As lifespans in Japan edge toward the century mark, people heading into middle age and their elder years are beginning to look to new career paths, to their "second lives." And Tokyo-based global advertising giant Dentsu Inc. is getting in on the trend, launching an experimental program to give some 40-plus permanent employees a launchpad for their ambitions beyond the company, The Mainichi reported.
Those joining the program officially retire from the firm to start their own small businesses, but then Dentsu provides them with a fixed income for 10 years as contractors while they get their new projects going. For the company, the program is a way to suss out new relationships with veteran employees who leave the nest.
In 2020, Dentsu announced its "Life Shift Platform" program. Permanent employees aged 40 and up who signed on to the program could leave the company with a retirement bonus, and then sign subcontractor agreements to do work for Dentsu subsidiary New Horizon Collective (NH), including making business proposals to new clients.
Regardless of whether people on the Life Shift Platform generate new business, they will receive a fixed income—50-60% of their former salaries on average—for up to a decade after formally leaving the company.
The Life Shift Platform system was, in fact, the result of an internal suggestion. NH President Yuji Yamaguchi, 53, said of his idea, "In these changing times, I saw people who had no truly appropriate place and were unable to perform to their fullest. We're said to be in the '100-year lifespan' era, and I thought that it would be a good idea to consider how people in their 60s and 70s could make the most of their individual strengths, without being constrained by existing age or company frameworks. And so, I proposed this 'grand experiment.'"
For Dentsu, the program could also be a cost-saver as the legions of middle aged and older staff who joined the firm during Japan's economic bubble era use it to take early retirement—thereby taking their salaries off the books.
