Resignation application submission service

The young man worked as a salesman for home improvement projects, but often had to clean them on weekends when his boss asked him to. After a while of not daring to submit his resignation, a friend introduced him to a "resignation service." With just $200 and some information, Sakamoto got out of the awkward situation.

“I would have a mental breakdown if I continued,” said Sakamoto, in Tokyo, who has found a new job at a printing company.

With an unemployment rate of 2.7 percent and a rapidly aging population, Japan is facing a severe labor shortage. According to market research firm Teikoku Databank, the shortage of workers is a major cause of many of the problems, causing 313 companies to go bankrupt in the last fiscal year.

The generation gap has caused some older managers to still expect absolute loyalty from their employees. Many businesses have refused or made it difficult to process employee resignations.

In addition, the Japanese have a tradition of politeness, and are reluctant to confront or speak directly for fear of offending others. Many people worry that quitting their jobs will cause turmoil or be gossiped about by their colleagues. Companies such as Exit, Mo Muri and Albatross have emerged to provide services to help employees resign.

Toshiyuki Niino, 34, said he founded Exit after going through similar hardships. "You might be surprised, but I was too shy or scared to say what I thought," Niino said.

He also stressed that Japanese people are often not educated to express their opinions. Exit currently handles more than 10,000 resignations a year. To compete with rivals, they even offer a 50% discount to regular customers.

Meanwhile, Mo Muri has started advertising on the subway, promising to help clients find new jobs. Others are focusing on specific niches. One law firm, for example, offers military resignation services for $400, double the average, but promises more peace of mind.

Koichi Oda, 39, after eight years as a forklift driver at a warehouse in western Japan, used the service to resign because he could no longer bear the pressure from his boss, low pay and harsh working conditions that sent some of his colleagues to the emergency room with heatstroke.

Others who can't afford these services have found creative ways to quit their jobs. One user on X shared that he had no money to pay rent so he pretended to be an employee of a brokerage firm and applied himself.

Meanwhile, companies facing labor shortages are turning to these layoff agencies to connect them with recently laid-off employees. Kaoru Yoshida, a human resources manager at a Tokyo-based company, said he is turning to these services to find potential candidates for his company.

Shinji Tanimoto, CEO of Albatross, which runs the "I can't do it anymore" service, said some company managers have come to him for advice on how to retain staff.

According to him, the reasons employees leave companies are not complicated: bossy bosses, not paying overtime and refusing to let employees use vacation time.

Ayumi Sekine, 24, an employee at Albatross, said her job is simple. Sekine calls business leaders, pitches her services, and announces that her client is quitting. She assigns a day off and the ability to use any remaining paid vacation days for the notice period.

The young woman made the switch after four years at a gas company, where she received few pay rises despite considering herself a top performer. Her resignation was only accepted after she cried and begged her boss after three weeks of meetings where managers tried to talk her out of it.

“That was when I really realized how stressful resigning was,” she shared.

At the new company, the work is not too stressful, and she also gets an additional benefit, as her boss Tanimoto points out: "If someone here wants to quit, I won't stop them."