Chorei is a five to fifteen minute meeting at the start of the shift. A manager or a rotating staff member runs it. The content is practical: the day's schedule, safety reminders, yesterday's results, customer issues, sometimes a short speech by a team member on a topic of their choice. In some companies the group recites the corporate philosophy or creed; in factories and on construction sites it may be followed by group stretching and a safety call-and-response.
It is strongest where people work in shifts or in the field: manufacturing, logistics, retail, construction, hospitals, branch banking and sales offices. Head office functions and most foreign subsidiaries in Tokyo have replaced it with a weekly team meeting or nothing, but a mid-career hire from a Japanese manufacturer or retailer will usually have stood through thousands.
The legal point is settled. Time that an employer requires an employee to spend on work-related activity, including preparation and mandatory meetings, is working time. The Supreme Court said so in the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki Shipyard case (2000), about time spent changing into work gear. A chorei held ten minutes before the official start time, every day, is unpaid overtime unless it is paid.
What it means for a foreign employer
- If you acquire a Japanese business, check the clock. A daily pre-shift chorei outside paid hours is a common source of unpaid overtime claims. Move it inside the shift.
- It is a real channel, so do not abolish it casually. In operations it is where safety and quality issues surface and where horenso happens in public. Cutting it to save time can cost more than it saves.
- Use it in onboarding. A new site leader or plant manager is introduced at chorei; it is the fastest way to be seen by the whole floor.
- Hiring from the genba. Candidates from factory or branch environments may find a gaishi office with no daily rhythm disorienting at first. Tell them how information flows instead.
Sources
- Supreme Court, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki Shipyard case, 9 March 2000.
- Labour Standards Act, Article 32 (working hours).