Company reducing overwork to 0 hours

Hello,

I am working for a big company in Japan with around 5000 people and from next week the company does want to reduce overwork to 0 hours if possible. Of course there are special exemptions. but they seem very strict, because in order to work overtime, you have to apply for it in advance and you must be able to explain why you need to work longer and this work cannot wait for the next day. And even if you should get the permission you are asked to leave earlier on another day instead.

The company is selling this rule as to be family friendly and aim for a happier life of the employees, but for me and some of my colleagues it is actually a very bad thing, because that means of course less money in the end. Actually when I was negotiating with this company about my contract, they promised me that there is enough overwork in an effort to come closer to my previous salary, so for me it feels kind of like I was betrayed by the company.

I wonder know the reasoning of this step, are there many other companies who are getting very strict about overwork or is it just mine. I also kind of feel that because of the corona pandemic the company tries to save money and this is a way they can legally reduce the salaries of the employees.

yes my husbands company, who is a very large company are pushing to eventually have overtime of zero.

the employees are contesting it due to not enough hours in the day to complete the work and stress will get higher and also less money.

im not sure of the full reasoning but i think its costs with corona and high expenditure on other things lately.

Yes, I will argue with the same arguments on Monday again with my Manager.
But in all honesty, if there wasn't the money archived through overwork, I would not have left my old company. Even with the money from overtime, I got less then before, but it was close enough, since I wanted to move anyway.

I am not sure if I should say that I would consider searching for a new job again or not due to this salary cut, but unfortunately I have a 1 year old son with a serious disability, which requires many therapies, of which not all are paid by the country, so I really need this additional money. My wife also cannot work because she has to run from therapy to therapy, so I am also not sure if I should mention this as well, so that they don't get the feeling, I am just money hungry.

Very standard trick for the corporations.
It is just another way to cut costs. The new overtime rules by the Japanese government is friendly to corporations but not to workers.
The new law made many employees lose overtime pay but not overtime hours.
You can talk to your boss but he is likely limited by his higher ups on both reported hours and salary expenses.

When negotiating, it is important to negotiate for higher base pay. Overtime pay, bonuses, and incentives are never guaranteed and frankly almost never met.
I never liked Japanese companies because they had this summer and winter bonus scheme, annual compensation + incentives is generally a lot better for the employee.

If you are working in a big top tier company, not that hard to switch jobs, you probably have headhunters emailing you anyways. Maybe you should consider switching companies and negotiate a better base salary.

I never like overwork. I prefer the work without overwork. Overwork makes me sick mentally sick. Overwork may add some more money. I want to leave the company at 5:30pm and go back to home and have a dinner.

Japan has been trying to reduce overwork ever since the late 1980s when I was doing 100 hours overwork per month. Most of the time, the company or devision has not been successful in reducing it, and lives have been taken away along the road.

But I have to say that your company's plan of, "in order to work overtime, you have to apply for it in advance and you must be able to explain why you need to work longer and this work cannot wait for the next day. And even if you should get the permission you are asked to leave earlier on another day instead." sounds very specific and reasonable to me.

Meanwhile, what's unreasonable about your employers was the part when they promised you that there is enough overwork in an effort to come closer to your previous salary. Like I said, overwork has not been encouraged for a years in Japan, and to rely on overwork already means that there is something wrong about the company's system.

What I'm saying is that it seems to me that the corona crisis has finally forced your company to stand up and do the right thing in terms of overwork. But I sympathise for employees who had been relying on overwork that the company had promised under wrong circumstances. Perhaps you can bring this to your union, or get together with coworkers to see if you can negotiate for a compromise resolution.

I wish you luck.