Don’t like drinking with the boss? No promotion for you

By Oona McGee

In Japan, husbands often hand over their pay packets to their wives, who are the chief financial controllers for the household. Husbands then receive a fraction of their pay in the form of a monthly allowance, which has to cover costs such as cell phone charges, lunches and all-important networking and relations-building “nomikai,” or work drinking parties.

According to a survey by Shinsei Bank, the average office worker receives an allowance of 39,600 yen a month. But when the average cost for attending a drinking party is 2,860 yen, and one lunch is an average of 510 yen a day, many workers are now choosing to skip out on after work drinks. What they don’t realize is that this attempt to save some yen is actually jeopardising their careers.

Here are some comments from office workers in their 30s about their tight financial situations:

“Drinking parties are a waste of money, so even though I’m invited I don’t go. If you continually refuse, then they stop inviting you so it’s not a problem.”

“Nothing will improve for me because even if my income increases, my monthly allowance will stay the same.”

Management consultant Shinsuke Suzuki, however, is certain that “nomi-nication”  remains an important part of workplace relations, asserting that, “office workers who decline invitations to drinking parties can’t get promoted.”

Making the effort to attend drinking parties is often a simple way to show your commitment to work relationships.

“ To a large extent, if you’re not an employee with a specialised technical skill, then there’s nothing to really distinguish you from the other workers. So if you want to stand out and get promoted, attending drinking parties and building up an in-house network is much more effective than simply working your heart out at work.

“Of course, there will be people who think, ‘A party organizer is such a low and useless level of work. I should be assessed for my work performance at work,’” Suzuki said. “But these people are missing the point. If you show that you can organize a party, then you’re also showing that you can complete work projects and you have good people skills.”

But what about those on a tight monthly budget?

It seems that if you want to get ahead in business on a tight budget, you might just have to skip lunch and go out drinking with the boss instead. Your body may not thank you for it but your future wallet will.

Sources: Nikkan Spa