In Japan, a typical workday is 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., which is the bare minimum expected. The latest most workers leave the office is 11 p.m. The demands are so intense that many workers suffer physical ailments as a result. Asking to leave work on time or take some time off can be tricky enough, but tendering a resignation is often seen as the ultimate form of disrespect. In the most extreme cases, grumpy bosses rip up resignation letters and harass employees to force them to stay. Now, dissatisfied workers have an alternative. For the price of a fancy dinner, they can hire a proxy firm to help them resign stress-free. At a cost of $150 — $80 for those who work part-time — these companies pledge to help employees tender their resignations, negotiate with their employers, and provide recommendations if a lawyer is needed to settle disputes. Japan has long had an overwork culture. Unethical employers who harass employees who want to resign —even going so far as to follow them home — are considered “black firms,” where working conditions are so bad there’s no psychological safety. The stress has proven fatal for decades, as exemplified by a phenomenon called “karoski,” or “death by overwork.” More than 370 companies have been blacklisted by labor bureaus across the country since the list was published in 2017. Shiori Kawamata, Operations Manager of Momuri, one of the resignation agencies, said: “We honestly think that our resignation agency service should disappear from society and we hope for that. We think it’s best if people can tell their bosses themselves, but hearing the horror stories of our clients, I don’t think that our business will disappear anytime soon.”
