Afraid to Quit Your Job? You Can Hire Someone to Do It For You. In Japan, a company called "Exit" charges 20,000 Japanese yen (or $144 dollars) to quit on an employee's behalf.
By Madeline Garfinkle •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Resigning from a job can be painful, confusing, or outright awkward. However, in Japan, one service is committed to assuaging employees' quitting fears — by doing it for them.
Exit, a company launched in 2017, will handle the quitting logistics for a fee of 20,000 Japanese yen (or $144 dollars). Founded by childhood friends Toshiyuki Niino and Yuichiro Okazaki, Exit was inspired by Niino's real-life anxiety about quitting his job but struggling to confront his boss, Al Jazeera reported.
"When you try to quit, they give you a guilt trip," he told the outlet. Niino added that Exit receives about 10,000 inquiries annually.
Niino added that Exit's popularity (which has spawned several competitors since its inception, NPR reported) could be attributed to Japan's ruthless work culture and the concept of "karoshi" (death from overwork).
As far as logistics, here's how it works: On a desired quit day, Exit will contact the client's employer to inform them of their two weeks' notice — and that they will no longer be taking any calls or emails, the Financial Times explains.
Exit's business model is eerily similar to that of science fiction author Charles Yu's 2010 short story titled "Standard Loneliness Package" — where people can outsource difficult situations — from root canals to funerals to quitting a job — for a price.
"Don't feel like having a bad day? Let someone else have it for you," the story reads.
However, this isn't an alternate universe, and in the real world, there could be consequences for such a move.
Koji Takahashi, a manager who was on the receiving end of one of Exit's resignation calls, told Al Jazeera that he was wildly taken aback by the move and that it "negatively affected" his view of the former employee's character.
"I thought that if someone cannot resign without using this kind of service, it is their own loss and that they are an unfortunate personality who sees work as nothing more than a means to get money," he told the outlet.
Related: This Is the 1 Word You Need to Remember When You're Quitting a Job
