To be worried that we are going to end up with a Japanese work life balance because there are so few young people (and even fewer competent people of any age) in the workplace

[CurdinHenry]

I'm doing the job of about ten people compared to ten years ago (a flood of early retirement packages sucked most of the experience out). I don't see this changing. The Japanese economy is strangled by the limited number of people available to add value to the workplace and part of the consequence of that is unforgiving hours and feeling grateful just to have a wage.

I don't think it's unavoidable but I think it will happen anyway

IMO there’s a serious lack of jobs in this country, in my area especially. I don’t think a limited number of people available and willing to work is causing the issue here

No, because the migrants will redress the imbalance. That's what we're told anyway.

Yep. I was one of those people who took early retirement (49). I still keep in touch with some of my former work colleagues and they all say they are working longer hours as leaving employees were not adequately replaced.

Out of interest OP how much time do you spend every day thinking of MN threads to start in AIBU? Because you seem to have a new controversial thread every day and always about something completely different to the last one.

I know the first-hand the terrible work lack of life in Japan. Fiance is a Director of an audit firm in Yokohama. He heads the teams who go in and find fraud. The last two months tax season; no days off and working 6am to 2am . I pray the UK does not head the way Japan has

We have lots of unemployed who want work that can’t get it. Some very much over qualified for the jobs try to get.

Problem is companies don’t want to pay the wages so if when one person leave they can get away with spreading that one persons work load onto the rest of the staff they will.

Companies get away with it because of compliant staff not wanting to rock the boat, not because there isn’t people able to do the job.

If working say 60 hour weeks is the norm in a workplace then I'm not surprised when people don't want to work there.

Ten people you say? 🤨😂

Companies aren’t willing to to train people or provide entry level jobs where people gain experience and learn. That’s also why there are so few jobs around

No one retiring from senior positions is being replaced where I work (school trust) roles are being merged, but it has nothing to do with lack of people to fill the roles and everything to do with saving money.

Sounds as tnough you work in a very inefficient industry if you are able to do the job of ten of your colleagues @CurdinHenry

Also a bit ironic that you're lamenting the fact there are fewer young people, considering the less than glowing threads you've started about them in the past.

Equally, you could spend less time yourself on MN if you can recognise a poster and the amount of threads theyve started!

He obviously leads a very interesting life

I recruit in the Public Sector into Technical professions .. we can’t get enough staff, just aren’t there out in the market place - even with flexible working, good pension etc.

I don't think the ability to recognise prolific thread starters has anything to do with the amount of time spent on MN.

Even if the PP only spent 20 minutes per evening on MN, the threads will still be there to see?

Agree with this. The jobs conveyor is broken due to wfh and more recently, AI.

Entry level jobs used to be a combination of low skill tasks and apprenticeship. Often organised informally simply by new starters working amongst experienced employees.

We don't have that anymore. The experienced employees are all wfh and more productive than ever because they don't have the distraction of mentoring the youngsters. Low skill tasks have been packaged up to be wfhable and AI is now picking those off too.

It’s a chilling thought.

Japan hasn’t really seen any economic growth for 3 decades. But the UK is going in that direction hence the desperation to get growth.

Where the UK differs from Japan is that we have huge levels of immigration where Japan has very little and its population is falling big time. It remains to be seen whether these levels of immigration really benefit the UK economically or not. Proponents say we need it to stop the population crashing and to staff the NHS, pay for pensions etc. but the reality is more complex than this.

The UK culture is also very different to Japan in that we are nowhere near as subservient. Japanese workers don’t leave the office until the boss has left.

OP can you say what job you do?

I know loads of senior positions are now doing much more work than they would have 20 years ago.

I was recently reading a book about about court judges and barristers etc and how it used to be a very good job as the pay massively outweighed the hours they did but now they do the work of multiple people and the wage hasn’t increased equally.
Same as teachers etc the workload has massively increased.

I don’t think it’s a lack of people wanting to do the jobs as most young people are screaming out for jobs but as @Kingfisherfly said, I think it’s just a money saving thing.

Why hire 10 people when 1 person will do the job.

Some posters are more batshit recognisable than others

It depends on what you mean by young people. I manage 4 under 30 of whom 3 are 25 and under. They are amongst the most amazing, incredible, talented people I have ever worked with (25+ year career). The 22 year old in particular is exceptional.

So I don't think it's a widespread concern for unskilled, incapable young people. I used to work for a youth charity and it gave me a lot of hope for the future if you adapt your management style to suit every individual you manage. Which I think a good manager does.

They are responsible for some of the most high profile work in my industry and are brilliant almost every time. Appraisals are a joy relative to some of my previous co-workers twice their age.

I just wanted to add hope and balance that not all young people should be written off. In fact none should but the workplace is changing.

In contrast, in my industry, where there used to be 30 roles being recruited for at any one time, now I can search and there’s none. No funding coming through to fund anything new. So many highly skilled people with multiple degrees and 20 years experience and no jobs. Where roles are being filled, it’s by very junior temporary staff. Those young people are absolutely fantastic by the way. Way more talented than I probably was at their age. But there is little future for them in a secure permanent role, just like there wasn’t for me. Lots of us have left and now have much better quality of life being self employed in other areas, working PT, lots of flexibility. Definitely far from Japanese work culture.

But that's because the economy is shrinking because there are so few skills in the UK now

Companies can't work with the skills and emotional deficits they're being given.

I took an early retirement package 7 years ago when I was 58. I am so glad that I left the workplace when I did.