Companies hire more women to avoid overtime work

2017年4月4日

Intermediate

Pre-reading questions:

  1. In your opinion, why are there generally more men than women in top positions in companies?
  2. Do you think employers should hire more women than men?
  3. Name some of the negative impacts of working overtime.

Nowadays, more and more companies in Japan are looking for ways to reduce overtime work. As one measure to achieving this goal, companies are turning to hiring more women to work for them. With more women as employees, overtime work will be lessened. Women do not usually work overtime as they have responsibilities waiting at home. Rank up Co., a Tokyo-based cosmetics development and sales company, where employees are mostly women, start to prepare to return home at 5pm.

Rank up Co. has been encouraging employees to go home after work since 2011. The implementation of the said rule was thorough. It involves shortening meetings and eliminating unnecessary greetings in internal emails. This improves the concentration and performance of employees. It has been a norm in Japan to work long hours; however, if there would be a sustained imbalance in child-rearing and work, the population decrease will continue to haunt the Japanese society.

Vocabulary:
turn to – to start doing something new or different from
cosmetics – substances put on the face or body that are intended to improve its appearance or quality
implementation – the act of putting a plan into action or of starting to use something
thorough – detailed and careful
sustain – to cause or allow something to continue for a period of time
haunt – to cause repeated suffering or anxiety

Comprehension Questions:

  1. What are more and more companies in Japan looking for?
  2. According to the article, why don’t women usually work overtime?
  3. When was the rule in reducing overtime work implemented in Rank up Co.?
  4. What steps did Rank up Co. take to reduce overtime work?
  5. According to the article what would happen if the imbalance in child-rearing and work is sustained?

Express Your Opinion:

  1. Name some jobs which only men or only women can or should do.
  2. Women are not always treated equally in the workplace.
  3. Are women better communicators than men? Discuss.