old inspector in his third year working for the Yokohama Minami labor office, said he got fiercely shouted at last year by a manager at a metal-processing factory that had been neglecting obligations to conduct regular tests for toxic materials as its business deteriorated.
Hori had to visit the factory in question many times and make phone calls until the company finally agreed to follow his instructions.
"People don't listen to you if you simply say 'please follow regulations'," said Yoshinori Chinda, 40, at the labor office in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. "You need tenacity. You need to listen to them and persuade them." Reports are only filed with authorities if problematic practices are deemed serious and malicious, and the situation remains unchanged despite repeated instructions, he said.
In 2015, inspectors conducted about 160,000 on-site investigations across Japan, in which violations were found in 110,000 cases, including 1,000 where reports were sent to authorities, according to the labor ministry.
The problem of long working hours has continued to exist in Japan.
To address the problem, the labor ministry set up in April 2015 a special task force in its Tokyo and Osaka bureaus to keep a close eye on firms -- particularly major ones -- that are repeatedly found to operate with illegally long working hours.
In December of the same year, Matsuri Takahashi, a 24-year-old worker at Dentsu, jumped to her death from her company dormitory, less than a year after she joined the ad agency.
The Tokyo bureau task force conducted a criminal investigation of Dentsu, concluding that she had lost the will to live due to excessively long working hours.
"We pay attention to all sorts of information," said Yukihiro Nishida, 42, a member of the Tokyo task force.
However, labor inspection work as a whole suffers a chronic shortage in the number of inspectors, with only about 3,200 covering the over 4 million business offices across the nation.
Chinda at the Tokorozawa office said the lack of manpower means an inspector usually deals with 20 to 30 cases simultaneously.
The government is considering allowing private-sector labor and social security officers to take over part of the inspection work.
But Mieko Takenobu, a professor at Wako University, doubts such a measure is the answer.
"Duties are quite different between labor and social security officers who advice employers and labor-standard inspectors who protect workers," she said. "If the government is serious about reforming workplace practices, it should increase the number of labor-standard inspectors."
© KYODO
- August 29, 2017
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