Japanese employers learn to practice what Islam preaches

ATSUSHI TOMIYAMA, Nikkei staff writer
A little past 3 p.m., the sparks stop flying at Sasakura Engineering's factory outside of central Jakarta. Workers shuffle off the shop floor into an adjacent prayer room.
     All but one of the plant's 90 local employees are Muslim. The company allows them 15 minutes of paid time for evening prayers, which fall during work hours.

  Islam guides the daily lives of more than a fifth of the world's people. As Japanese companies venture deeper into Asia, home to nearly a billion Muslims, they are learning to respect the religion's rules and customs as employers. Your correspondent saw how two Japanese manufacturers have adapted to the country with the largest Muslim population.
     Most companies in Indonesia have prayer rooms. At Kawai Indonesia, a subsidiary of Kawai Musical Instruments Mfg., the roughly 300 Muslim employees go to prayers in shifts to avoid crowding.

 Muslims pause for prayer five times a day, but the Hajj, the once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to Mecca, takes them away from work for around 40 days. At Sasakura Indonesia, whose products include desalination equipment for ships, management finds out which employees are going on the Hajj in a given year. Steps are taken to avoid any impact on operations, says the head of general affairs.


Safety first
Kawai Indonesia's female employees all wear kerchiefs instead of the traditional "jilbab" head scarf, which drapes below the neck and can get caught in factory equipment.
     The company makes a point of explaining this rule to all prospective female hires. Many women at the factory insist it's safe to wear the jilbab. But "it's important from the standpoint of personnel management to have one rule for everyone," says President Hiroshi Ushio.
     Japanese regard it as polite to use both hands when passing something to another person. But Muslims prefer the right hand, regarding the left as unclean.

 Islam's proscriptions on what and when to eat also pose a challenge for employers. In the month of Ramadan, observant Muslims fast from sunrise to sundown. Companies need to find ways to maintain productivity during this time.
     Sasakura's and Kawai's Indonesian factories start work 30 minutes earlier than usual during the period, and do not require overtime to let employees go home and break the fast as soon as possible. Anticipating a dip in productivity, Sasakura boosts output by 20% in the month before Ramadan. The factory's four Japanese employees lunch in a closed room during Ramadan out of consideration for their fasting coworkers.
     At the end of the month of fasting comes the festival of Lebaran, during which Indonesians take about a week off to visit their hometowns. Kawai requires 30 employees in leadership positions to return to work a day early, giving them a chance to get back up to speed. The company also gives awards for outstanding achievement during Ramadan.
     "We've become an organization that doesn't compromise productivity during Ramadan or after Lebaran," Ushio says.

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