Japanese companies have been cautious about lifting the ban on side jobs because it would lead to neglect of the main job. However, the wind is starting to change. Companies are being forced to support employees’ risk taking and career advancement. According to a survey by Persol Research Institute, the percentage of companies that accept side jobs will be 61% in 2023. Many people cited side income as the reason for taking on a side job, but this is also changing. More and more people are looking to use side jobs not only for side income but also for reskilling. Interestingly, companies are also encouraging their employees to acquire new skills through reskill taking. There seems to be a trend that companies will benefit if they can utilize the results of their side jobs in their main job.
In order to improve employees’ abilities, they must secure time to study. The total time in a year is 8760 hours calculated as 24 hours x 365 days. It seems that a person’s daily life can be divided into three parts: 8 hours of physiological time such as sleep, 8 hours of work time, and 8 hours of leisure time. Working hours are calculated as 8 hours x 365 days ÷ 7 x (7 days – 2 days), which is 2080 hours. In contrast, leisure time is about 3000 hours. It takes 1000 hours to acquire specialized skills and knowledge. In other words, if you devote 2000 hours to work and use one-third of your 3000 hours of leisure time for a side job, you can acquire specialized skills and knowledge in one year. If you spend one-third of your 3000 hours of leisure time a year on a side job and gain specialized knowledge and skills there, it may be a win-win for both the person and the company.
Modern industry has achieved great results through the division of labor and the subdivision of specialization. However, Chaplin’s simple assembly line footage had an inhuman side. The Renaissance people made great achievements in multiple fields. The representative Leonardo da Vinci painted, built, and even built a sturdy castle necessary for the military. In modern times, vertical administration, which shows the essence of division of labor, is criticized. Rather, cross-sectional collaboration is attracting attention. Connections between people from different fields are said to lead to business success. If the members working on a project become more diverse, new fields of work will open up more and more cases. It seems that we are now in an era that individuals or groups are required to have multiple skills.
