Discourse Analysis of Japanese “Black Companies”

Takahashi, Masayasu; Kimata, Akira; Teramoto, N.; Ito, Shin Ichi; Nakamura, Takehiro

doi:10.4038/cbj.v9i2.36

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…It is not a good sign, and it is reasonable to consider that employees might be overworking because they cannot take off days due to too much work. In the worst case, overwork results in employee suicide ( 60 ). Employers and managers at operational sites should pay attention to avoiding employee overwork.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of physical and mental health conditions related to employees’ absenteeism

Nawata

2024

Front. Public Health

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BackgroundEmployees’ health conditions are issues for not only employees themselves but also companies and society to keep medical costs low and productivity high.Data and methodsIn this analysis, 15,574 observations from 2,319 employees at four operational sites of a large corporation were used. The dataset contained physical and mental health conditions obtained from annual mandatory medical checkups, the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (BJSQ), and work record information. Health and other factors related to long-term absenteeism (over three days in a quarter) were analyzed. Data were collected between February 2021 and January 2022, and we converted into quarterly observations. A logit (logistic regression) model was used in the analysis.ResultsAge and gender were identified as important basic characteristics. The estimates for these variables were positive and negative and significant at the 1% level. Among the variables obtained from the medical checkups, the estimates for diastolic blood pressure, HbA1c, anamnesis, heart disease history, smoking, increased weight, and frequency of alcohol consumption were positive and significant at the 1% level, further those for taking antihypertensive medications and kidney disease history were positive and significant at the 5% level. In contrast, the estimates for systolic blood pressure and amount of alcohol consumption were negative and significant at the 1% level. The estimate for taking antihyperglycemic medications and health guidelines were negative and significant at the 5% level. Among the variables obtained from the BJSQ, the estimates for amount of work felt, fatigue and support from family and friends were positive and significant at the 1%, and the estimate for irritation was positive and significant at the 5% level. The estimates for controlling job and physical complaints were negative and significant at the 1% level, and those for usage of employee’s ability to work and suitability of the work were negative and significant at the 5% level. As all four operational sites were located in the northeastern region of Japan (cold and snowy in winter), the seasonal effects were significant at the 1% level. The effect of year was also significant and significant differences were observed among the sites at the 1% level.ConclusionSome physical and mental health conditions were strongly associated with long-term absenteeism. By improving these conditions, corporations could reduce the number of employee absence days. As absenteeism was costly for corporations due to replacement employees and their training costs to maintain operations, employers must be concerned about rising healthcare (direct and indirect) costs and implement investments to improve employees’ health conditions.LimitationsThis study’s results were based on only one corporation and the dataset was observatory. The employees were primarily operators working inside the building and most of them are healthy. Therefore, the sample selection biases might exist, and the results cannot be generalized to other types of jobs, working conditions, or companies. As medical checkups and the BJSQ are mandatory for most companies in Japan, the framework of this study can be applied to other companies. Although we used the BJSQ results, better mental measures might exist. Similar analyses for different corporations are necessary.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of physical and mental health conditions related to employees’ absenteeism

Nawata

2024

Front. Public Health

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“…According to Takahashi et al (2018), in the Japanese language, the word black does not connote racism. However, it tends to symbolize illegality, evil, and darkness.…”

Section: Black and White In Japanese Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This section describes the use of the compound black company in English, from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), by analyzing for what meaning black company is used. According to the Most Evil Corporations Award Committee (n.d., cited in Takahashi et al, 2018), in Japanese contexts, a black company is a company that acts against the law, including labor laws, and tends to compel its employees to work intentionally and/or arbitrarily even though their working conditions possibly violate laws. In addition, a black company has the habit of resorting to violence with their employees, which is called power harassment.…”

Section: Black Company and White Company In Englishmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Semantic Change of the English Color Terms BLACK and WHITE in Japanese

Bunyarat¹,

Tuptim²

2023

tpls

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This study examined the development of the metaphorical and metonymic meanings of the words black and white appearing in Japanese contexts by contrasting the meanings in Japanese with the original meanings in English. It investigated the semantic shifts which affected grammatical structures in highly real-time language on Twitter. The study revealed that black and white in Japanese contexts were used metaphorically in the narrow sense of the original English meaning. Black was used in the meanings of break the rules, persecute, and take advantage while white was used in the opposite manner. Nevertheless, these meanings do not appear in English contexts. It is a semantic change for specific usages in Japanese contexts. At first, the words black and white were mainly used with the noun company as compounds. Then, their meanings were expanded in a metonymic manner with the contiguity of senses. In other words, from being used to describe a characteristic of a company, black and white are later used to describe the characteristic of a company worker and an action of a person. The usage also changes from a compound noun to a single word in a predicate and as an adjective na.

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Discourse Analysis of Japanese “Black Companies”

Cited by 2 publications

References 6 publications

Evaluation of physical and mental health conditions related to employees’ absenteeism

Evaluation of physical and mental health conditions related to employees’ absenteeism

The Semantic Change of the English Color Terms BLACK and WHITE in Japanese

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