Morning Assembly

Many Japanese companies conduct morning assembly daily, weekly, monthly, or possibly at other frequency, depending on each company or an office of the company.

Morning assembly at Japanese company's office

Reading company's mission statements aloud at morning assembly

Many companies discontinued morning assembly during 1990's when flex time system introduced, and starting time of each employee became various.

However, many companies recently revisited benefits of morning assembly and resumed it.

Purposes of morning assembly vary depending on each company or an office of the company, but in many cases they include the followings:

• Use the assembly as a jump-start of the day, week, month, etc.
• Inspire employees' mind or morale
• Supplement explanations of important matters in more detail face to face
• Read company's mission statements aloud
• Practice of greetings or/and speech by each employee
• Do light exercise to supply sleeping body

Yeah, some items sound silly, and it is true some employees have a negative view towards morning assembly by saying that they would like to concentrate on work itself.

I think such a negative opinion makes sense.  At the same time, I understand that as many Japanese companies still have family atmosphere (refer to Japanese Employment Relationship), they respect any opportunities to gather together like morning assembly regardless of its not so productive natures.

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