Japan Banks Go to 5-Day Work Week
Banking employees will begin a five-day work week starting next year, government and banking officials announced Tuesday.
The move, scheduled to take effect in February, is consistent with broader official efforts to encourage corporations maintaining a six-day work week and relying on Saturday banking services to close their doors.
The extra employee day off is expected to boost consumer spending and fuel the country’s shift away from dependence on exports for growth, officials said. The announcement by the Posts and Telecommunications Ministry and the Federation of Bankers’ Assns. of Japan will terminate Saturday hours for branches of the nation’s $86-billion postal savings system.
It also will limit banking activities to cash dispensing and automatic teller machines at the association’s 87 member banks, which make up virtually all of Japan’s regular banking institutions.
Japan’s banks currently close on the second and third Saturdays of the month. They are open until noon on the first, fourth and fifth Saturdays of the month.
Securities and other industry representatives have endorsed Tuesday’s announcement and are expected to follow suit.
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