Work interval system yet to take root in Japan

Whether to make a work interval system mandatory has become a key issue as the Japanese government considers revising working-hour regulations.

Companies are currently only required to make efforts to introduce the system, which has yet to take root in Japan, with an adoption rate of just 6.9%.

Under the system, employees are required to have a certain number of hours of rest between the end of one workday and the start of the next.

Labor unions and the business community remain far apart on the issue. While labor unions are calling for the system to be made mandatory, the business community argues that the work interval system could hamper business activities.

Baeren Brewery, a beer manufacturer in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, stipulates in its work rules that employees must have at least 11 hours of rest between the end of one shift and the start of the next.

For example, if employees worked overtime until 11 p.m., they would start work at 10 a.m. the next morning, an hour later than usual.

The system acts as a brake on long working hours, Baeren Brewery President Yoichi Shimada said.

Although the brewery rarely needs to delay employees’ start times, it decided to introduce the system in case employees need to work late at night, such as during events.

The move also “provided an opportunity to promote information sharing so that work would not grind to a halt when someone was absent,” Shimada said.

The revised law to improve working hours and other working arrangements, which came into force in 2019 to prevent overwork, requires employers to make efforts to introduce the system.

The government has set a target of increasing the proportion of companies introducing the work interval system to at least 15% by 2028.

The revised law does not specify a minimum rest interval. A survey conducted in 2024 showed that 35.8% of companies that had adopted the system set intervals of 11 hours to less than 12 hours, while 24.8% opted for nine hours to less than 10 hours.

Many countries in Europe have made the system mandatory. Britain, France and Germany require employers to provide workers with at least 11 hours of rest, with penalties for violations.

At a subcommittee meeting on Oct. 14 of Japan’s Labor Policy Council, an advisory body to the labor minister, labor representatives called for making the system mandatory, with a rest interval of at least 11 hours, in principle, and imposing penalties to ensure its effectiveness.

Meanwhile, management-side representatives said decisions on how to operate the system should be left to labor and management at each company, noting that many companies that have already introduced the system have established exceptions to accommodate the nature of their operations. Uniformly making the system mandatory could interfere with business operations, they said.

“In some cases, even 11 hours is not enough to secure time for daily life,” said Yukiko Ishizaki, a professor at Yokohama National University who specializes in labor law.

“From a policy perspective, it is desirable to promote the adoption of rest intervals of 11 hours or longer,” she said.