日本政府计划推广每周4天工作制 有人欢喜有人忧 Japanese government backs 4-day workweek, but experts split

日本政府计划推广每周4天工作制，让员工自行选择每周休息三天还是两天，方便员工照顾家庭，改善工作和生活之间的平衡。对此专家们纷纷表达了自己的担忧。

Japan's government plans to encourage firms to let their employees choose to work four days a week instead of five, aiming to improve the balance between work and life for people who have family care responsibilities or need more time off to acquire new skills.

日本政府计划鼓励企业让员工选择每周工作四天，目的是为那些有家庭护理责任或需要更多业余时间来学习新技能的人改善工作和生活之间的平衡。

The government included the promotion of an optional four-day workweek in its annual economic policy guideline finalized Friday by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's cabinet.

日本政府在上周五（6月18日）由首相菅义伟的内阁敲定的年度经济政策指导方针中将推广选择性的每周四天工作制包括在内。

Experts are divided, however, on whether the new initiative, intended to address challenges posed by the country's labor shortage, will be widely accepted, with labor and management both voicing concerns about possible unwanted outcomes.

虽然这项新举措意在解决日本面临的劳动力短缺挑战，但是劳资双方均对该举措可能导致的后果表示担忧，因此，专家对该举措能否被广泛接受也存在分歧。

For employers, while people working four days a week may become more motivated, this may not improve their productivity enough to compensate for the lost workday. Employees, meanwhile, fear pay cuts.

对于雇主来说，虽然每周工作四天会让员工更有动力，但由此提高的生产力可能不足以弥补失去的工作日。与此同时，员工也担心降薪。

Among expected advantages are helping people with family-care responsibilities avoid the need to quit their jobs, promotion of recurrent education, and helping more people take on side jobs, the government said.

日本政府指出，预期好处包括让有家庭护理责任的人可以免于辞职，促进员工再教育，也可以帮助更多的人从事兼职。

The coronavirus pandemic has helped the idea of a four-day workweek gain traction as the health crisis causes people to spend more time at home.

疫情危机导致人们有更多的时间待在家里，因此每周四天工作制的想法也越来越受欢迎。

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party said working fewer days is expected to promote "diversified working styles" and prompt workers with new skills to move to growing industries such as IT.

日本执政的自民党表示，减少工作天数有望促进“多样化的工作方式”，并促使有新技能的员工转入信息技术等增长行业。

At a key economic and fiscal policy panel meeting in mid-April where the promotion of a four-day workweek was discussed, Suga said his government would consider expanding support for people willing to enhance their careers through recurrent education without leaving their jobs.

菅义伟在四月中旬的经济和财政政策委员会重要会议上讨论推进每周四天工作制时指出，政府将考虑加大对员工接受在职教育的支持。

Among major economies, Australian, Canadian, Italian and US employees work longer hours than Japanese, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's survey. But Japan's labor market remains rigid, with productivity showing limited improvement as people take fewer holidays compared to other developed countries and labor mobility stays low.

根据经济合作与发展组织的调查，在主要经济体中，澳大利亚、加拿大、意大利和美国雇员的工作时间都比日本的长。但日本的劳动力市场仍然僵化，生产效率提升有限，因为与其他发达国家相比，日本人的假期更少，劳动力的流动性保持在较低水平。

Internet and e-commerce service giant Yahoo Japan Corp started allowing its employees who need more time off for caregiving to take three days off a week in April 2017.

互联网和电子商务服务巨头雅虎日本公司于2017年4月开始允许需要更多时间来照顾家人的员工每周休息三天。

"It has been favorably received in general, with some employees saying that it became easier to match their days off with their children's activities," a Yahoo Japan spokesman said.

雅虎日本的一位发言人称：“此举在总体上得到了好评，一些员工表示，增加的休息日更便于他们安排亲子活动。”

Meanwhile, Hisashi Yamada, vice chairman of think tank Japan Research Institute, said he does not expect a four-day workweek to rapidly spread in Japan even with the government pushing it because it would complicate personnel management and evaluation.

与此同时，智囊机构日本总合研究所的副所长山田久表示，即使有政府的助推，他认为每周四天工作制也不会在日本迅速普及，因为这种工作制会让人事管理和绩效考核变得更复杂。

"Let's say, if employees take second jobs, it would be difficult for managers to know how long they work in total and to evaluate equally those who take two days off a week and those who take three. From the employees' standpoint, they would not want to see their income from their main jobs decrease," said Yamada, who is well versed in labor economics issues.

深谙劳动经济学问题的山田指出：“打个比方，如果员工打了第二份工，主管将难以了解他们的工作总时长，也无法给一周休两天和一周休三天的员工打一样的绩效分。从员工的立场来看，他们也不乐意看到自己的主要工作收入减少。”

At Yahoo Japan and many other firms offering an option of fewer workdays, extra holidays are unpaid. The Yahoo Japan spokesman said just about 100 of some 7,000 employees at the company had applied for the four-day workweek as of April.

在雅虎日本和许多其他可以选择更少工作日的公司，额外的假期是无薪的。雅虎日本的发言人称，截至四月份，该公司的7000名员工中只有约100人申请了每周四天的工作制。

Japan Research's Yamada said he believes some small- and medium-sized businesses cannot afford to give such extra days off, and some businesses might try to cut labor costs by applying a four-day workweek even to employees who want to work more days.

日本总合研究所的山田表示，他认为一些中小型企业负担不起这种额外的休息日，一些企业可能会试图通过全员实行每周四天工作制来削减劳动力成本，即使某些员工不愿意减少工作天数。

"It will be important for the government to draw up a framework guaranteeing a worker's right to choose whether to take three days off a week," he said.

他说：“政府应制定一个政策框架，保证员工有权选择是否每周休息三天，这一点很重要。”

Takuya Hoshino, an economist at the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, says simply introducing a four-day workweek may not necessarily encourage employees to use their time off in a way that benefits their careers or contributes to the economy.

第一生命研究所的经济学家星野卓也称，简单地引入每周四天的工作制不一定能鼓励员工以有利于他们的职业或促进经济的方式来利用额外的休息时间。

"It's important for companies to make it clear what they intend in adopting such a system" and provide necessary support to employees to that end, he said.

他指出，“重要的是，公司要明确他们采用这种制度的意图”，并为此向员工提供必要的支持。

英文来源：Japan Today

翻译&编辑：丹妮