In Japan, a phenomenon known as "madogiwa-zoku" sees employees in their 50s and 60s sidelined to window-side desks with minimal duties while retaining full salaries, creating resentment among younger colleagues.
Japan's corporate culture harbors a long-standing practice where companies avoid firing older, less productive workers by reassigning them to peripheral roles — literally moving them to "window-side" desks — while maintaining their full salaries and benefits.
Known as "madogiwa-zoku" (窓際族), or "window-side tribe," these employees, typically aged 50 to 60, remain on payrolls despite being given minimal tasks. The practice reflects Japan's traditional lifetime employment system, where outright dismissal carries social stigma and legal complexity, prompting firms to quietly marginalize senior staff rather than terminate them.
The arrangement fuels generational friction. Surveys indicate nearly half of workers under 40 have encountered such colleagues, and nine in ten believe the practice merely shifts workload onto younger employees. Critics argue it blocks career advancement, inflates labor costs, and undermines productivity in an economy already grappling with a shrinking workforce.
As Japan faces acute labor shortages and pressure to modernize, the "window-side" phenomenon underscores the tension between cultural expectations of job security and the demands of a competitive, aging society. Reform efforts have stalled, leaving the practice entrenched in many large corporations.
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