The end of the salary man ?
| ASIA White-collar employees in Asia, and especially Japan, have for years been known as ‘salary men’: people who spend an entire career at one company and don’t ever go home before the boss does. But that archetypical office worker may become a thing of the past. In various Asian countries, a rethink of the approach to work is underway. The pandemic seems to have put this process on steroids. Companies and governments are cautiously testing the idea of a four-day workweek, as notoriously long working hours take a toll on staff, with little to show in terms of productivity. Employees have fundamentally changed expectations of what they want to get out of their jobs, demanding a better work/life balance Meanwhile, investors are paying more attention to how companies handle their employees, as research in Japan has shown that a happy workforce leads to increased earnings. In this webcast, co-hosted by Asia Society Switzerland and The Adecco Group, we’ll ask if the ‘salary man’, is out for good. What kind of employee is replacing them? Are companies in the region willing to allow working from home, at flexible hours, to continue? Will these changes persist, even when an economic slowdown reverses the current dynamics of the labor market? |
