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The Big Read: Japan tries to rediscover its love for lifelong learning

Tokyo's Shinjuku subway station. Photo: Ng Jing Yng/TODAY

Tokyo's Shinjuku subway station. Photo: Ng Jing Yng/TODAY

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TOKYO — What do theatre, tea ceremony or calligraphy have to do with retail? Plenty, it seems, in Japan, where courses on these subjects are among the most popular for employees of retail giant Isetan Mitsukoshi.

In fact, demand from the company’s staff to go on a backstage tour of Kabuki — a traditional Japanese form of theatre — is often overwhelming. “We believe that all this cultural experience and knowledge is part of the job,” an Isetan spokesperson told TODAY.

“When we deal with customers who are rich in cultural education, we also want to train our (retail) stylists to have this cultural knowledge to enrich their conversations with customers … The training is really for our customers’ satisfaction.”

Alluding to Japan’s tradition of lifelong employment, the spokesperson added: “When we hire someone, it is also for lifetime. It is the company’s responsibility to train employees when we hire them after graduation.”

Isetan, which has operations around the world including in Singapore, is Japan’s largest department store group. Its 12,000 staff members in Japan have an array of options — more than 150 different programmes — when it comes to training. Each year, the company also provides a booklet to the staff detailing the training courses and available funding options.

The company’s emphasis on staff training is typical in Japan, where the notion of lifelong learning has been imbued in society — so much so that it was written into the country’s laws in 2006 to ensure society provides a lifetime of avenues for learning, as British academic Anthony Ogden noted in a 2010 academic journal exploring the topic.

Grappling with an ageing and shrinking population, Japan has often been a case study for policymakers in Singapore which will face similar demographic challenges in time to come.  

On Thursday (March 24), Singapore’s Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat stressed in his maiden Budget speech the need for Singaporeans to “remain adaptable, learn, unlearn and relearn quickly” in order to stay relevant and seek new careers, amid shortened economic cycles. In 2014, the Singapore Government introduced the SkillsFuture movement. Among other things, the initiative provides credit for Singaporeans to pay for out-of-pocket course fees for attending work-skills related courses.

Singapore-based Japan expert Lim Tai Wei from SIM University noted how in Japan, sushi chefs would hone their craft through decades of practice and taxi drivers would all be smartly dressed in a vest, cap and gloves. He attributed this, among other factors, to a mix of Japanese national pride and a fear of criticism from fellow countrymen of not contributing to the collective goal of advancing the country.

However, Japan's proud culture of lifelong learning is under threat due to several inter-linked factors such as Japan’s economic woes, the breaking down of its job-for-life ethos and the growing number of part-time and contract workers. Realising this, the government and a few firms have acted by rethinking their approach to training. Some Japanese workers, too, are gradually beginning to realise that they have to take training into their own hands.

Tokyo's Shinjuku subway station. Photo: Ng Jing Yng/TODAY

For all the drawbacks of the lifelong employment ethos, including a corporate culture of seniority-based pay, it made it worth companies’ while to invest heavily in staff training.  

Labour economist Yasushi Tanaka from Kyoto Sangyo University said: “The turnover is low … any investment will not be wasted.” Companies also feel that it is their job to “train employees to mould them into the company structure,” he added.

Dr Lim observed that Japan’s strong training culture, including mentorship by senior workers, reflects the focus on human relations in Japanese companies. As Japanese firms tend to be meticulous on procedures and rules, training workers in these aspects also ensure continuity when staff are rotated across different roles, he said.

Japanese companies interviewed by TODAY lauded the benefits of investing in training as it leads to better business outcomes and staff satisfaction. Moreover, with a shrinking population and a competitive hiring market, companies are eager to retain staff with good human resource policies.

Conglomerate Green House, which runs hospitality and food and beverages services, said the training investments have helped to increase employees’ satisfaction and inspired them to stay on with the company. On average, its staff stay on for at least a decade. Several of its employees have been with the company for more than 30 years. Green House corporate officer Takako Hagiwara said:

“Employees feel proud to be part of (the company), as we (help) them understand why we are doing all the training and it links back directly to employees reciprocating the company’s efforts and in turn they will stay on longer.”

According to statistics from Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, 60 per cent of all Japanese companies provide on-the-job training programmes, while 7 in 10 surveyed also said that they place importance on staff training.

Dr Makoto Fujimoto, vice senior researcher from the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training’s career development department, said big companies which recruit a fixed number of staff each year are able to run structured training programmes. But due to the lack of resources in smaller companies, they are most likely to send their staff for external courses only as and when the need arises without a formalised plan, he added.

The practice of lifetime employment began in Japan after World War II as its citizens came together to rebuild the country. Traditionally, companies hire fresh university graduates and select them for their overall potential, rather than any particular skillset. The new hires are then rotated among different departments to equip them with an overview of the company’s workings.

Coupled with the seniority wage system, such a practice discourages workers from jumping ship as it would mean they have to start from the bottom rung of the ladder again. Prof Tanaka said:

“Traditionally, changing a job has been considered to be an expression of impatience rather than a big aspiration for success”.

The experts generally felt that the lifetime employment ethos has brought about benefits — including a sense of pride among Japanese in their work which is often apparent in retail staff, for instance.

“Even if it is a very small assignment, (workers) will treat it with respect,” said Dr Hiromi Sasai, director of lifelong learning policy research department at the National Institute for Educational Policy Research. “Because as long as you treat your job with respect, you will be rewarded … you do a little more than what is required, you will be promoted. You have to just keep doing it seriously and you will be secured with a job till you are 60 (Japan’s current official retirement age).”

Prof Tanaka cited the example of a graduate starting out in a large coffee chain as a server. He or she will eventually climb up the ranks to attain a management position. “The identity is with the company rather than with your job or occupation,” he said, noting that such a mindset also promotes high service standards among frontline staff.

However, lifetime employment may also instill complacency among workers as they rely heavily on their companies for career development and training opportunities. They might also not see the need to upgrade their skills in order to look for another job.

A senior manager who has been with his company for close to two decades told TODAY that the only type of courses he will pursue on his own are hobby-related classes. It is his company’s responsibility to provide work-related training, he said.

Dr Fujimoto observed: “There is a mentality among Japanese workers what you need for work you will learn it within the company.”

Isetan Mitsukoshi Assistant Manager Yukie Nagaoka, 38, (left) has been a retail staff for the last 18 years and strives to be a colour analysis specialist, taking courses in this area as she advances in her career. Photo: Ng Jing Yng/TODAY

Due to factors such as Japan’s sluggish economy — leading to the rising trend of Japanese employers preferring to hire workers on part-time or on contract — the practice of lifetime employment is fast diminishing.

Ms Michi Mizuno, a manager for research and development at career advisory firm Nippon Manpower, noted that it would be unsustainable for companies in the current economic climate to support senior workers with high wages. The old practice also prevents firms from promoting junior employees to rejuvenate the organisations, she said.

A new generation of Japanese workers are also more restless in their jobs. In 2014, a government survey showed that half of young workers under the age of 35 were not working for their first employer, as mid-career job changes have become more common. Data from career agency Doda also showed that the average age of new hires have risen from 29 years old in 2007 to 32 years old last year.

Mr Atsushi Miyasaka, 39, is in his third job as a consultant at Japan Productivity Centre. Pointing to how Japanese conglomerates such as Sony and Sharp had laid off workers, he noted that younger jobseekers are aware that job security in general has diminished.  He added that he saw switching jobs as a way to pick up new skills and knowledge.

In addition, experts noted that the increasing number of part-time workers is affecting the lifetime employment structure as part-time workers do not stay long in a current role.

Dr Fujimoto said that the proportion of non-regular workers (those who are working part-time or on contract) have increased from 16.6 per cent some 30 years ago to about 39 per cent in 2014. Factors driving this trend include a shift in focus from manufacturing to services in the Japanese economy, mothers re-entering the workforce and the uncertain economic climate which have led companies to prefer hiring non-permanent staff, he noted.

Correspondingly, attitudes towards training might also shift, with younger workers taking more ownership. Dr Sasai said: “There is a changing mentality (among Japanese) to upgrade themselves and go back to school to learn (in order to attain) better pay and better (job) positions”.

Fresh graduates at a Tokyo job fair. Photo: Reuters

With an eye on the future, Japan’s Ministry of Labour, Health and Welfare is also trying to nudge workers to be more proactive in managing their careers.

The ministry has introduced over 2,000 courses this year to help workers acquire specialised skills in areas ranging from healthcare to commerce. The government will subsidise 20 per cent of the course fees. Career counselling at career centres and within companies themselves has also been ramped up. Noting Japan’s demographic challenges, Ms Chika Tomiyasu, who heads the ministry’s human resource department’s general affairs division, said: “We need to train up the younger workers to have more specialised skills to sustain the economy.”

While the ministry has existing subsidy schemes to encourage small and medium companies to send their employees for basic skills training, data provided by the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training research showed only 3 per cent of companies had used the funding in 2013. Almost 6 in 10 firms surveyed said they did not know about the subsidies. Among those who said they were aware, over 30 per cent felt that the process to apply for subsidies was too troublesome.

Ms Tomiyasu said the ministry is currently looking into simplifying the administrative processes to encourage take-up for training subsidies.

Still, Dr Fujimoto said that Japan needs to introduce a skills framework for employers to hire and compensate workers based on their skills levels. The absence of such a framework discourages workers to upgrade their skills as employers still primarily look at work experience instead of additional skills qualifications during the hiring process, he noted.

Dr Sasai pointed out that for any society to foster a strong learning culture, the environment must be conducive, including having online courses and an “open university” concept where working professionals can take courses on a modular basis. These are already being done in Japan and have shown positive take-up rates among Japanese workers, he said.

Companies are also adjusting their approach. Supermarket chain Life Corporation has part-timers making up three quarters of its payroll. Apart from providing initial skills training, the company decided two years ago to provide on-the-job training for part-timers, by assigning senior mentors to new staff.

Similarly, ANA Foods director of the pastry products department Satoshi Igarashi said the decline in master craftsmen prompted his company to introduce a new training system for one of its subsidiaries, Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki Paris. “This will allow the pastry chefs to build up their skills and pass on the skills to junior pastry chefs,” he said.

Even at 55 years old — five years before reaching retirement age — Ms Hagiwara is among the minority of Japanese workers who take it upon themselves to upgrade her skills. Before she joined Green House, she had worked for 30 years with Japanese multinational conglomerate Sony. When she was with Sony, she went for courses in career advisory and workplace psychology.  Now, she is taking advanced courses in career advisory on weekends.

On her attitude towards learning, she said: “It helped me to understand my strengths and weaknesses (and) it gives me the confidence and motivation to learn more.” She added that her “willingness to continue to learn and develop” herself had helped her make a successful mid-career switch.

Ms Aya Okuda, 26, frontline staff at Andon Ryokan is currently pursuing online courses in food management and she aims to be a top-notch tour guide in Japan. Photo: Ng Jing Yng/TODAY

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