So my wife is planning to return to work in November after taking Ikukyu leave following the birth of our son.
She is a manager at a large global company but after returning to work will need to stay on a 9 to 5 roster in order to pick up son from day care and maintain some work life balance.
The discussions with HR started that as the base remuneration does not include any overtime there would be no cut to her pay for the fact that she would not do overtime. This is based on the concept that there was no “standard working time” as a manager.
Then HR said that to avoid working overtime my wife should voluntarily cut her salary (~30%).
I feel that this would not be helpful to her situation as it would not be announced that she cut her salary therefore she should not do overtime work.
Appreciate if anyone else has had similar experience returning to work as a manager following Ikukyu leave could share their thoughts / experience.
8 comments
Yeah the labor laws around managerial class (管理監督) employees are really murky. She is supposed to have discretion over her hours but is also expected to “exceed the bounds” of normal working conditions/hours in order to properly manage her staff and business. In other words, she is expected to do OT work as part of her salary, even though she doesn’t get OT pay separately. A strict 9 to 5 just isn’t compatible with being a manager. It would be akin to refusing to do part of your job.
Is there room for hybrid/WFH? If so then maybe she won’t need to be on a strict 9 to 5. I’m also a manager and I send/pick up my kids from daycare and school and stuff, just by being flexible with my schedule and doing work at night when needed.
Sounds like a terrible place to work and a terrible policy.
Every job I had including managers had an exact start time and end start time. If you did those exact hours, you were paid exactly that.
Over a certain salary and responsibility you become overtime exempt under Japanese labor law.
Sounds like your wife is in this situation. I’ve been stuck in it my whole stay in Japan.
Legally speaking though she cannot have her salary or responsibility reduced after returning from childcare leave. This is why HR suggested a voluntary cut. She should explain to them the meetings/etc she has to attend at all hours of the night/weekends/holidays to support her job as a member of a global company and that while she won’t be in the office she will continue to support from the outside.
Failing that contacting HR at the global HQ might be an option if the company isn’t based in Japan.
> HR said that to avoid working overtime my wife should voluntarily cut her salary (~30%).
They’re asking her to “voluntarily” cut it because it’s illegal for them to cut it, and it’s illegal for them to order her to do mandatory uncompensated overtime (even as a manager).
In this day and age, it’s unthinkable that she won’t be doing some remote work in the evenings regardless.
Tell them to get fucked. They’re just using Japanese culture to shame her into doing that. They’re trying to maximise the situation in the company’s favour and your wife should advocate for herself back and not let them step on her
Definitely don’t take a voluntary pay cut. She should actually be eligible to only work 6 hours a day as a shortened hour benefit for moms returning to work (up until your kid turns 3).
If your wife asked the company to guarantee no over time, they wouldn’t so why should she cut her pay. She will likely need to work overtime anyway – likely to be on call. She could easily take work home and/or join meetings on zoom etc.
HR are being difficult and I suspect they might try to force her out of her position/demote her or make her quit. Or they need to reduce personnel costs and she is an easy target.
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OP, are you able to pick-up/drop off baby kun on some days? That might be a possible solution if she has to be in the office.
Don’t take the cut, work 9 to 5 and start updating your CV during idle hours