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.
Same at my job. Busy half the year, dead the other half. I also have great bosses who understand we can’t help it if there’s no work to do.
It’d be pretty horrible being given nothing to do and knowing it’s because they want you to quit. That’s not a good environment for anyone. Eventually showing up out if spite will wear on you. What a shitty practice. I’m glad their being called out for it.