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Some Workers in Japan Who Want To Leave Their Jobs Are Paying a Startup To Tell Their Bosses That They Won't Be Back (japantimes.co.jp)
Stressed out, overworked, or just over it: Workers in Japan who want to leave their jobs -- but don't want to face the stress of quitting in person -- are paying a startup called Exit to tell their bosses that they won't be back. Local media reports: "Quitting jobs can be a soul-crushing hassle. We're here to provide a sense of relief by taking on that burden," said Toshiyuki Niino, co-founder of Senshi S, a startup he and childhood friend Yuichiro Okazaki launched last year. The company operates Exit, a service that relays an employee's intention to resign for a fee: $450 for full-time employees and $360 for part-time workers. Repeat clients get a $90 discount. Whether or not people consider that expensive depends on how desperate they are. But if business is any indication, many regard it as a worthy investment for some much-needed peace of mind. In the one year since Niino and Okazaki set up shop, they have mediated the resignations of roughly 700 to 800 clients from across the nation as the number of requests surge. Amid a tight job market and an improving economy, more workers are changing jobs, lured by higher salaries and fewer hours.
I clearly don't identify with japanese workers because the couple times I've quit I was in no way scared. Probably more secretly gleeful.
There's a RPG where this can be one of the major revenue sources for the player characters. Now, it is a little different, because in that setting it's usually not the leaving employee who can afford to hire the PCs, and sometimes they actually like their current job, but it's nothing that some tranquilizers and an evac. chopper can't resolve. ...
Ok, sometimes the evac. chopper has to be a mentally unstable shaman with an army of magically mutated super-moles, but that's part of the joy of Shadowrunning.
Japanese culture is fucked. I mean, lotta good shit, like making kids clean up in school, which is probably why they cleaned up the stadium after losing. But, man, as far as their social interaction goes, shit seems sooooo fucked.
To quote George McFly "I don't do.. confrontations"?!
I'm afflicted with social anxiety so I understand some of the stress here but... c'mon... this is a professional environment not a social function. I left a 10+ year job and, yes, it was a bit of an effort telling my boss I was leaving because I actually did like him and working there but the new job offer was just too good to pass up.
In any other job the etiquette is clear - write a letter of your resignation with a 2 week notice and give it to your boss. Which is what I did on my first job to a boss and job I hated with a grand smile on my face.
Might as well hire someone to break up with your significant other too. Or... how about grow up, schedule a meeting with your boss, and explain to them in a respectful way that you've decided to move on and you're hereby providing your 2 weeks notice. Explain that you'll work to make the transition as easy as possible by transferring knowledge to other workers, and provide a personal email contact they can use in case you forgot to tell them where something is before you leave. Tell them you're thankful for the opportunity you had to work there. When they ask why you're leaving, don't complain about the current employer, just make up some acceptable excuse like "opportunities" or "location" etc. It's a small world, don't burn bridges!
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
Even though I consider not telling your boss in person a bit low and immature, what's wrong with a good ol' email? "I'd come and tell your myself but I can no longer stand looking at your face. I'm done. Ta-ta." Then you can take the saved money to a pub.
Yeah they could shoot eachother a lot more or get in more Walmart fights, good point.
Well, in one year they've only had 800 clients. Presuming they're headquartered in Tokyo, with the Greater Tokyo Metropolitan Area having 38+ million, it's really virtually no one using their service (0.0021%). Perhaps it's the cost. Perhaps it's the relatively low turnover rate of jobs in Japan. I think it's less that the vast majority of Japanese workers are different. It's that "only in Japan" would such a company start up and be profitable because of the tiny, tiny minority willing to spend a good deal of money to avoid the social interaction of quitting. In the US, people just stop showing up.
I agree. Quitting a crap job or an abusive boss can be a deeply cathartic experience. If you're suffering from stress or burn-out, it is a great first step on the road to recovery. Don't miss out on such a deeply satisfying experience.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
isn't this basically like hiring a one-day secretary
Fransisco, cancel my Friday teeth cleaning, close our juicero subscription, then call up Shelly about the Moreno offer and tell her no, we're not interested
I really can't imagine the degree of cowardice necessary to actually pay someone to inform an employer that you're quitting. If someone quit my employment in this manner I'd be pleased to have them go; there are times when you have to exhibit a backbone when representing your interests or the interests of your employer and engaging Exit is proof certain you didn't have one.
The only time I can imagine such a step being appropriate is if you suspect there might be an attempt at coercion, for instance when dealing with an irrational person that might threaten legal action — well founded or otherwise — and for that there are lawyers that can deal with the matter. Otherwise, if you need to avoid in-person interaction there are phones, email, etc.
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
They're too busy maintaining a police state and used-panty vending machines...
Get with the 21st century! Surely the proper way to leave a crappy job is to ghost and just stop coming in.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
I don't know how this works in Japan, but can't you just send a registered letter for a lot less?
"When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
It's because of so call "black companies". The take advantage of employees and flout the relatively weak labour laws. Japan has relied on social convention rather than the force of law, so black companies abuse that to their advantage.
When people try to quit they pile on the pressure. Guilt, threats to pass on costs, lies about contracts. So using a service to help quit is a bit like hiring a lawyer, only cheaper.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Can I pay someone to tell my girlfriend I'm breaking up with her? 'Cause I tend to date psychopaths...
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Must be Japanese mentality/upbringing, not being able to show and use this service. If one is done with a job, often s/he has taken much in and to relieve it by slamming some book on the table and openly shout "I quit" - should be a relieve, or not?
That sounds like a Republican paradise..
I have quit a couple of my jobs by just telling my boss 'I quit' and walking out the door
The millennial that doesn't like most of the stuff designed for millennials.
Wow Japan is the social awkward scale really that bad you have to pay someone else to quit. Leaving a job for another one is one of the best moments in life, why would you not want to see other's faces. I get paying other's to fire someone, that makes sense, but this is crazy.
I once had a co-worker who was terrified to tell our boss that she was quitting. So I told her that I would tell him. She stayed lated and cleaned out her desk, and didn't come back to work the next day. I then went into the boss's office and told him why. This was all in America, although she was an Indian immigrant.
Not enough guns.
The millennial that doesn't like most of the stuff designed for millennials.
Well, taking a healthy dump on the boss' desk right before you tell him to kiss your ass does bring catharsis and relief at the same time, but...
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
I really can't imagine the degree of cowardice necessary to actually pay someone to inform an employer that you're quitting.
Yeah... doesn't make sense to me either. Would be more sensible to be able to hire someone to be able to represent you at performance reviews or in conducting research and providing an on-site service to help negotiate for higher pay or enhanced benefits on your behalf with your boss
- as your personal representative and expert in the industry (Since you as an individual employee are at a disadvantage without the ability to bring in provable information or expertise on the current markets for talent) ---- At least that way you could maybe recoup the $$$ and it could be a beneficial service -- just saying "You quit" or dropping off a resignation letter are so trivial that paying a 3rd party a high fee is ridiculous.
If someone quit my employment in this manner I'd be pleased to have them go
That's kind of the point, in a way.
It makes more sense in Japan, because Culture. Here, not so much (unless a US startup offered the same service with the added bonus of sending dead flowers, fecal material, or suchlike to your newly-former employer... waitaminute...)
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
When people try to quit they pile on the pressure. Guilt, threats to pass on costs, lies about contracts
Drop off 3 copies of a letter of resignation in a sealed envelope to HR, to your boss, and to their manager, and then be out of the building and away from that place before any of the envelopes get opened.
800 x $450 = $360,000. Not a bad first year for a start-up company.
I wonder if there is some kind of legal pressures present. For example, can Japanese companies attempt to get leaving employees to sign a non-compete agreement for their severance (some American companies do, even if such an agreement is illegal in the state in which it is signed)? Does this service mitigate against such tactics?
Does the service help with other issues, such as negotiating letters of recommendation?
I love how the Japanese have surrogates for just about every imaginable social awkwardness. We need that in the US. Fuck people.
AWS mail server will eat through that no problem
I've heard that Japanese employers are almost paternal when it comes to keeping employees around for an entire career. I guess in an environment like that, where you graduate school and are employed with one firm for your entire life it would be hard to quit. It also explains why Japanese employees put up with whatever their bosses demand...apparently getting hired anywhere else after being let go is impossible.
I hate the US attitude that all employees are disposable, but having a culture like this isn't a good solution either. I also read this article that basically says all large companies come around only _once_ to recruit new graduates, then never accept any new hires. What do people do if, for whatever reason, they mess up the last year of university and don't get picked? Are they out of a job forever?
I admit that I'm not one who easily rage-quits jobs and have never had a position for less than 5 years. I know that's a minority position in the tech industry...especially with the Second Dotcom Bubble I'm starting to see more instances of employees throwing a tantrum and just walking into another job the second things don't go exactly their way. But paying someone to quit on your behalf? That's definitely something built into the culture.
I think the opposite could be a business here in the West. Open a start-up where customers can purchase the opportunity to tell someone else's boss that the person has quit their job. The start-up (call it Peaz, or iQuit?) could get a percentage of the transaction. (Ads: Wanna tell someone's boss to take a hike, she ain't coming back? Visit our website!)
It may not be "scary" but there can be reasons to not want to deal with it.
When I quit once my boss was so interested in every detail of the new position it was annoying. "What is the name of the company, where do they office, who will your supervisor be, how much are you making, etc... " My goal was to leave on good terms, so I did not feel I could say "STFU, you don't need to know" but at the same time, I was not going to answer all these questions. Now I don't know if it is worth paying someone to deal with it but I can understand the general idea.
that price is a bit steep. If you do not want to face the boss, just email :-) Unless I had another job lined up that money would be needed.
Wow, my comment went from +4 Funny to -1 Troll.
Quite the turn of events...
Wow, my comment went from +4 Funny to -1 Troll.
Quite the turn of events...
I paid a service to moderate the forum for me. Look like I need to fire them.
I really can't imagine the degree of cowardice necessary to actually pay someone to inform an employer that you're quitting.
A social avoidance generation? It'll get worse when they reproduce. They'll be paying services to tell their kids its time to go to bed.
"I really can't imagine the degree of cowardice necessary to actually pay someone to inform an employer that you're quitting."
You know, the world doesn't end at USA borders. It's not cowardice but a different culture. In Japan, leaving a job, specially "just" because is better paid can be seen as a betrayal which, obviously is a dishonor.
Can you fathom how many people die in USA because reckless driving or not going out of an obviously impending fighting? Maybe others won't imagine the degree of cowardice necessary to prefer dying to being called "girlie" for "Miss Daisy-like driving" or fleeing away from an absolutely uncalled for fight.
I really can't imagine the degree of cowardice necessary to actually pay someone to inform an employer that you're quitting.
The Japanese probably would see your method as barbaric and deeply impolite.
Different cultures. Let's respect them as long as they aren't imposed onto us.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
The Japanese devote a great deal of attention and concern to abiding conventions for social interaction. I believe it a weak claim (how would you ever test such a thing experimentally?) but there is a theory that the historical necessity for large-scale coordinated communal rice planting and harvesting exerted selective pressure for personality traits of conformism, cooperation and agreeableness. With more certainty, Japan is a substantially racially uniform culture, and there is loads of psychological and sociological evidence that racial diversity promotes social disharmony. About 98.5% of residents of Japan are ethnic Japanese. As the Japanese Government states: "...there are no issues of race relations among Japanese citizens as they are all of the same race". It's a little fishy because they include small domestic minorities such as the Ainu, but still those would not be substantial minorities if categorized out and to some degree they remain geographically isolated within Japan.
Regardless of the causes for it, Japanese society is extraordinarily and wonderfully polite, civil and organized. However, that has the trade-off that social norms become so suffocating that Japanese seek escape from social obligations and comfort in relationships in what seems to westerners, bizarre commercial services. Following the rules means that sometimes the best way to get what you want while staying in bounds is to purchase it.
Japan's Rent-a-Family Industry
How to Hire Fake Friends and Family
Rental family service
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
I really can't imagine...
Hello, there's your problem right there.
You can't imagine that there might be other cultures that have different ways of dealing with each other.
You should get out into the world more. It might open your eyes.
I find leaving soul-crushing jobs rewarding. Not that I've had many.
Why secretly? I once played "Take this job and shove it" on a boom box as I walked out the door.
What companies give out severance when you quit? I know some will pay out PTO. Iâ(TM)ve only gotten sev if they termed me.
When people try to quit they pile on the pressure. Guilt, threats to pass on costs, lies about contracts
Drop off 3 copies of a letter of resignation in a sealed envelope to HR, to your boss, and to their manager, and then be out of the building and away from that place before any of the envelopes get opened.
I think you grossly misunderstand the Japanese culture.
Have you worked as a salaryman in Japan?
Was your worldview molded by Japanese society as you grew up?
There were companies like that in the UK. There was one company who hired city lawyers to threaten employees that they would be held personally responsible for the financial loss of a defence contract if the project wasn't completed on time. All resignations would be refused. So employees started taking out life insurance policies and dying in mysterious circumstances like walking over a cliff or driving into a lamp-post.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
Isn't that what we already do with parental controls on the WiFi? They'll never sleep if it's accessible...
...may be carthartic, but it may backfire on you.. maybe not now, but you never know.
It's best grin and bear it while you look for another job. When the time comes, give them your two weeks (or whatever is customary), and end it on an up note. Why? You never know when you'll again work for someone you leave behind. Or someone that heard something. The scenarios are pretty much endless.
The cathartic part comes when, out of earshot, you see the goddamned place in your rear-view mirror, yell "FREEDOM!!!!", then go home, or with your buds, or whatevs, light that cigar, pound that whisky, and think of the fresh start ahead...
I've done it a couple of times. One was a situation where I was offered a better opportunity. Years later, did it again, this time with a right asshole of a boss who existed to siphon every ounce, every penny of "value" out of every goddamn thing, people included. The first one actually bought me a bottle of single malt. The second one... well, who cares about the second one.
Keep it cool. Keep it pro.
The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
I'm glad to forego whatever "culture" has people hiring "exit" services for fear of their employers.
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
Is there a breakup service to "sunset a relationship" via third party?
What an idea for a startup!
Japanese culture is about "duty". Duty to family, duty to workplace, duty to society. It's the key aspect of culture.
It occupies the same cultural primacy slot that is occupied by "individual responsibility" in Western cultures. It's why in Japan, bosses often killed themselves when they had to fire workers. Because bosses had the same duty to those workers as workers had to the company, and by firing them, they failed at the primary cultural tenet. It is the deepest failure one can have. It's one from which you don't come back from. The loss of face due to this is effectively permanent, and in East Asian cultures, face is everything. Even real life performance is less valuable than face.
Same road goes the other way. To quit is a severe cultural infraction, because workers carry the same responsibility of "duty", and to quit the company is to be in dereliction of said duty. It's a loss of face that is permanently on your record, one you don't come back from. Hence the stressfulness of situation where you have to tell your boss you're quitting.
This is slowly changing in Japan, mainly driven by the catastrophic birth rate, which means that capable workers are no longer utterly crippled by quitting their first "real job after the university" for the rest of their career. But just because you remain employable, unlike before, doesn't mean that it's any more culturally acceptable of a situation.
Not to be confused with the Swiss organisation of the same name, www.exit.ch/en
They help you quit life. Yes, they literally kill you.
Do you have a link to a story about that? It sounds borderline unbelievable yet not entirely OVER that line at the same time.
-=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
Hey boss?
I found something new.
More money,
less YOU.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
People already do that by text message for free.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Empathy is a huge part. That is why they wear a mask. To protect others.
The US culture has a lot of lack of empathy.
On the empathy scale, they are on complete different sides.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
I really can't imagine the degree of cowardice necessary to actually pay someone to inform an employer that you're quitting.
Unless you're quitting with such a bang, that you can't pull it of on your own. e.g. paying someone to play a fanfare before you make your quitting announcement.... or a guy flying an airplane with "John is quitting" banner.
bickerdyke
which pretty much sums up the current state of the western culture, sad as it is.
bickerdyke
Take an AR15 and fliod the office in a sea of brass. Should make quite a statement, the american way :)
Damn man, you have been so fucked over you don't know what is going on. This is Japan the non-disposable work force. Companies are loyal to workers, workers at a company are loyal to each other, sense of honour, of commitment to the company, other staff members and customers, has real import, real personal value. When you quit, you abandon the loyalty the company has shown you, the loyalty of fellow employees and the loyalty of your customers.
That is why the stress when leaving ie disposable workers == disposable companies == disposable customers (straight up psychopathic business practices), Japan, valued workers == valued company == valued customers. Why should I give a fuck about the company or it's customers when they do not give a fuck about me.
The US, as long as you can legally get away with it, fuck over everyone just as hard as you can (lie, cheat, steal and kill, as long as the penalties are lesser than the profits or of course you can get away with it via corruption), you are not a human being, you are some fucking weird pathetic simile of a Ferengi, who as it turns out are based upon, guess who, Yankee Traders, Americans == Ferengi, excluding the ears of course, https://www.youtube.com/watch?... , lessons in how to be an American business person.
A company executives should feel bad with they betray the loyalty of an employee. Employee should feel bad when the betray the loyalty of a company. Both company and employee should feel bad when they betray customers and customers should feel bad when they cheat companies. Anything else is insane psychopathy or in the US case, taught sociopathy as a result of the routine abuse of psychopaths. You no longer understand inhumane behaviour for you it has become sociopathically normal and is no longer considered anti-social behaviour, when it most emphatically is.
This story is a prime example of why I would much prefer to live in Japan over the US, from an Australian perspective. I am not a rabid dog, that eats other rabid dogs.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Change used panty vending machines to guns and ammo vending machines like on Borderlands.. That is what I call paradise.
You believe what you see in movies and TV shows is reality in the US? The reality is nothing like that stuff. The vast majority of the US is peaceful and full of people that have no interest in fighting.
What would be roughly equivalent in Western culture? To have a criminal record, perhaps?
Empathy is a huge part. That is why they wear a mask. To protect others.
They wear masks for a lot of reasons and protecting others from illness is not foremost among them for many Japanese. In many cases it is to protect themselves from illness or from allergens.
The US culture has a lot of lack of empathy.
That's simply not true as a broad brush statement. Americans are by and large very empathetic people. Hell we greet each other with salutations like "how are you" which people from many other countries find rather intrusive. You seem to be confusing our taste for independence and autonomy with our empathy for others. Sometimes those things are at odds which explains some of our bi-polar policy behavior. And like any big country we have segments of the population (and certain leaders) that have more empathy than others. But any claim that Americans as a general proposition are not an empathetic people is simply not consistent with the facts.
On the empathy scale, they are on complete different sides.
Simply not true. The difference is in how it is expressed, not how much of it there is.
I think you would be hard pressed to find a people higher than those of Western European decent in empathy.
+1 Insightful Where are mod points when I need them?
To have a kind of a criminal record that will follow you everywhere, and that everyone will gossip about in a very negative way.
A rape conviction is perhaps something that could be remotely in the same ballpark, but cultures are too different for there to be significant similarities. Concept of Face is not something that exists in Western cultures, and that's a key aspect of all East Asian cultures, and this problem is clearly linked to loss of Face.
Japanese culture is fucked. I mean, lotta good shit, like making kids clean up in school, which is probably why they cleaned up the stadium after losing. But, man, as far as their social interaction goes, shit seems sooooo fucked.
Americans should have this despicable nation flattened back to the stone age when they had the chance.
Take an AR15 and fliod the office in a sea of brass. Should make quite a statement, the american way :)
You seem to be Brazilian [like me -- That's how I know]. And you're a fucking stupid Brazilian like most [and unlike me], to post such a stupid thing under you real name on a FB account. Prepare for the anal probe next time you go to America [if you are wealthy enough to].
Have a sing along
https://youtu.be/eIjEauGiRLo
Take this job and shove it!
When people try to quit they pile on the pressure. Guilt, threats to pass on costs, lies about contracts
Drop off 3 copies of a letter of resignation in a sealed envelope to HR, to your boss, and to their manager, and then be out of the building and away from that place before any of the envelopes get opened.
I think you grossly misunderstand the Japanese culture.
Only the West must prevail. Sterilize the rest of the planet; make it glow at night.
Geez. What is up in Japan? In the USA people breakup from dating via SMS text messages. That's one way to avoid conflict.
Not that I've quit a lot of jobs. Only once did I feel that I was letting them down - it was a great job, I loved them, they loved me...but I had to go a different direction for personal reasons.
The other few times I quit a job I was more than willing to let them know !!
I will EXIT for you for $100 Full or Part time!
"You believe what you see in movies and TV shows is reality in the US?"
No, but I believe public statistics: violent and car mortality in USA is basically the highest of first world countries, sometimes as much as an order of magnitude higher.
Perhaps you should also compare the number of miles driven per person to put some of that into context. We drive more than anyone else in the world, too.
Culture is for bacteria. Herd behavior is for sheep and cows. Humans can choose their own way in life. An it harm none, do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.