Bandai Namco has reportedly turned to the unspoken Japanese tradition of layoff-by-boredom by stuffing unwanted employees into oidashi beya, or “expulsion rooms.”

Employees banished reassigned to oidashi beya are left to do nothing, or given menial tasks at best. According to Bloomberg’s unnamed insider sources, Bandai Namco has moved around 200 of its 1,300 person team to these rooms in recent months.

The goal of sticking someone in an expulsion room is to literally bore or shame them into quitting, and Bloomberg’s sources claim it has worked on around half the people Bandai Namco has stuck in there so far.

  • xmunk
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    1 month ago

    As a software developer writing out lines from the dictionary isn’t part of my job description… they’d be violating my employment contract.

    Bosses can’t just demand you do something… your work needs to be stuff you agreed to do.

    • Lauchs@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      You probably have another duties ad required clause somewhere. If not, fine one dev to another, asking for hundreds of shitty useless QA tests. Same stupidity but if they can demonstrate a reasonable employee should finish X in Y time…

      • xmunk
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        1 month ago

        If you get into a situation like this please reach out to a labor lawyer - it’s extremely likely that you could make a case for constructive dismissal.