While cashiers standing at their registers may be the norm in Japan, a campaign launched by a staffing agency is encouraging Japanese companies to reconsider the practice to ease employees' fatigue and improve their motivation.
Mynavi Corp. is offering specially designed stools to spur companies to rethink the requirement for retail employees to stand for hours during their shifts.
To challenge the stereotype that cashiers are meant to stand, Belc Co., a supermarket chain operator, has introduced chairs for cashiers at a few of its stores near Tokyo since March.
"It is normal to have seated cashiers in foreign countries such as the Netherlands, Britain, South Korea, and their customers also approve of it," Belc said in a press release, expressing hope that allowing cashiers to sit will lead to better customer service.
An online survey of 300 employers conducted by Mynavi showed 20 percent barred their part-time workers from sitting when attending to customers, while 24.3 percent said they did not set a clear rule but workers still stood. Only 23.3 percent allowed their workers to sit.
A survey of 300 part-time workers, meanwhile, showed that standing negatively affects the quality of work, impacting concentration and motivation.
As for why employers did not allow workers to sit, 33.8 percent said it was to prevent giving customers a bad impression, while 25.6 percent answered "just because" without stating a reason.
The requirement to stand during shifts also affected hiring, according to the poll, with 19.7 percent of employers saying they had seen part-time workers quit due to physical factors stemming from standing during work. Over half of part-time workers also said they would be more motivated to work if they were allowed to sit.
Nearly 80 percent of the employers and part-time workers said they would not mind being served by seated shop attendants.
Mynavi said it hopes to "create comfortable working environments for employees, while offering employers opportunities to secure workers and keep them in their jobs for longer," the company said in a press release.
The initiative unveiled in March, called Suwatte Iissu Project from a combination of the casual Japanese phrase "suwatte iissu" (it's OK to sit) and "isu" (chair), provides stools developed with furniture maker Sankei Corp. The adjustable height stools are slightly inclined to allow workers to remain attentive to customers and stand quickly.
