Japanese National Govt Workers Cool on Transfers

Tokyo, June 17 (Jiji Press)–More than half of national government employees in Japan do not want to relocate for work, the National Personnel Authority said on Wednesday, underscoring growing resistance to the long-standing personnel practice in the country. A survey conducted by the agency in December found that 16.1 pct of full-time national government employees said they “absolutely do not want” to relocate for work, while 36.5 pct said they would “prefer not” to do so. The survey, conducted on about 280,000 such workers, drew responses from roughly 100,000 of them. The agency said traditional transfer practices are becoming harder to sustain as work styles and personal values diversify. It urged government agencies to reassess whether relocations carried out largely as a matter of custom remain necessary. To ease burdens on employees, the National Personnel Authority called for earlier notifications of transfers to give workers more time to prepare for moves. It also said consideration should be given to creating new monetary benefits and other incentives that could make transfers more attractive. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]