拒绝升职日本人变懒了
Slacker Nation? Young Japanese Shun Promotions 2008年12月11日 Hidekazu Nishikido, a 24-year-old agent at a staffing company, recently got promoted to help manage a small group of employees. The new job means a higher salary and a better title.But he isn't happy about it. Now he often works past 10 p.m., leaving him less time with his girlfriend. So Mr. Nishikido flatly told his bosses at R-live Inc. he isn't interested in further promotions.
'My job is important, but it's not what makes me tick,' Mr. Nishikido says.
In a country once proud of its success-driven 'salarymen,' managers are grappling with a new phenomenon: Many young workers are shunning choice promotions -- even forgoing raises -- in favor of humdrum jobs with minimal responsibilities.
The Hodo-Hodo Work Force
Even as Japan faces a sharp recession, civil servants are opting out of career-advancing exams and information-technology workers are flocking to headhunters to switch to less-demanding careers. A study this year by the consulting firm Towers Perrin found just 3% of Japanese workers say they're putting their full effort into their jobs -- the lowest of 18 countries surveyed.
That's prompting companies to craft delicate strategies to nudge young workers up the corporate ladder. 'I tell them to break news of promotions gently,' says Makoto Iwade, a lawyer who advises companies on labor relations. 'They should feel employees out first to see if they're ready. Don't shock them.'
Employment experts have begun to call these workers hodo-hodo zoku, or the 'so-so folks.' They say these workers, mostly in their 20s and early 30s, are sapping Japan's international competitiveness at a time when the aging country must raise its productivity to keep the economy growing.
'They'll ruin Japan with their lax work ethic,' says labor consultant Yukiko Takita. 'They're supposed to be leaders of the next generation.'
Japan's once widespread practice of lifetime employment used to make loyal workers unlikely to reject promotions. In the 1990s, the country began grappling with the emergence of 'freeters,' young workers who hop from one casual job to the next. But the so-so folks are an even greater concern because, as full-time employees, they're at the heart of corporate Japan, Ms. Takita says.
Signs of hodo-hodo are widespread. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government, a destination for the city's elite, says only 14% of eligible employees took higher-level exams for management positions in 2007 -- down from 40% three decades ago. The electronics giant Sanyo Electric Co. says it's having an increasingly harder time filling demanding management positions like supervisors for overseas factories.
Information-technology job consultants at Intelligence Ltd., one of Japan's top recruitment agencies, report a recent rise in people looking to switch jobs not to get ahead, but to get out of positions they say are too demanding. 'They find responsibilities a chore,' says consultant Yoshihiko Fujita.
In a sign of the times, 'Otaryman,' a comic-book series about a less-than-driven salaryman, has become one of this year's surprise hits. In the book, the protagonist passes his days worrying about his colleagues' files spilling onto his desk rather than trying to impress bosses. 'He just plods along life, and has very small ambitions,' says Makoto Yoshitani, the series's 28-year-old author. 'I think people my age find that comforting.'
Some authors even have started condoning this laid-back approach. 'Slow Career: Job Survival for People Not Rushing Career Advancement' is one popular tome, with chapters like 'Forget goals, just stay true to yourself' and 'Not everybody needs to become a leader.'
Chiaki Arai, who has written about the hodo-hodo phenomenon in newspapers, blames Japan's economic woes during the long slump in the 1990s and early 2000s. He says young workers saw older generations throw themselves into their work, only to face job and pay cuts as companies restructured. Now, young employees are cautious about giving too much of themselves -- even if it means less money or prestige, Dr. Arai says.
Moreover, getting a promotion no longer means getting such a big pay raise. The wage difference between managerial and rank-and-file positions has shrunk over the past decade as companies cut compensation amid restructuring. In 2005, division managers were paid about 2.2 times the rank-and-file worker, down from about 2.7 times in 1985.
With management posts increasingly harder to fill, Sanyo recently started holding compulsory career-training retreats for workers turning 30. At the retreats, executives give pep talks 'to remind them their best years are still ahead,' says Jun Nakamura, Sanyo's head of human resources. 'We want to tell this generation that though it's been tough, they shouldn't give up yet.'
Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Co. is finding it so hard to identify managerial candidates that it has turned to the clerical workers it calls office ladies to fill positions. Promoting these women -- most of whom are in their 40s and joined the company in a non-career track -- would have been unthinkable 10 years ago, employment experts say. 'I never imagined I'd be called on for a management post,' says Saori Kakegawa, a participant in the program.
Law firms say the trend has companies scrambling to seek legal counsel on whether they can fire employees who refuse promotions. CyberAgent Inc., a Tokyo-based Internet advertising agency, is offering the unambitious a different way out. The company puts these workers on a 'specialist' track where they can remain rank-and-file employees but have similar salaries as managers. This ensures the company 'doesn't lose qualified employees by pressuring them to accept promotions,' says Tetsuhito Soyama, general manager for personnel at the company.
Tsugumi Uemura, a public-relations worker at the company, opted out of the management track in April in part because she didn't feel ready. 'I want to be a different kind of role model,' says Ms. Uemura, who is 30.
For older-generation managers, and even some younger ones, the hodo-hodo mentality is difficult to understand.
Miya Matsumoto, manager of the laid-back Mr. Nishikido, says she's tried everything -- from screening success-themed films like 'The Devil Wears Prada' to throwing after-work drinking parties -- to push her subordinates to be more ambitious. But her team members rarely show interest in bigger responsibilities, she says. She recently caught one of them napping on a train during work.
The 31-year-old Ms. Matsumoto says she threw herself into her job, often staying overnight in the office to get work done. 'Don't you want to get ahead? Don't you want to get rich and drive a nice car?' she prodded Mr. Nishikido recently.
But Mr. Nishikido says he finds Ms. Matsumoto's enthusiasm off-putting. He says he was especially turned off when he learned she had left her sick baby at home with her husband to come to the office
'That's definitely not the life I want,' Mr. Nishikido says. 'No way.'
Hiroko Tabuchi 拒绝升职， 日本人变懒了？ 日本东京-24岁的Hidekazu Nishikido是一家劳务派遣公司的职员，最近得到晋升，协助管理一小组员工。新岗位意味着更高的工资和更好的头衔。
但他并不开心。现在他经常要加班到夜里10点，跟女友相处的时间减少。于是，Nishikido直截了当地对R-live Inc.的老板说，他以后再也不想升职了。
“我的工作很重要，但并不是我生活的根本，” Nishikido说道。
日本曾经以其拥有不断进取的“上班族”而自豪，但现在，企业管理者正与一个新现象做斗争：许多年轻员工在避免最佳晋升机会－－甚至放弃提薪－－而选择那些需要承担最少责任的平淡工作。
尽管目前日本正面临严重的经济衰退，仍有公务员不愿参加职业晋升考试，而IT业的员工也纷纷到猎头公司那里寻找轻松一点的职业。Towers Perrin咨询公司在2008年的一项研究中发现，只有3%的日本员工表示他们在尽全力工作－－这在18个受访国家中比例最低。
这种现象促使企业采取一些微妙的策略来推动年轻员工同意升职。“我告诉他们，宣布晋升消息要慢慢来，”为企业提供劳资关系咨询服务的律师Makoto Iwade说。“公司应该先试探一下员工，看看他们准备好了没有，别吓着他们。”
就业专家开始把这类员工称作“hodo-hodo zoku“，即“不好不坏一族”。他们说，这些多为二十多岁或三十岁出头的员工削弱了日本的国际竞争力，而此时这个老龄化国家所需的是提高生产力以保持经济增长。
“他们这种懈怠的工作态度会毁掉日本，”劳资关系顾问Yukiko Takita说。“他们本该是下一代的领导者。”
日本兴盛一时的终身雇佣制曾经使忠诚的雇员不太可能拒绝晋升机会。20世纪90年代，日本开始面临“飞特族”所带来的冲击，“飞特族”是一群喜欢从一个临时工作跳到另一个临时工作的年轻员工。然而，“不好不坏一族”引起人们更大的担忧，因为他们是全职员工，属于日本企业体制的中坚力量，Takita说道。
“不好不坏一族”现象比比皆是。东京市政府可谓精英荟萃，但市政府表示，在够资格的员工中，只有14%参加了2007年的管理岗位晋升考试--而30年前这一比例为40%。电子产品巨头三洋电机株式会社表示，要为海外工厂主管这类高要求的职位找到合适人选是越来越困难了。
Intelligence Ltd.是日本最大的职业介绍公司之一，那里的IT就业顾问说，最近有更多人想换工作，其目的并非为了能够升迁，而是要离开他们认为压力太大的现有岗位。“他们觉得责任是一种负担，”就业顾问Yoshihiko Fujita说道。
作为这种时代的一个表现，《Otaryman》这部讲述无进取心上班族的漫画系列出乎意料地成为2008年的热门书。在漫画中，主角每天担心的是同事把档堆在他的桌子上，而不是努力工作争取给老板留下好印象。“他得过且过，没什么理想和抱负，”该书28岁的作者Makoto Yoshitani说。“我认为我的同龄人觉得这样挺好。”
一些作者甚至开始宽恕这种懒散的作风。《慢事业：不急于晋升者的生存手册》就是这样一本流行书，里面有这样的章节标题：“忘记目标，听从本心”和“不是每个人都要成为领导”。
Chiaki Arai在报纸上写过关于“不好不坏一族”的文章，他把这种现象归咎于日本20世纪90年代到21世纪初的长期经济低迷。他说，年轻的上班族看到前辈们全身心地投入工作，却只能眼睁睁地看着自己在企业重组时面对失业和减薪。现在，年轻员工刻意不要太尽心工作，即使放弃一些名利也在所不惜，Arai博士说道。
而且，现在的晋升也不意味着得到很多的加薪。由于企业重组导致减薪，管理岗位和普通岗位的工资差距近10年来不断缩小。2005年，部门经理的工资是普通员工的2.2倍左右，比1985年时的2.7倍有所降低。
由于越来越难为管理岗位找到人选，三洋最近开始为那些临近30岁的员工举行强制性的职业培训。在培训中，公司高管给员工做励志演讲，“提醒他们最好的时光还在将来，”三洋的人力资源负责人Jun Nakamura说。“我们想告诉这一代员工，虽然高级别的职位压力大，但他们不该轻言放弃。”
日本第一生命保险公司觉得管理人员的人选太难找了，以至于开始在“办公室女郎”这类文员中挑选合适的人员来填补这些职位。这些女性大多40出头，并不是以专业人员的身份加入公司。就业专家表示，提拔这批人在10年前是不可想像的。“我从没想到自己会被提拔到管理岗位，”被选中的Saori Kakegawa说道。
律师事务所说，这一趋势导致公司纷纷寻求法律帮助，咨询是否可以解雇那些拒绝晋升的雇员。东京一家互联网广告公司CyberAgent Inc.为没有进取心的员工提供了另外一条出路。它把一些雇员纳入“专家”序列，他们仍是普通职员，但能享受与经理大致相当的工资，从而确保该公司“不会因为迫使他们接受晋升而失去合格的员工”，公司主管人事的总经理Tetsuhito Soyama说道。
CyberAgent Inc.公关部的Tsugumi Uemura在今年4月份拒绝了进入管理序列的晋升机会，部分原因是她觉得没有准备好。“我想成为一个不同的榜样，”30岁的Uemura说道。
对老一代的经理甚至一些较年轻的经理来说，“不好不坏一族”的想法很难为他们所理解。
Miya Matsumoto是Hidekazu Nishikido这个懒惰员工的经理，她说自己什么办法都试过了，从放映励志电影《时尚女魔头》到举办下班后的酒会等，力图使下属变得更有进取心。然而，她说，她的团队成员并未表现出有承担更大责任的兴趣。最近，她抓到其中的一个上班时打盹。
31岁的Matsumoto说自己全身心投入工作，经常在办公室通宵加班把工作做完。“难道你不想出人头地吗？难道你不想变得富有，开一辆好车吗？”最近她对Nishikido说道。
但是Nishikido表示，Matsumoto对工作的热情让他感到厌烦。他表示，当他了解到Matsumoto把生病的孩子留给丈夫、而自己赶来上班时，觉得特别反感。（Matsumoto说，有时候必须把工作上的紧急事件放在第一位。）
“那绝不是我想过的生活，”Nishikido说。“完全不是！”
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