Some of Japan’s biggest technology companies are sending certain employees to “boredom rooms,” where they’re forced to undertake menial tasks designed to make them quit. Employees browse the Web, read books, or do other boring things before preparing a daily report on their activities and leaving for home. In some factories targeted employees have been forced to perform repetitive assembly line work. The idea is to make work so boring, uninspiring and shameful that employees give in and resign. Companies resort to boredom rooms when they have provided employees with counseling and done other things to bring them up to speed, all to no avail. Boring workers to death may be a symptom of labor laws that make it difficult for corporations to lay off staff without good reason. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is looking to change Japan’s labor laws to make it easier to fire staff, although he’s treading lightly, given the large number of voters who still believe in a "job for life."
