The air transport industry tops ranking of industries with the shortest working hours, according to Kyarikone Survey

On March 4, Kyarikone, a website operated by Globalway Inc, where employees and former employees anonymously share company reviews and real salaries, released a ranking of industries with the shortest working hours, based on a survey they conducted.

New workstyle reform regulations will be partially implemented in April, capping overtime hours and compelling employers to force employees to take at least 5 paid holidays per year. This overtime cap will be implemented in small and mid-sized companies from April 2020. Many companies are now looking to address their long working hours, as drastic changes in workstyle are at the peak of public interest in Japan. With this pressing situation in the background, Kyarikone calculated the working hours of each industry based on what their users reported on their website, and presented their finding in a ranking of industries.

The results show average overtime hours across industries, ranging from around 10 hours to 40 hours. The ten industries with the least overtime include resource-based industries such as textile manufacturing, glass, soil and stone manufacturing, petroleum and coal. In contrast, construction and real estate industries, pulp, paper and steel manufacturing, all also from the resource-based industries show more than 35 overtime hours per month on average.

The air transport industry happens to be one of the most popular industries among job seeking students, and came in first place for the shortest working hours. For example, ANA Group has a “no overtime day”, and also allows its employees to take off half days from their allotted vacation time. The reviews on the Kyarikone website pointed out that, although some positions may require working irregular shifts, you are less likely to be required to go to work on one of your days off or have to work extra hours, except in case of emergency.

The textile manufacturing industry came in second place. For example, World Group, an apparel manufacturer, adopts a modified working schedule system, which allows staff to optimize shifts depending on the pace (or slack) of business so that employees can work in the most effective manner and also enjoy their personal life.

Two industries came joint third place: glass, soil and stone manufacturing, and the petroleum and coal industry. Idemitsu Kosan, a Japanese petroleum refining company, adopted a new supporting system for worker attendance that empowers employees to manage their working hours, with the goal of improving the overall efficiency in the workplace, and resulted in reducing working hours from 8 to 7.5 hours a day in October 2017.

For further details of the ranking, see the table below.

This ranking utilized the data of salary slips reported by its users between April 1 2013 and March 31 2018, and then calculated overtime hours by industry.

[Website] Kyarikone, a job-hunting support website, shares company reviews and real salaries