Panasonic: less (work) is better (life)

Panasonic Corporation President Kazuhiro Tsuga has instructed his employees in Japan to limit their overtime work to 80 hours or less per month, on January 31 with the instruction, which was effective from that day. 

Company officials said the directive is aimed at reminding staff that they should concentrate on efficiency rather than working long hours.

Apart from the call to leave work by 8 p.m., the directive also recommends limiting overtime to a maximum of 80 hours a month for all staff, including managers, department heads and division chiefs.

Panasonic’s work regulations define standard working hours at 7 hours and 45 minutes a day, but start times may differ from one post to another. Some of the company’s plants operate late at night under a three-shift system, whereas other posts within the company have to deal with overseas customers in different time zones, so the target of leaving work by 8 p.m. is only intended to apply in principle.

The government’s Council for the Realization of Work Style Reform is currently discussing a proposal to set the upper limit of average monthly overtime at 60 hours.

Together with his call for reducing working hours, the Panasonic president encouraged the employees to take paid leave and utilize the company’s flextime and teleworking systems, according to the sources.

Panasonic was one of the first major companies to introduce a five-day workweek system in 1965 when it was Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., and the company is known for its efforts for improving the working environment.