"Lifetime employment" isn't like insurance—what does "lifetime" actually mean? | A 50-something lost in their career

The strange term "lifetime employment"

In this day and age, don't you hear it often?
"Lifetime employment has collapsed."

But after passing 50 and falling into a career rut, I suddenly wondered,

what on earth did the "lifetime" in lifetime employment actually mean?

It's not like life insurance, and the company isn't going to take care of you until you die.
Even so, why did they use such an exaggerated term as"lifetime"?

The retirement age used to be 55, you know?
Even when I first entered the workforce, very few people worked past 60.
Yet, the term "lifetime employment" supported us as if it were a symbol of security.

In this article, I will reflect on the term "lifetime employment" and the relationships between people back then.

The word was left behind

I looked it up with AI and found something interesting.
Japan's average life expectancy was 55 around the 1950s.
The retirement age for company employees was also set at 55 around that same time in the 1960s.

In other words, back then, if you worked until retirement, it was roughly "lifetime."
It meant exactly what it said.

But times have changed.

Average life expectancy has increased, and we now live in an era where we live even after retirement.

However,only the word was left behind there.

And the sense of security provided by that left-behind term "lifetime employment" continued to support Japanese salaryman society.
It might not be an exaggeration to say so.

A selfish "expectation" rather than a "promise"?

The sense of security that the term "lifetime employment" gave us was, in fact, never a "promise" from the start, but merely a selfish "expectation."

The bubble burst.
Restructuring began.
Demotions disguised as transfers increased.

Before I knew it, the times had changed into an era where you might leave the company before reaching retirement, let alone "lifetime."

I myself felt this keenly through the reality of being demoted.

It was something obvious, yet for some reason, I hadn't realized it until then.
Or perhaps, I just didn't want to realize it.

"Companies like family" had a certain "warmth"

However, the term "lifetime employment" from about 30 years ago, when I first entered the workforce, had a strange "warmth" to it.

Perhaps it was because of that term that the company felt like a family.

Even when we were forced to listen to our boss's karaoke at company trips, there was a sense somewhere that "we are all in the same boat."

I think that was aJapanese-style "warmth".

I didn't dislike that warmth, but...

In the end, the term "lifetime employment" was likely"a convenient expectation for both the company and the individual".

But under the banner of a "company like family," everyone believed they had a place where they belonged.

That's why we could work so hard, and why we could somehow endure the unreasonable demands of our bosses.

I think we were able to do our best because that warmth existed.

Thinking about it that way, maybe it wasn't such a bad era after all.

Even if it's not for a lifetime, I want to be sincere

In this day and age, the forms of employment are changing rapidly.

The era of entrusting your life to a company is over.
That is a fact everyone knows.

I myself am now aiming for a "way of working that doesn't depend on a company."

I want to be able to stand on my own two feet without being bound by the framework of a company.

But—whether I continue in my current job or change careers in the future,
"working while trusting others"—that is the one feeling I want to keep holding onto.

Even if it's not for a lifetime, I want to be sincere in every encounter.

That is how I deeply feel right now.

In conclusion

While writing this article, I suddenly thought about something.

The era when the word "lifetime" existed was certainly clumsy, and compared to now, it was full of inconveniences.

Company computers were shared by multiple people.
There was no internet.
There were no mobile phones.

Perhaps that is why the relationships between people were a little warmer.
There was a little bit of "humanity" left in the act of working.

Even though times have changed, I don't want to let go of that part.

But honestly, that kind of "warmth" from back then no longer remains in my current workplace.

Does any "warmth" still remain in your workplace?

Thank you for reading until the end.

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📚 Introduction to my magazines

📑50s, career struggles and a fresh start
I experienced being "demoted," and I am compiling my struggles and realizations regarding work, careers, and ways of working within a corporate organization into a magazine, hoping it will help others who are suffering in the same way.

📑New challenges from your 50s—let's walk our own path from now on
To break free from the daily sense of stagnation, I am documenting various "tried it out" experiences, such as studying AI and working on my health.
I hope my "new challenges" will be the trigger for you to take a step forward.

📑50-something's groping-in-the-dark psychology terminology series
Although I am still studying and there are points where I fall short, I am compiling the psychological terms I have been learning for the purpose of maintaining my mental health since experiencing a demotion.

I would be happy if you could read this as well.