A Japanese-German Comparison of Restaurant Chain Store Operations Regarding Student Part-Time Workers in Hamburger Shops

Abstract

The industry with the highest percentage of non-regular employees in Japan is the restaurant industry. Particularly in restaurant chains, stores are operated mainly by part-time student workers with low hourly wages. This has been taken for granted by Japanese society, including the workers, and has not been studied. In contrast, this paper takes a global hamburger store as an example and investigates how stores in Japan and Germany are operated with different workforce compositions and under different wage and pay-rise systems. In Japan, part-time student workers are given managerial responsibilities at low wages with fixed term contract, whereas in Germany, around 80％ are full-time employees with no fixed term. A full-time employee is promoted to store manager through in-company training and has an internal promotion system with pay increases, resulting in long-term service and a strong sense of belonging, demonstrating that ‘Japanese-style employment’ is practiced, Through this on-site comparison, we argue that stores can be operated smoothly even if they are not centered on non-regular employees.