Faced with bullish bosses, workers in Japan hire firms to help them quit

In Japan, companies are springing up to have that awkward chat on behalf of workers. Launched in 2017, a startup called Exit was a trailblazer in the developing field. For 20,000 yen (or a bit less than $150), the business will call a client’s bosses and quit for them—no in-person presence required. 

Exit co-founder Toshiyuki Niino explained to Al Jazeera in 2023 that the idea was born out of his own troubles in leaving his job and the larger workplace cultural norms at play in Japan. “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 [quitting myself],” he said, explaining that people most often approach his service because “they are scared of their boss,” or are grappling with feelings of guilt. 

Since then, Exit has become so popular that it has spawned some competitors, including one called Momuri, which translates to “I can’t do this anymore,” per CNN. Exit, though, reportedly receives more than 10,000 clients yearly. To be sure, the labor force in Japan is just shy of 70 million people, making this group not necessarily indicative of societal attitudes towards work. But perhaps the fact that business is so swimming is a testament to something larger at play. 

The answer as to why workers are reaching the brink is quite straightforward, Shinji Tanimoto, chief executive of one such service called Albatross, told the Wall Street Journal. It’s about difficult bosses, unpaid overtime, and a culture of not being able to use your PTO. “We know the reasons,” said Tanimoto.

Part of what is happening is a reckoning of sorts with notions of how work has and should be done. The pandemic set off a global rethinking of our jobs, as some employees quit their low-paying jobs, many of them on the hunt for greater flexibility. As the market ebbs and flows these benefits do as well, but there are signs of  deeper changes taking place as talks of a compressed workweek gain traction worldwide and unions rise in popularity in the U.S.  

Yuta Sakamoto, 24, explained to the Wall Street Journal that he turned to a quitting agency after his boss told him he’d “be ruining his future” after he tried to resign. “I would have been mentally broken if I had continued,” Sakamoto said, saying he used the labor shortage to find a less stressful job. 

Citing long-hours which impacted her health, 24-year-old Yuki Watanabe (a pseudonym)said she hired Momuri after fearing her manager would reject her resignation, per CNN. Indeed, employees tell CNN that a resignation process isn’t always simple, and sometimes incites harassment from managers.

Many young workers are experiencing an existential crisis, spurred by the pandemic, layoffs, and socio-economic turmoil, which has emboldened them to prioritize their mental health. Young adults might have had enough, but they’re also more prone to be “more non-confrontational,” Hiroshi Ono, professor of human resources at Hitotsubashi University Business School in Tokyo, told CNN. Pointing towards the wave of social isolation during COVID-19, Ono said that while these younger workers might have different attitudes towards work, they’re perhaps not yet ready to quit to their bosses’ faces. 

Japan’s current labor shortage seems to have fueled this new wave of workplace innovation. The government is getting involved, placing support behind a four-day workweek, a “work style reform” campaign that looks to promote flexible arrangements and curb overtime work, according to the Associated Press. The country has some of the lowest employee engagement scores in the world, at just 6% compared to the global average of 23%, according to pollster Gallup.

But the workaholic culture and fear of retribution is seemingly hard to shake, leading to said guilt that these recruitment agencies attempt to tackle. Just 7% of the 63,000 employees who worked at Panasonic took the new workweek as given to them, per AP. And only 7% of companies gave their workers the mandated day off, per the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, as cited by the outlet. Employees in Japan might be less likely to take time off if their boss doesn’t because they’re part of a society that is “collectivist and hierarchical,” said Ono in a separate interview with BBC in 2020.

Explaining that his service is made to give employers the ability to give honest feedback rather than “a weak excuse,” Exit founder Niino recognizes that tradition is, as always, hard to challenge or confront. But it happens to be good for his business.

“Our world is not that easy to fix or change,” he told Al Jazeera. “We have been running this company for six years and the number of clients is increasing, so I guess that means nothing has changed. I don’t think it will change for the next 100 years.”