TOKYO >> More companies are reviewing the practice of working long hours while emphasizing improved working efficiency, with some adopting new systems for time off or utilizing artificial intelligence.

To implement “work style reforms” promoted by the government, and also to address worsening labor shortages, such companies have introduced various measures that are contributing to changes in Japan’s employment environment.

Rice milling and agricultural machinery manufacturer Satake Corp. in Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture, introduced a four-day workweek on a trial basis in July. In addition to Saturdays and Sundays, workers also took Mondays off.

The system applied to all of the company’s roughly 1,000 employees. As the Monday holidays were considered paid leave, employees’ salaries were not affected.

Satake employee Yumiko Ide, 33, visited Yokohama with her mother during one three-day weekend. “(As my days off) didn’t coincide with peak summer holiday season, the town was not crowded,” she said.

Another employee, Yuki Murakami, 26, said the reduced working hours allowed him to better concentrate on his job.

“It was difficult for all of the employees to be off at the same time,” Director Hirofumi Kidani said after the trial.

Nevertheless, Satake will continue experimenting with a four-day workweek. It plans on studying other approaches, such as applying the system to half of employees or changing the extra day to a different weekday.

Like many regional companies, Satake has trouble recruiting high-quality staff compared to big-city firms. The company considers a four-day workweek a point of attraction for students looking for a job.

Working 10 hours a day

According to Recruit Carrier Co.’s 2017 employment survey, 7.4 percent of students who have yet to begin job-hunting prioritized work hours and holidays while 6.1 percent prioritized wages.

The four-day workweek trend reflects such industries’ determination to increase the number of applicants or reduce staff turnover, even if only by a little.

Uchiyama Holdings Co., which operates nursing care facilities nationwide, introduced a four-day workweek in 2015. Employees typically work eight hours a day, five days a week. However, the company also allows its employees to work 10 hours a day, four days a week.

Total working hours per week are the same in both systems, as is pay.

At its Kitakyushu facilities, eight of 40 staffers work four days a week.

The firm needed to increase hiring for its nursing care department to maintain the work rotation at its facilities. “We wanted to create an environment where staff can be with us for a long time,” said Tetsuo Kawakami, the firm’s head of human resources.

Sagawa Express Co. also introduced an option for a four-day workweek last spring. The system applies to regularly employed drivers in Tokyo and Yamanashi Prefecture. They can indicate their preference when they begin work at the company.

Sagawa is researching a future expansion of the system to include current drivers and other departments.

Yamato Transport Co., the country’s largest parcel delivery company, is also considering a four-day workweek system. It has also discussed a decrease in employees’ hours devoted to delivery services as such work is physically demanding. Instead, employees would work from their desks more often.

Few use new system

Many of the firms that introduced four-day systems, however, say that very few employees choose to participate.

Major fast-food chain operator KFC Holdings Japan Ltd. introduced a special system allowing employees to take three days off per week in April 2016. The company thought that elderly employees or those with small children would participate.

However, only one employee is using the system while others use existing child-rearing and nursing care leave options.

Skylark Group, for its part, has introduced a system allowing employees to set daily work hours using two-hour units.

The system applies to employees working at its roughly 2,500 Gusto family restaurant outlets nationwide.

Employees working 10 hours a day can take three days off per week. As at many companies, however, few employees opt to participate.

“To introduce a four-day workweek, firms need to reduce their absolute volume of work,” said human resource consultant Yohei Tsunemi. It is necessary to establish a system through which employees can fill in for those on leave, he added.

“Without such a system, (the firm and its employees) face severe burdens if employees’ work days are reduced.”

Companies are now experimenting with various approaches that balance work with time off.