Panel calls for company approvals of workers’ side jobs

December 20, 2017

Tokyo- A Japanese labor ministry panel on Tuesday proposed that the ministry encourage companies to allow their employees to have second or side jobs by scrapping their current effective bans.

A report by the panel recommends a shift to a new system in which workers report to their employers before starting second or side jobs. Currently, employers' permission is usually necessary.

The experts' panel hopes that enabling various work styles will help ease labor shortages and revitalize the economy.

Specifically, the ministry should rewrite its model for office regulations, based on which many companies set their own rules, the report said,

Companies should be allowed to prohibit employees from undertaking second or side jobs if they could lead to excessively long work hours or leaks of corporate secrets, according to the report.

It is important to encourage employees to think proactively how they work and choose their own styles, the report stated.

The report also maintained that companies will also benefit if employees gain new skills in their second or side jobs.

Teleworking, or working outside regular offices, allows workers to take care of kids and elderly family members while working, and makes it easier for companies to employ more diverse human resources, the report said, recommending measures to promote the style. Jiji Press