COMP NEWS – A new agency in Japan aims to make it easier for you to quit your job – by having the agency do it for you.

Tokyo, Japan – When Toshiyuki Niino wanted to quit a job he was unhappy at some years ago, he found himself struggling to work up the courage to confront his boss.

 

After working at several other Japanese workplaces, Niino knew that his decision would face resistance.

 

“When you try to quit, they give you a guilt trip,” Niino, who lives in Kamakura, a coastal city about 65km south of Tokyo, told Al Jazeera.

 

“They try to make you ashamed and guilty that you quit your job in less than three years, and I had a very difficult time.”

 

Niino’s experience gave him and his childhood friend Yuichiro Okazaki an idea: What if you could avoid the ordeal of quitting your job by getting someone else to do it for you?

 

So began Exit, a startup that handles the awkward business of handing in your notice on behalf of Japanese employees who are too ashamed or embarrassed to do it themselves.

The service aims to alleviate the stress and confrontation of quitting in Japan’s punishing work culture.

Niino believes the popularity of the service could have something to do with aspects of Japanese culture that discourage disharmony and promote the idea that success requires long-term commitment.

 

“It seems like if you quit or you don’t complete it, it’s like a sin,” he said. “It’s like you made some sort of bad mistake.”

 

Japan, where lifetime employment was the norm for most of the 20th century, has long been known for a punishing work culture that encourages both long hours and lengthy service.

 

While on a downward trend, the proportion of workers who work more than 60 hours a week – about 6 percent – is among the highest in the OECD.

 

“Karoshi”, a term coined in the 1970s to describe death from overwork, is officially recognised as the cause of hundreds of deaths from cardiovascular disease and suicide each year.

To read more about the agency that will quit your job for you, click here.

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