Employees hire agencies to leave their companies

Use Agency to Leave a Company?

This word is buzzing lately in Japan: resignation outsourcing. Yes, you heard it right. If someone wants to leave their company, they don’t tell the company themselves. Instead, they use a third-party agent to do it for them. The agent will call the company and inform them that the person no longer wants to communicate and wishes to resign effective immediately.

But Why?

Honestly, when I first heard about this, I was like, "Really? Do they really need an agency to do that?" That was exactly the first thought that came to my mind. But why? Why would an employee use an agency to leave their company, paying around 100 to 200 U.S. dollars per case? And why does one of these agencies receive 300 phone calls a month?

Is this about employees being spoiled, or is it the company's fault?

Japanese Managers in 2024

I'm not going to say whether this is good or bad. I just understand the fact that there are over 300 employees who have tried to leave their companies. They informed their senior managers, but these managers rejected their resignations, saying things like, "Who's going to do your work once you leave?" or "Look around, we don't have enough manpower, so you need to stay," or "The overtime and stress you're experiencing are because you're inefficient."

Ignorant Managers and HR Departments

Then I thought, these managers are nuts. There's literally a case where one employee had been negotiating with the company for two years about leaving, but the managers and the human resources department never listened, even though leaving a company is a labor right. Finally, the person discovered this service and immediately applied for it.

Gen Z (1997-2012) Leaving Manners

There's also a word that is relatively common among Gen Z, called "Tobu," meaning "fly," and to be precise, disappear from work suddenly. Without any notice, conversation, letter, or message, they simply disappear from the day they decide to do so. It's obviously rude behavior and not acceptable, but it happens. This is more common among part-time than full-time employees.

Gen Z Politeness

So, thinking about "Tobu" employees, using that agency is way better. There are many people who think that leaving a company by "Tobu" is rude and they don't want to do that. They want to join a company properly and leave cleanly. If you understand the worse way of leaving a job than using an agency, it's not totally a twisted decision to take advantage of one.

There's no clear and concise conclusion to this topic. Both sides have responsibilities, but from a business standpoint, it's an issue of the scarcity of good managers and leaders working with smart young generations. The gap between Gen Z and Gen X (1955-1964) is wider than ever before in Japan.