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The ruling and opposition parties are divided on a bill to revise the Labor Standards Law, which would introduce a pay system for “highly professional workers” basing their salary on performance, rath

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While pay based on performance sounds fair and meritorious, it always tends to end up where everyone overworks themselves at the cost of their health and degradation of family life.

There is an old saying: most people do not lay on their death beds wishing they had worked more for the company.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

My first thought is why is the government involved? If they need to be involved it should be to ensure some kind of labour mobility so that companies pay the market rate for these skills. This seems to be an admission that the market is biased towards employer power. But I suppose this way it ensures another layer of bureaucracy involving itself in something it needn't be involved in. Of course, I could be missing something altogether since I have missed the whole debate (if there ever was one).

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Making it law is a bad idea. They should instead introduce incentives, like some sort of tax break or something.

The candy will always be more welcome than the whip.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Meritocracy is the way forward for Japan. Do it.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

The problem with "performance pay" is it is subjective and one-sided. The employer decides whether or not you have "performed". And when you have a situation where the employer, for whatever reason, dislikes or has a falling out with the employee, then all of a sudden he decides the employee has not performed. It is a system open to abuse unless there are clear benchmarks that need to be reached which neither side can dispute. Employers often introduce 'performance pay' as a means to reduce costs.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

The problem with "performance pay" is it is subjective and one-sided.

Not necessarily. Depending on the position it can easily be quantified. It's harder for someone in say a secretarial position, but if you are in sales or anything like that, it's pretty easy to see whether or not someone is performing.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

*Yes Strangerland, which is why I include this in my statement:

** It is a system open to abuse unless there are clear benchmarks that need to be reached which neither side can dispute.***

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Fair enough, but that conflicts with the statement you made that I quoted.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Why is the government legislating on pay? Unless it is for government workers?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Why the HELL is govt getting involved in this, seems bizarre & totally unnecessary or am I missing something...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

If this system were applied to politicians. most would receive no pay at all.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

They should just ban overtime. That's what this is really all about..

0 ( +0 / -0 )

For a national economy to perform, companies need to perform, and for companies to perform, workers need to perform. And for workers to perform, they need an incentive to perform. If performance is not rewarded, then there is no motivation to perform, and this lack of performance trickles up through the entire economy.

As nature abhors a vacuum, those economies which do not perform will be displaced by those who do.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

The system in Japan has far too much dead weight in it soaking up salaries that could be going to employees who are worth a damn. I can't wait for merit-based pay to come into practice here.

GWAUG. 25, 2016 - 08:49PM JST Why the HELL is govt getting involved in this, seems bizarre & totally unnecessary or am I missing something...

Have you by chance ever worked in Japan? Labor standards are defined by law, and the radical right-wing libertarian notions of free-market practice that pass as middle-of-the-road conservativism in the US are pretty much unheard of here. You may as well ask why people take their shoes off when they enter the house. That's just how they do here.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

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