A purple cape has become an unlikely weapon in Japan's efforts to get its workers to work fewer hours. Employees at a Tokyo-based IT services company were recently forced to wear such "embarrassment" capes if they worked late on the third Wednesday of the month.
The shaming tactic worked: The amount of overtime worked was cut in half. This was not a case, however, of bosses imposing cape-wearing from on high. Instead, the company’s president and another senior colleague asked employees for their suggestions on ways to cut down on overtime after attending a training course on work-life balance, and the employees suggested the cape.
It is not the only unorthodox idea being tested in Japan to improve work-life balance. Three companies recently announced that they were jointly developing a drone to fly around the workplace after-hours playing a go-home tune to any lingering employees. The proposed song, the New Year's Eve standard "Auld Lang Syne," is commonly heard in Japanese supermarkets just before closing time.
Work-life balance is a hot topic right now in Japan. Karōshi, death caused by the physical and mental/emotional stress of overwork (most commonly by heart attack, stroke, or suicide), has spurred a drive to find ways to change the workaholic culture. Hard work and loyalty to one's employer are long-embedded values.