Construction of an Appropriately Professional Working Environment for IT Professionals: A Key Element of Quality IT-Enabled Services - IT Enabled Services - page 68

outlook is an urgent social issue that should be addressed through a collaborative
relationship among industry, government and academia. However, the current
estimated shortfall of 150,000 IT workers has been alleged as being responsible
for the deterioration of software quality and frequent information system failures. In
addition, the IT profession has already become unpopular among young people in
Japan. Results of a survey of 10,299 Japanese university students seeking employ-
ment showed that just 4.2 % of them wanted to work in IT departments (Mainichi
Communications 2008 ). Even the number of people wanting to pursue IT-related
university degrees is decreasing. This situation is due to the poor working
conditions in the Japanese IT industry.

4.3.3.5 3K or 7K Workplace

Many Japanese companies have tried to improve their cost structure since the burst
of the economic bubble in the early 1990s. In-house IT departments, which had
often been considered as cost centres, became targets of restructuring and many of
them were spun off into separate companies. The outsourcing of information
system development, operation and maintenance, even offshore, is already com-
monplace. Japanese IT companies now compete with domestic as well as overseas
IT companies, and keenly feel the need to reduce costs.
The pressure to reduce the personnel cost has made the working environment
worse in terms of pay and working hours. The number of full-time workers is
decreasing even as the number of part-time workers and contractors is increasing.
The working environment of IT professionals in Japan is no exception, and
conditions are often described as “3K”, from the three Japanese phrases Kitsui
(physically hard), Kyuryo ga yasui (low pay) and Kaere-nai (cannot go home). This
has recently expanded to “7K” with the additional four Ks being Kyuka ga tore-nai
(cannot take a holiday), Kisoku ga kibishii (stringent working regulations), Kesho
ga nora-nai (have rough skin due to irregular hours and lack of sleep) and Kekkon
deki-nai (not marriable).
Japanese IT professionals do receive above-average salaries. However, aside
from Kyuryo ga yasui, the rest of the 3K and 7K clearly apply to the working
conditions in the Japanese IT industry. That IT professionals feel their pay is low is
understandable, considering the heavy burden of their work. Moreover, many of
them must work overtime without extra pay. A survey of 2,214 IT professionals
indicated that one-quarter of them felt that their jobs were not worthwhile, and
72.6 % recognised their profession was unpopular among young people (Nikkei
Computer 2006 ).
Development of professionalism is difficult because Japanese IT professionals
lack pride in their profession. The poor labour conditions in the field are so
notorious that young Japanese people tend to shy away from becoming IT
professionals. Thus, the Japanese IT industry finds it difficult to hire good workers.
The result is a small number of capable IT professionals who are always forced to
shoulder a heavy workload.