Kind of a weird question, but please bear with me.
I’m an in-house translator for a Japanese company. In 2023, my work generated around 25 million yen in revenue for my employer, which means they derive an operating income margin of around 85% from my labor (3.8 million is what they pay me, so 3.8/25 = 0.152 – 1 = approx. 85%).
Things were going okay (if you exclude the constant abuse, e.g., telling me I shouldn’t use ‘foreign’ fabric softeners because the fragrance is ‘too strong’. These people are ridiculous, all the more because I actually only use generic Japanese products anyway) but recently we started bleeding customers.
From my understanding, Japanese law requires employers to provide a valid rationale for laying someone off and offer proof the business or a particular department/division is no longer an economically viable enterprise, etc.
My question is this: what’s the threshold? Say the operating income margin they derive from my work drops to 50%. Or 25%, even. They’d still be making some money. Not a lot, but some money. Do you guys think I’d get canned?
Can they force me to perform other tasks as an harassment tactic in order to get me to quit? The other day they asked me if I was willing to enroll in a school to learn simultaneous interpreting (which is in higher demand vs. regular translations). They said they’d pay half of my tuition, but I told them to fuck off because a) I’m supposed to be GETTING PAID, not spending my own money on classes and b) interpreters don’t do 40 minute sessions all at once like they’d expect me to do.
Do I even get a say in whether I accept the bullshit they might want to impose upon me or am I just an indentured servant? lol