A growing list of Japanese companies have opened the door for employees to work four days a week, instead of five, offering them more flexibility so they can improve their work-life balance to meet responsibilities at home or acquire new skills outside of their workplace.
While companies can benefit from introducing the compressed work schedule, as it can help attract more talent or prevent employees from leaving, it remains to be seen whether the relatively new working style will gain traction in Japan.
Panasonic Holdings Corp. became the latest company to embrace the four-day workweek, with the industrial conglomerate saying last month it will give some of its employees the option of taking a third day off each week during the current fiscal year through March.