Panasonic Brings Optional Four-Day Work Weeks For Employees | Better Work-Life Balance?

Panasonic is considering bringing more work-life balance to its employees following its decision to lay down a four-day workweek option for them.

According to president Yuki Kusumi, the Japanese company notified the investors about this implementation. With this new change, the electronics giant could now "flexibly" accommodate" several conditions for their workers.

Panasonic Four-Day Week Option

Panasonic Brings Optional Four-Day Work Weeks For Employees | Better Work-Life Balance?
A worker lays out a logo at the stand of Japanese electronics giant Panasonic at the IFA trade fair in Berlin 29 August 2007, prior to the start of one of the world's largest consumer electronics trade show. The fair takes place from 31 August to 05 September 2007. AFP PHOTO JOHN MACDOUGALL JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images

According to a report by Bloomberg, Panasonic CEO Yuki Kusumi said that the company is giving its employees breathing room to take side jobs and put more time on voluntary ventures during their day off.

During last week's briefing, he urged everyone to support each employee on their general well-being which would pave the way for enhanced competitiveness.

"...Panasonic has approximately 240,000 employees globally with diverse personalities and capabilities. Our responsibility is to strike an ideal balance between the work style and lifestyle for our diverse human capital," he said during the company's meeting about sustainability management.

In doing so, the Japanese tech firm will implement a work-from-home system for employees whose co-workers are transferred to another branch or office. Kusumi said that the company will be making some changes to its current appraisal system as well.

Furthermore, the Japanese CEO added that they would make amendments to the screening and promotion system of employees. Panasonic said that the management treasures both the employees' life inside and outside their workspace.

Related Article: DeliSofter: Rice Cooker that can Soften Home-Cooked Meals? Panasonic Engineers Create a Machine For People With Swallowing Difficulties

Global Companies Join Four-Day Workweek

The decision of the tech giant came after announcements from several companies about their changes on employees' shorter workweek. Prior to that, Amazon launched a four-day week pilot for some of its workers back in 2018.

Meanwhile, Unilever conducted a trial for its employees based in New Zealand in 2020. The "shortened week" policy is also attracting some companies from Iceland and Ireland.

In another report from Nikkei, Japanese pharmaceutical company Shionogi will be rolling out a weekly three-day off for its workers. The drugmaker is currently developing an oral medication for coronavirus.

In addition, Sompo Himawari Life Insurance and Yahoo Japan will be joining the global trend by imposing four-day weeks on their employees.

Panasonic Data Breach

Last November, Tech Times reported that Panasonic reported a system breach. The company discovered an unauthorized third-party user in its network. At that time, the authorities believed that the hacker had allegedly accessed file servers and other information on the system.

By spotting the abnormal behavior in the network traffic, Panasonic was able to identify that there was an ongoing cyber attack in its system. After detecting the incident, it immediately called cybersecurity analysts to apply countermeasures.

To date, the firm has not yet seen any trace of evidence that the files are illegally infiltrated. The tech titan is still processing its methods to combat the previous leakage.

Read Also: #TechCEO: Jamie Iannone of eBay: How He Transformed Pandemic Into Opportunity

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Written by Joseph Henry

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