Why are workers in Japan hiring resignation agencies to say ‘I Quit’?

It is hard to survive in a toxic work environment. When your bosses are difficult and work is overwhelming, there comes a time when you would rather quit than continue, prioritising your mental health.

But resigning is even more stressful for some workers in Japan. The East Asian country’s culture of overwork and intimidating bosses are forcing employees to leave their jobs. Those who are not able to hand in their two weeks’ notice themselves are hiring “resignation agents” to help them.

Let’s take a closer look.

Japan’s resignation experts

Japan’s resignation agencies that quit on behalf of employees first sprung up in 2017. A startup called Exit is seen as a pioneer in the field. It calls up a client’s bosses and resigns for them.

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Speaking to Al Jazeera in 2023, Exit co-founder Toshiyuki Niino said the idea emerged from his own troubled experiences in quitting a job and Japan’s larger workplace cultural norms.

“They try to make you ashamed and guilty that you quit your job in less than three years, and I had a very difficult time [quitting myself],” he said.

According to Niino, most people contact him for his services as “they are scared of their boss,” or are dealing with feelings of guilt. Exit gets more than 10,000 clients every year.

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The popularity of such agencies grew after COVID-19. CNN reported citing human resources experts that working from home during the pandemic forced even some of Japan’s most loyal workers to rethink their careers.

Exit’s success led to the emergence of competitors like Momuri, which translates to “I can’t do this anymore”. Launched in 2022, the firm charges 22,000 yen (Rs 12,742) from clients to help them resign, negotiate with their companies and recommend lawyers in cases of legal disputes, as per the CNN report.

The cost of services by these resignation agencies ranges from 25,000 (Rs 14480) to 50,000 yen (Rs 28,959) but it can also be as little as 12,000 yen (Rs 6950) in some cases, according to a South China Morning Post (SCMP) report. They also collaborate with law firms and labour associations to deal with disputes.

Japan’s toxic work culture

Japan ’s labour force has around 70 million (7 crore) people. Over 12-hour shifts are usual in the country.

Resigning is considered a form of disrespect in Japan. Staff who quit could face bullying, including withholding the employee’s salary after they give their notice. In some cases, employers go as far as to rip up resignation letters and harass employees to make them stay, as per CNN.

“Some people come to us after having their resignation letter ripped three times and employers not letting them quit even when they kneel down to the ground to bow,” Shiori Kawamata, operations manager of Momuri, told CNN.

“We sometimes get calls from people crying, asking us if they can quit their job based on XYZ. We tell them that it is okay, and that quitting their job is a labour right,” she added.

Bosses could also land up at the apartments of their employees, ringing their doorbell repeatedly and not leaving, Kawamata said.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Shinji Tanimoto, chief executive of a quitting firm called Albatross, said people turn to them due to tough bosses, unpaid overtime, and a culture of not being able to utilise their paid time off.

Yuki Watanabe, who used an alias, told CNN that she approached Momuri as she did not “want my ex-employer to deny my resignation and keep me working for longer”. The 24-year-old, who used to work for some of Japan’s largest telecoms and e-payment companies, said she had to work for 12 hours in the office every day, which took a toll on her health.

Yuta Sakamoto, 24, turned to a resignation agency after his boss told him he would be “be ruining his future” when he tried to quit. “I would have been mentally broken if I had continued,” he was quoted as saying by WSJ.

According to a Japan Times report, the demand for these quitting agencies increased after the long Golden Week holiday period from April 29 to May 6 this year. Momuri received 174 such requests on a single day after the break.

“As there is the term ‘gogatsubyō,’ there is a tendency for an increasing number of people to request resignations for psychological reasons (following the Golden Week), given that people had time to take a break and think about various things,” Kawamata told Japan Times.

Gogatsubyō refers to post-Golden Week blues or demotivation to return to school or work after the long break.

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Shift in young employees’ attitude 

Experts say the change in the approach of young people towards work has led to the cropping up of resignation agencies.

The labour shortage in Japan triggered by a fast ageing population and falling birth rates has given more say to workers in the market than the previous generations, reported CNN.

However, this does not mean that workers are walking up to their managers and putting in their papers. Human resources professor Hiroshi Ono, from Hitotsubashi University Business School in Tokyo, told CNN, “I think that younger people these days are more non-confrontational” owing to social isolation during COVID-19.

The expert had said in an interview with BBC in 2020 that there is less probability of workers in Japan taking time off if their boss does not as they are part of a society that is “collectivist and hierarchical”.

Japan’s workaholic culture and the fear of retribution leads to guilt and here’s where these resignation agencies come in.

However, these service providers do not want the Japanese to develop a habit of resigning. Kawamata of Momuri told Japan Times, “We’d like people to use our resignation service as a last resort that they can rely on as protection so that they can move forward (with their lives).”

With inputs from agencies