The “two-day work week system,” in which site workers rotate shifts and are guaranteed at least eight days off every four weeks, is also spreading to construction work at the behest of local governments. According to the latest survey by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, 30 organizations have introduced it in prefectures. This is an increase of 11 organizations from a year ago, accounting for more than half of the total. In designated cities, 12 organizations have introduced the system, double the number from a year ago. In principle, some local governments are implementing the client-designated shift system for construction projects where it is difficult to close sites due to continuous work and the movement to ensure flexible days off is growing.
The shift system is used by each local government for year-round maintenance work, renovation work of government buildings and schools, work that is difficult to close down, work with strict time limits for completion, and disaster recovery work that requires early completion. There are six local governments in the provinces and two designated cities that are considering adopting this system.
Regarding the operational issue, there are many opinions such as "It takes a long time to confirm that everyone has taken a holiday", "No contractor can guarantee replacement workers", and "There is no request from the industry group." Some local governments have created a form to calculate the percentage of holidays and are working to reduce the burden of confirming the availability of holidays. There is also a movement to exchange opinions with industry groups and proactively evaluate the necessity of adopting a shift system.
Nagoya City adopted the shift system in October 2022, and in October 2023, it became a system in which the ordering party is designated. This system has been applied to construction works that are difficult to close the site, and among the construction works completed in fiscal 2011, a total of 47 projects advertised as having a shift system have achieved two-day working hours a week. Efforts have been made to notify the industry before and after changing the ordering party-designated model.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism introduces the case of the Hokuriku Regional Development Bureau, which uses a list showing the percentage of days off for site workers as a way to confirm whether they are guaranteed days off. Targeting the engineers and technicians of the main contractor and subcontractors in the construction system ledger, the subcontractor calculates the holiday rate based on the construction time on the ledger. By averaging the percentage of days off for all workers, you can find the percentage of days off for the entire facility. In addition, we are also introducing to local governments a method for calculating the site closure rate and average working days using the customer support function of the Construction Career Advancement System (CCUS).
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