Sony and other Japanese companies using ‘banishment rooms’ to push employees to resign

[Kasz216]

pezus said:

thranx said:

pezus said:
Maybe I am missing something, but why don't they just fire the employees? Surely that has to be better than giving them pay for doing nothing

"Basically, banishment rooms are departments where companies transfer surplus employees and give them menial or useless tasks or even nothing to do until they become depressed or disheartened enough to quit on their own, thus not getting full benefits, unlike if they were actually let go"  Its in the op. It must be cheaper to pay them to do nothing, but not have to worry about benifits when they quit.

I'm just wondering what those benefits are. Pay for a few months I guess, but what else?

Well, for one Japan has the idea of "Employment for Life."  Or more accurately "Employment until Japan's mandatory retirement age, then reemployment at a much reduced wage... possibly lower then when you started."  So it's actually very hard to fire someone.

In general, just firing too many people could damage your brand locally.... because the Japanese actually care about that kind of stuff.  That's why Japan actually keeps a fair amount of factory work inside it's country.

Also... for a more... substatial version of the story....

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201301290071