Uniqlo’s test will allow 10,000 employees to work 10 hours a day for 40 hours a week.
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Its day four-day work week is part of this strategy, as it seeks to expand its Japanese staff to 16,000 from its current 10,000. If it goes well, the company could introduce a four-day week at more stores and at its corporate headquarters.
Uniqlo workers, rejoice: Three-day weekends are coming. The idea behind this move, the company said, was that “continued success hinges on us competing and keeping the most talented individuals in their field”. And they’ll still have to work on Saturdays and Sundays-the retailer’s busiest shopping days.
Industry observers told The Japan Times that with Japan facing labor shortages, other retailers, restaurants and service businesses might follow Uniqlo’s lead and offer a compressed work week to attract workers.
The company has been having trouble retaining female employees with children, with many citing the need for more flexibility in their work schedule as their reason for leaving the company.
Treehouse, a Portland, Ore., online education company with fewer than 100 employees, has committed to a 32-hour workweek so that employees have more time to spend with their families and loved ones. Uniqlo puts its new retail employees through a two-week training, and losing that talent costs the company money. Uniqlo said it expects about 20 percent of employees to accept the offer.
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Amid criticism of its its working conditions, Fast Retailing has been taking a series of steps toward bringing overtime hours to zero and promoting the employment status of part-timers to full-time. The chief executive, Ryan Carson, has said that employee retention is “amazing”. Uniqlo also tried to sue the book’s publisher, but was unsuccessful.
