Nissan Motor Co. has given employees permission to hold second jobs effective immediately to help make up for their shrinking monthly income as the automaker's business continues to suffer, officials said Friday.
Nissan is the first Japanese automaker to officially let all employees moonlight as company policy.
Nissan is cutting output to cope with diving sales amid the global economic slowdown and idling workers a few extra days each month, reducing daily wages by up to 20 percent.
In light of the harsh situation, the automaker decided to let employees make money on the side during their days off as long as the working hours don't exceed eight per day, Nissan officials said.
Employees also will be required to give details about their second jobs, they said.
Nissan's in-house work rules ban moonlighting in principle, but Nissan decided to approve it "as an emergency step," a Nissan official said.
In addition, Nissan will start arranging for banks in April to provide low-interest loans to employees with serious financial difficulties so they can afford such things as weddings and their children's education, the officials said.
This month, Nissan intends to limit factory output to almost 50 percent of the previous year's level, as it has been doing in recent months.