Unable to offer attractive wages, a Japanese tech company has been trying to attract new talent by offering ingenious benefits such as free alcoholic drinks at work and hangover leaves.

Since the burst of the Japanese economic bubble in the early 1990s, the Japanese economy has been stagnating along with employee salaries. Even though some corporations have announced plans to increase starting wages in hopes of attracting new talent, small and medium-sized companies simply don’t have that option because their budgets don’t allow it. In order to compete with big players, they have to think outside the box and offer appealing and sometimes unorthodox benefits to potential employees. One small technology company in Osaka recently went viral in the Land of the Rising Sun by offering its staff free alcoholic drinks during work hours and hangover leaves to clear their heads.

Drinking on the job is usually frowned upon, but not at Trust Ring Co., Ltd., a small technology company in Midoribashi, Osaka. Here, the boss himself brings the booze and happily toasts with his employees as part of a special benefit meant to attract young talent. And if some of them have one or two drinks too many, they can use their “hangover leaves” to come in late at work, no questions asked.

“Because I used the ‘hangover leave’ system, I can go back to work at 12 o’clock,” one female employee recently told Kansai TV. “You can sleep for 2 or 3 more hours and come back to work with a clear mind. I feel like I will be more efficient.”

The CEO of Trust Ring Co., Ltd. explained that he came up with these unusual benefits because he couldn’t afford to pay his employees more. Trying to compete with large corporations in terms of salary was a losing battle, so he had to offer people something they valued more than money.

“The starting salary at our company is 222,000 yen, which already includes 20 hours of overtime pay, so it’s almost the minimum wage,” the boss said. “We really can’t raise the starting salary, so I think that small and medium-sized enterprises should focus on attracting talent with similar ideas.”

Oddity Central