HRMN 467 WEEK 6 QUESTIONS (APA)
HRMN 467 WEEK 6 QUESTIONS (APA)
Question 1:
Japan is undoubtedly one of the best destinations for ex-pats to work and live. However, like any other country, its work culture also has some flaws which can put the safety of expatriates at risk. Global HR Managers should be mindful of these factors before sending the employees on projects or engagements in Japan.
Here are the biggest threats to the health & safety of the foreign employees in Japan which HR Manager must evaluate –
Workplace Bullying & Power Harassment:
Workplace bullying and power harassment is the sad reality of Japanese work culture. It starts from schools and continues even in the corporate. Workplace bullying and power harassment can put ex-pats under a lot of stress and can adversely impact their productivity. According to an article titled – ‘Dealing with the ‘boss from hell’? You could be getting ‘power harassed’1
published in The Japan Times, “Power harassment referred to as “pawa hara”, is a Japanese terminology for discriminative, abusive, and exploitive behaviours directed at employees by their superiors. The survey conducted by the famous Japanese job-search site, En Japan reveals, 82% of employees above 35 years have faced power harassment in some or other form. (Copp, R. (2019)
The Japanese government has passed ‘The Comprehensive Labor Policy Promotion Act (CLPPA) (No. 24 of 2019 (Reiwa)’Act2 to overcome workplace bullying and power harassment in Japan. (International Organization of Employers, 2021)
To stop an expat facing workplace bullying and power harassment, global HRs must:
Organize sessions for every employee on the company policies related to workplace harassment and the repercussions of harassing anyone
Must organize behavioral, workplace & ethics training
Involve multiple leaders or channels in the grievance resolution process
Leverage workforce as well as technology to closely monitor the workplace
Long Working Hours:
The longer working hours in Japan leads to the deaths of thousands of deaths every day. The concept of ‘Karoshi’-3 which means death from overwork or any another type of work-related stress was originated from Japan. (Fogarty, P., 2016)
According to OECD Better Life Index,4 Japan is in 6th place in the list of countries where people work the most hours globally. (OECD Better Life Index, 2020)
The 2021 research by WHO titled – ‘Long working hours increasing deaths from heart disease and stroke: WHO, ILO’5 reveals that working over 55 hours a week increases the risk of stroke by 35% and ischemic heart disease by 17%. (WHO, ILO, 2021)
Some of the ways global HRs can resolve the challenge of long working hours are as follows –
Foster the culture of time management and encouraging them to complete their tasks within the working hours
Ensuring there are no distractions at the workplace which deviates employees from completing their tasks on time
Encouraging them to prioritize the most important tasks by creating a checklist
Ensuring adequate lighting, temperature control, and fresh air to boost the employee efficiency to complete the tasks on time
Workplace Safety:
Japan has been a land of earthquakes. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), Japan experience over 2000 earthquakes every year with a seismic intensity value of one or above.
Japan will continue to witness these earthquakes. Thus, it is of paramount importance for the global HRs to keep the ex-pats prepared to tackle this situation by raising awareness campaigns, safety drills and training.6 (Zhu, 2020).
Question 2: Read the following article: Is Monitoring Employee Communications Lawful? (attached pdf) Then do some research on Japan and explain whether the outcome would have been the same or different. Support your response with references.
Japan has implemented comprehensive guidelines supplementing the legislative framework. The nation imposes stringent requirements on data collected from employees. According to the document titled ‘Guidelines Targeting Economic and Industrial Sectors Pertaining to the Act on the Protection of Personal Information’, the Japanese government has outlined the guidelines on information monitoring which also supplements the Law on the Protection of Personal Information 2005. (Guidelines Targeting Economic and Industrial Sectors Pertaining to the Act on the Protection of Personal Information, 2007)7. As per the law – the employers must clearly outline the objective for monitoring and must incorporate the same in the employee privacy policy, appoint a professional to monitor the information and must state the authority, and must conduct timely audits to ensure that monitoring is conducted in line with the law.8 (Bevitt et.al, 2007)
According to the Tokyo District Court (wa) 12081 of 2000, “privacy rights are infringed if the purpose, method, and manner of monitoring when balanced against the harm incurred by the person is monitored, exceeds the range that social convention would deem to be appropriate.”
If the company rules prohibit the private use of the email, it is acceptable to monitor the employee’s emails without any prior notice, provided there is a legitimate reason to monitor by a person designated for tracking it.
According to L& E Global – a leading in cross-border labour and employment law services – in Japan, employers can restrict the employees from using the internet or social media during office hours. The primary objective of this practice is to ensure employees are not distracted and can devote complete attention to their work.
Under Japanese law, computer systems and work emails are the property of the employer and deserve a right to monitor, access, and review them provided:
employer disclose the purpose for monitoring to the employees in question well in advance along with applicable company rules
Identifies a person who is accountable for the implementation of monitoring
Outline the company policies specifying the implementation of monitoring and announce them to its employees
The monitoring undertaken by the employers is subjected to an audit to ensure it is conducted lawfully as it involves acquiring the personal information of the employees which is a very confidential affair. (Tossi, P. 2020)9 (Staff, 2006).10
For decades, Japanese companies have employed homegrown security devices & applications like SEER Insight Security to monitor the activities of their employees through webcams. Japanese companies also deploy monitoring systems to monitor the employee’s emails. (Tossi, P. 2020)
Some of the remedies or options Japanese employers have in case their employee criticize them on social media or reveals any confidential information includes –
Requesting the employee or website administrator to remove the content
Deciding whether to take disciplinary or legal action against the employee
References:
Copp, R. (2019, June 10). Dealing with the “boss from hell”? You could be getting “power harassed.” Https://Www.Japantimes.Co.Jp/Community/2019/10/06/How-Tos/Dealing-Boss-Hell-Getting-Power-Harassed/. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2019/10/06/how-tos/dealing-boss-hell-getting-power-harassed/
International Organization of Employers. (2021, March). Japan, new law to deal with harassment and abuse of power at work. Available at: https://Ioewec.Newsletter.Ioe-Emp.Org/Industrial-Relations-and-Labour-Law-March-2021/News/Article/Japan-New-Law-to-Deal-with-Harassment-and-Abuse-of-Power-at-Work
Fogarty, P. (2016, September 14). Can you work yourself to death? BBC Worklife https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20160912-is-there-such-thing-as-death-from-overwork
OECD Better Life Index. (2020). Work-Life Balance https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/work-life-balance/
Long working hours increasing deaths from heart disease and stroke: WHO, ILO. (2021, May 17). World Health Organization. Retrieved May 17, 2021, https://www.who.int/news/item/17-05-2021-long-working-hours-increasing-deaths-from-heart-disease-and-stroke-who-ilo
Zhu, B. (2020, December 2). Overview of Earthquakes in Tokyo, Japan. Story maps Arcgis. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/e1f04b212ea4460c81deb8d6ceae4b26
Guidelines Targeting Economic and Industrial Sectors Pertaining to the Act on the Protection of Personal Information. (2007, March). Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry https://www.meti.go.jp/policy/it_policy/privacy/0708english.pdf
Bevitt et al. Monitoring employees: striking a balance. (2007). Thomson Reuters Practical Law. https://content.next.westlaw.com/1-375-8744?__lrTS=20210708145212906&transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default)&firstPage=true
Tossi, P. (2020, October 15). Social Media and Data Privacy in Japan. L&E Global Knowledge Centre. https://knowledge.leglobal.org/social-media-and-data-privacy-in-japan/
Staff, C. (2006, April 6). Japanese Firms Increasingly Monitor Employees. CIO. https://www.cio.com/article/2447069/japanese-firms-increasingly-monitor-employees.html
