Lifetime Employmentin Japanese Companies

In most largeJapanese companies,there is a policy of lifetime employment.What this means isthat when people leave school or university to join an enterprise,they can

expect to remainwith that organization until they retire.In effect,the employee gets jobsecurity for life,and can only be fired for serious mistakes in work.Even intimes of

businessrecession,he or she is free from the fear of being laid off.

One result of thispractice is that the Japanese worker identifies closely with his company andfeels strong loyalty to it.By working hard for the company,he believes he is

safeguarding his ownfuture.It is not surprising that devotion to one's company is considered agreat virtue in Japan.A man is often prepared to put his firm's interestsbefore

those of hisimmediate family.

The job securityguaranteed by this system influences the way employees approach their work.Theytend to think in terms of what they can achieve throughout their

career.This isbecause they are not judged on how they are performing during a short period oftime.They can afford to take a longer perspective than their western

counterparts.

This marriagebetween the employee and the company-the consequence of lifetime employment-mayexplain why Japanese workers seem positively to love the products their

company is producingand why they are willing to stay on after work,for little overtime pay,toparticipate in earnest discussions about the quality control of their products.The Japanese workeris fond of his company's product because of the close link between him and hiscompany.

A.Right

B.Wrong

C.Not mentioned