Bandai Namco has reportedly turned to the unspoken Japanese tradition of layoff-by-boredom by stuffing unwanted employees into oidashi beya, or “expulsion rooms.”
Employees banished reassigned to oidashi beya are left to do nothing, or given menial tasks at best. According to Bloomberg’s unnamed insider sources, Bandai Namco has moved around 200 of its 1,300 person team to these rooms in recent months.
The goal of sticking someone in an expulsion room is to literally bore or shame them into quitting, and Bloomberg’s sources claim it has worked on around half the people Bandai Namco has stuck in there so far.
Eh even with being allowed to do things, it still sucks after a while. My job is seasonal with half the year being insanely busy and other half has practically nothing to do after work dries up. Luckily the bosses are chill about it, just show up and “pretend” to be busy and you can watch TV on your phone while “cleaning” the same tools or trays etc over and over. It’s nice for a few weeks after the demanding busy season ends, but even with being allowed to listen to music or watch stuff on your phone, take extra breaks, chat with people as much as you want, it still gets old having to be at work 40 hours a week with nothing truly productive to do.
That’s with good bosses that want to keep the workers happy, doing tedious mind numbing work for bosses that are trying to get you to quit sounds like hell. No thank you.
Same at my job. Busy half the year, dead the other half. I also have great bosses who understand we can’t help it if there’s no work to do.
It’d be pretty horrible being given nothing to do and knowing it’s because they want you to quit. That’s not a good environment for anyone. Eventually showing up out if spite will wear on you. What a shitty practice. I’m glad their being called out for it.