METROAri was barely two months into his new job when he decided he'd had enough. The position at an online bank in Tokyo, found through an employment agency, seemed perfect for the 25-year-old, a member of Japan's legions of temporary workers.
But she quickly became discouraged. “On my first day they gave me a thick guide to read, and when I went to my boss with questions he said, 'What the hell are you asking me for?'”
Mari, who asked that her current name not be used, was forced to work late regularly and her boss's behavior became more threatening. “He would ask me why it took me so long to finish a task and he would pretend to punch me when he thought I had made a mistake. And I would do things like deliberately throw my case on the floor. It was power harassment, pure and easy.”
Unable to muster the courage to tell his boss he wanted to quit, he sought help from a company that offers proxy resignations, a fast-growing service for Japanese workers who can't hand themselves their layoffs.
Tokyo-based agency Momuri reports growing demand since it began offering proxy resignation services two and a half years ago. “We submit resignations on behalf of people who, for whatever reason, cannot do so themselves,” says Shinji Tanimoto, director of Albatross, the company that runs Momuri (which is Japanese for “enough is enough”).
He adds: “Sometimes it's just pure reluctance, but some may have experienced harassment or even violence from their employers. “They are desperate when they come to us.”
The firm, one of about 100 companies across Japan offering similar services, has so far received 350,000 online inquiries and completed 20,000 resignations.
Experts have attributed the trend to a generational shift in attitudes towards work, accelerated by the disruption to jobs and lifestyles caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, when working from home led many people to reconsider their work-life balance. .
Japan's chronic labor shortage – a symptom of its low birth rate – has also made employers more determined to retain staff, even if that means bullying them into staying. Some force workers to find their own replacements before accepting their resignations or tear up their resignation letters in front of them.
After contacting Momuri via a common messaging app, customers are asked to fill out a questionnaire, sign a contract and pay a fee: ¥22,000 (£110) for full-time workers and ¥12,300 for employees. part-time or those with a permanent contract. term contract.
Then, one of Momuri's 50 employees calls the employer on the client's behalf. The process, from initial consultation to resignation, can take 20 to 30 minutes, according to Tanimoto, whose firm hires lawyers to resolve legal disputes.
People in their twenties make up 60% of Momuri users, including a large number of recent graduates. According to the Ministry of Labor, more than 30% of recent graduates leave their jobs within three years, a figure that would have been unimaginable during Japan's post-war economic miracle.
There are countless reasons for wanting to quit, says Tanimoto, whose company boasts a 100% success rate: from unpaid overtime, low wages and breaches of contract by the employer, to verbal abuse, violence and sexual harassment.
“In Japan, companies are traditionally strong; What the employer says is valid,” he says. “And the Japanese in general are reluctant to change things. Resigning is seen as escaping and evading your responsibilities. But that is changing.”
The increase in demand for proxy resignations has been attributed to a mismatch between Generation Z workers and companies whose corporate culture is rooted in the postwar period, when lifetime employment, promotions and Salary increases were rewarded with the absolute loyalty of the staff. Many bosses take a resignation request as a personal insult.
Although Momuri's customer base is primarily young, it also receives requests for help from older workers. “We deal with all types of companies, from household names to small companies,” says Tanimoto, whose company once submitted 45 mass resignations to the same company.
Employer reaction varies. A small number show remorse and offer indirect apologies to the employee, and the majority simply accept the decision and complete the necessary paperwork. “But a small number go crazy and threaten to show up at our office, that kind of thing,” he adds. “If they behave like that, you wonder how horrible it must have been for the customer.”
Disclaimer companies say inquiries increase after long holidays, weekends and even after a rainy day, times when people tend to be more reflective. One in six workers in Japan used resignation agencies to change jobs in the 12 months to June this year, according to Mynavi, a labor information provider.
The largest group, 40.7% of respondents, said they had sought help because their employer had prevented them from leaving or was likely to do so. Almost a third said their work environment made it impossible to communicate their intention to resign, while almost 25% said they feared their company would react badly.
Toui Iida texted a resignation agency in September, a month after an IT company hired him on a short-term contract.
“The job was much more physically demanding than I had been told, so I decided to quit,” says Iida, who is now between jobs. “But when I told my supervisor, he pointed out that I had signed a one-year contract and hadn't been there long, so he refused to let me go.”
It only took a few hours for the 25-year-old to cut ties with his employer. “I was so happy I didn't have to go to work the next day. “It was like having a second chance.”
Mari, who is back at work, felt a comparable wave of relief. “The experience affected my physical and mental health,” he says.
“In Japan, you are expected to dedicate yourself to your company… quitting is out of the question. But people of my generation are different. “We are more calculating about our life choices and for me that means putting my personal happiness before my work.”