Fire

We’ve In my forty odd years in Japan, I have been intimately involved in advising foreign companies on how to deal with Japanese PR and advising Japanese companies how to deal with foreign PR.

Both foreign and Japanese companies suffer from a very, very human failing: ethnocentrism. All communication depends on the illusion that others share our fundamental values and perceive things as we do. They don’t of course. That’s why the slogan of my company is “One Earth, Many Worlds”.An additional problem is what Alvesonn and Spicer call “the Stupidity Paradox”—namely that corporate hierarchies are not set up to be smart managerially, but rather to run smoothly organizationally. If you want creativity and innovation you are not going to find it in middle and upper management where the Peter Principle rules. The Stupidity Paradox describes how the most educated workers are often guilty of a kind of "functional stupidity," defined as "an inability or unwillingness to use reflective/cognitive capacities in the workplace" or "thinking inside the box". Alvesson and Spicer argue that the ways in which businesses typically tackle this - leadership development programmes, cultural change initiatives and the like - are in fact just new ways of encouraging people not to think. So companies that pride themselves on intelligent management may be at the greatest risk of behaving stupidly.Ouch! Now add to this basic conundrum, the problems of operating in foreign cultural environment. One issue is the choice of upper management. A lot of foreign companies operating in Japan would do themselves a favor by firing half of upper management locally. Of course, occasionally they do – but usually in a clumsy way that ends up being very expensive and results simply in one deadhead being replace by another. I know because I have handled some of these cases on a consulting basis. I can think of one guy who was fired after just two or three months. Since the company was ignorant of Japanese law and custom, it ended up paying half a million dollars unnecessarily since they had every reason to let him go. In Japan, there are ways to do things and ways not to and if you don’t know the local legal and corporate culture you waste a lot time and money to no effect.Of course, foreign companies have Japanese staff and consultants. By and large, however, they too are a product of the “in-the box’ system and just tell HQ in New York or London what they want to hear.Among the worst things that can happen for a foreign company is a dispute with employees where the company ignores Japanese labor law.The dangers of such a dispute have increased with the Pandemic, which have caused some CEOs to arbitrarily change company rules.Most companies in Japan have company rules that are essentially boilerplate. They don’t say much since in Japan a lot of things are taken at face values.What if you want to make the rules more specific?By law, you must submit the changes to your employees for discussion and a vote. No, you cannot just send an email saying, “I’m changing the rules”. Your employees do not have to company with arbitrary changes of the rules, especially if they breach the understanding at the time of hire. Note” I said “understanding”: it doesn’t have to be written down. Verbal promises are binding.If you take punitive action against employees for resisting changes, you are on the wrong side of the law – especially if the employee informs you of the law. Ignorance of the law is never an excuse, but the courts, normally supportive of business, take a dim view of foreigners flouting the law with full knowledge of what are doing.With the pandemic, many Japanese companies are having their employees work from home, where possible. And are taking special care with employees considered at risk with medical conditions, such as diabetes, kidney, lung, or heart conditions.This is also mandated under labor law.Let’s say you force an at-risk employee who doesn’t need to work in the office to come into the office. Cases of COVID have been reported in your building – not even necessarily in your office. The employee gets sick and files suit alleging you put him /her at risk. They do not necessarily have to prove they contracted COVID in the office, just that you put them at risk. This is the corporate version of reckless endangerment. Of course, in Japan, as elsewhere judicial interpretations vary. If the employee balked at going to the office and informed you of your legal responsibility but was punished for not complying with your order and if that order was based on an illegal change of rules, you are in for a world of hurt – if only because such disputes get a lot of publicity. Right now, it takes a lot of time to get a court date. A smart lawyer on the other side will extend that knowing that as time goes on legal costs mount and the chances of a large award increase. That also allows press conferences and other nastiness that will hurt your bottom-line. Companies spend a lot of money on PR—why shoot yourself in the foot?If you are a foreign company with a Japanese subsidiary and the CEO gets you into a mess by disregarding Japanese law as I have detailed – do yourself a favor – fire them. But do it right – following the law. our Wix account. There you can write and edit posts, manage comments, pin posts and more. Just click on the 3 dot icon ( ⠇) to see all the things you can do.