Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: The Japanese are internationally known to be punctual. How punctual they are—and are expected to be—became clear recently when a government department punished its staff members with fines for leaving the office just two minutes earlier.
Early this month, when the employees of a government office in Japan left for home two minutes before their scheduled exit time, they had not bargained for what was to come: they were punished and penalised with a pay cut.
These staff members were disciplined for leaving office two minutes early, the Funabashi City Board of Education in Chiba Prefecture announced on March 10, according to media reports.
The Board of Education found 316 cases of early departures from May 2019 to January 2021, involving seven staff members, Japan Today reported.
The employees’ plea was that they left early to catch a bus home.
The counsellor, in-charge of attendance management, was also disciplined for defrauding timecards, which recorded departure times as 5:15 pm. Along with other staff members, the counsellor also left work at 5:13 pm to catch the bus.
Apart from the counsellor, the director and an elderly woman also received written reprimands for leaving work early. Four other staff members were given stern cautions.
According to Japan Today, the counsellor was penalised with a one-tenth reduction in salary for three months.
The affected employees said that if they missed the bus at 5:17 pm, the next bus wouldn’t arrive until 30 minutes later, at 5:47 pm.
