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>In February, just two years shy of Mrs. Sato’s retirement, a manager had blunt news: “Your job no longer exists.” She refused to quit, and was dispatched to th
by vivekd 10y ago
>In February, just two years shy of Mrs. Sato’s retirement, a manager had blunt news: “Your job no longer exists.” She refused to quit, and was dispatched to the chase-out room.
Well of course there are going to be problems when you try and lay off someone just a few years before their retirement. I don't see any big cultural differences the article references here. This just sounds like a company trying to rip off their long term workers out of their full retirement package. I'm sure if these retirement packages referenced in the article were anywhere close to what the workers would get on full retirement, of course they would take it rather than going to boredom rooms. The author of this article seems to have simply taken Sonys word that the "retirement packages were generous."
- chaostheory 10y agoThey also fail to mention that for many ' lifetime' salary man positions, the hours are really long but the pay is low.
- smallnamespace 10y ago'I heard a great line about this once, and unfortunately I cannot remember the source: “Most people want to become wealthy so they can consume social status. Japanese employers believe this is inefficient, and simply award social status directly.” The best employees aren’t compensated with large option grants or eye popping bonuses — they’re simply anointed as “princes”, given their pick of projects to work on, receive plum assignments, and get their status acknowledged (in ways great and small) by the other employees.' From http://www.kalzumeus.com/2014/11/07/doing-business-in-japan/ http://www.kalzumeus.com/2014/11/07/doing-business-in-japan/
- Flammy 10y agoReally interesting, thanks for sharing. Does anyone know of any equivalents from other cultures of similar practices?
- smallnamespace 10y agoI mean, Chinese society also values social status quite a bit. But nowadays, being wealthy buys social status rather easily in China -- hence the almost gold rush mentality in trying to get wealthy. I guess what I'm saying is that social status and wealth are two distinguishable things, and in some societies they correlate really well, but in others they don't, and they also have different relative values. In the US, you can't really buy social status through money directly -- being an anonymous millionaire doesn't get you much more service or adulation than what you're willing to pay for directly.
- jacobush 10y agoNo, you flaunt the markers. Bespoke suit, or super-huge gold jewellery and a L-L-Lamborghini, depending on your clientele.
- smallnamespace 10y agoYeah but that's a big turnoff to a large portion of the American population. Flaunting wealth -- much more acceptable in China.
- jacobush 10y agoGot it.