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Workers in Japan can't quit their jobs. They hire resignation experts to help
- ggm 2y agoWhat I read elsewhere says this is vastly over-stated, employment law in Japan enshrines the right to quit with notice, and the culture of unwillingness to perform the act is probably dying out. "can't" meaning "are often unwilling to, because of perceived social norms" It's probably a corollary of "lost in translation" that no claim about Japanese culture stands the test of asking 'but is this really true, normal, widespread'. Having said that, I do think the "judge social status relativity from the depth of the bow, modulated through age and context of bowing being needed" is possibly true. And there is a pan-asian reluctance to be made to say "NO" which lingers depending on the situation. Confucianistic-like unwillingness to contradict or confront the senior is also widespread, which might play to this: your manager will often be older than you.
- infotainment 2y agoThe key part that westerners miss about this is that in Japan, even after giving notice, you are legally obligated to show up to work and do your job "properly", and your employer can sue you even after you quit for any perceived impropriety. So, even though the right to quit with 2 weeks notice is enshrined in the law, if your company says "no we don't want you to quit", they will make it their goal to make your final 2 weeks a living hell. You can't stop doing what they say though, because that would open you up to legal liability for not doing your job properly.