Japanese employees are notorious for overworking, putting in a lot of overtime and never taking their full vacations. However, a new group of companies are starting to buck that trend by pushing their workers to take vacations, even extended ones — and for good reason.
They know that employees work better when they have a life outside the office. Those companies pushing for vacation are typically smaller, newer companies that know they must find ways to retain and encourage their employees by giving them time away from work.
Their new approach fits well with the target of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's attempts to increase vacation time. The ministry's target is to get 70 percent of workers to take their entire paid leave. Unfortunately, it has a long way to go to meet that goal. Currently only 47.1 percent of workers use all their paid leave, a figure that increased little by little until 2012, when it dipped down again because of the stagnant economy.