This employment system is still alive in Japan, I just read on a blog written by a Japanese.

“Guaranteed lifetime employment” has been the most popular employment system in Japan. Employees are guaranteed employment till they get 60. If you join a company at the age of 22, you can work there for 38 years if you don’t do anything very very wrong.

Employees don’t have to be afraid of getting fired, you can make lifetime (long term) plan, because you know how much money you’ll get when you get 40. It’s not based on your skill, it’s based on your age.

In this system, changing jobs is a risk, people think you don’t have enough patient or you have done something very very wrong to get fired.

This must sounds strange to who doesn’t know this system, even for me, it sounds very strange.

For myself, I have never worked for any company as a “guaranteed lifetime employee”. I have never expect company to hire me till I get 60, or I have never wanted to stay in one company that long.

“Lifetime” guaranteed means there is a road provided by the system for bunch of employees to walk along. I do scared of the idea, feel almost sick. Believe in this system might make you feel safe, but to keep the safe guaranteed life, you would lose or even would never know much more exciting stuff. Well, I don’t believe in this system, so I would never involved in this though.

I don’t think this system is fair, a skillful young employee should get paid more than non-skilled old employee.

However, I do understand that people would take “safe” way. Even myself, if my employment is guaranteed and I know how much money I can make by age of 60, it might be not very good, but at least I don’t have to be afraid of losing jobs or living on the street.

Now, I live in an apartment, sleep on the king size bed with my lovely cats, but I always feel I could be someone sleeping on the street. There are no guarantee that I can live in an apartment.

Sometimes I wish if I don’t have to be afraid of such a thing, I feel “lifetime employees” are very safe, they don’t even felt like me feeling, but hey, if I have chosen to be a “lifetime employee”, I must have been afraid of knowing my future.

Now I am a employee but also an employer. When I hire my staff, I don’t care age, I just see code and motivation. I don’t need anyone who is here just because he feels safe and gets paid for nothing. I need people who loves their job, who are motivated and making his future by himself.

My company don’t guarantee lifetime employment. We don’t have enough money to hire someone for nothing. I’d love my developers to work for my company as long as possible, but it must be because “they want” not because they feel safe. Laying on “safe” is illusion, there are no “safe” employees, at least at my company.

This is the end of a year, and just 1 year since we started MOZO. I’m so happy with my staff, nobody left yet, I haven’t fired anybody yet. We are making great team and I see most of my staff love what they do, and they say they love MOZO. What a great thing!

I would never “guarantee” to hire someone for long term, but I would love my staff to feel “They want” to work for long term. I want to make them feel so. No guaranteed system, but the motivation could make it happen.

Thinking back about 2009, and now thinking ahead what we can do in 2010.

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