Hello, everyone.

This is Enta.

How is overtime at your company?

Does it seem like there are quite a few?

 

In reality, directors often work long hours.

I go to the job site first thing in the morning to oversee operations.

When there’s no photo management involved in on-site progress, I spend my days preparing meeting minutes and progress reports, or creating weekly schedules.

Whenever I get a message from the site saying, “Take a picture for us!” I head over there right away to take the photo.

Then, in the evening, once work on-site is finished and the workers have gone home, the paperwork begins at the office. (Assuming the on-site office is well-equipped.)

As the project reaches its climax, that time will increase as well.

 

If this is a workplace with a two-day weekend, that means there won't be time to handle paperwork for one day, right?

Since the site is closed, I can't work there.

So it comes down to whether I work at the office or at home.

The director's actual workload hasn't changed.I think so.

But the government is basically telling us not to work overtime, isn't it?

 

Overtime regulations for the construction industry will take full effect starting in April 2024!

1. Overtime is capped at 45 hours per month and 360 hours per year.

2. Even in the case of a “36 Agreement with Special Provisions” where special circumstances apply,

　(ii) An average of 80 hours or less over a 2- to 6-month period

　(b) Less than 100 hours in a single month

　Ha, up to six times a year for months in which the hours worked exceed 45 hours

 

If you work 20 days a month, your overtime averages about 2 hours and 15 minutes per day!

Working beyond this limit is illegal.

Imprisonment for not more than 6 months or a fine of not more than 300,000 yen

It seems that's how it will turn out.

Given this situation, how will the director go about reducing his workload?

When you think about it, the only options are to assign two to three people to each site and divide up the work among them, or to outsource it.

Realistically speaking, having two or three engineers at a single worksite just to avoid overtime is extremely wasteful, and

After all, if you were the general contractor, you wouldn't be able to bid, right? lol

 

So, that means the future demand will be for companies that handle document preparation on a contract basis.

I feel like this is all that's left.

If we outsource the work, as long as the contractor handles the paperwork, we only need to manage the site, so

That makes you feel a little better, doesn't it?

The era of outsourcing completion documentation and training for young employees has arrived!

I've started to think, "Could this really be the era I wrote about just the other day?" (But be sure to outsource your document preparation!)

But on the other hand, there are people who actually want to work overtime!

There are actually quite a few people who want to earn extra money by working overtime or who want to work because they have free time on their days off.

 

When you consider what people like this might do, the possibility arises that they might take on construction documents from other companies as subcontractors.

To put it bluntly, as a possibility,

If we can't have our own employees work overtime but they can go to another company as outsourced workers (just to organize documents)...

This means that employees at Company A who want to work overtime may end up working for Company B as outsourced document processors.

The same is true in reverse.

With side hustles being so common these days, that’s totally possible, right?

There’s a good chance we’ll see matching sites like that pop up, right? lol

 

As a company, we should significantly raise engineers' salaries, and

The ideal scenario would be to buy them two monitors and a laser printer for home use, and in return, have them figure things out on their own at home.

We can comply with labor standards regarding overtime hours and secure engineers.

Engineers will also see a significant pay raise and be able to work from home.

Well, I guess there are some people who don't want to work from home, lol.

Personally, I can't help but feel that this policy seems like a plan to weaken Japan.

I think it’s precisely because people worked harder than anyone else that “Japan as a manufacturing nation” ever existed.

 

With these working hour restrictions, construction projects are likely to face even more delays going forward, and,

There is also a high likelihood that the design firm will not be able to finalize the design.

There are certainly many aspects that make you wonder, “Has the Work-Style Reform been a failure?”

 

Tomorrow, I’d like to consider the negative effects of overtime on skilled workers.

 

See you later.