My wife works for a very large and respected Japanese company. Last month she and other coworkers took a technical test, hoping to get promoted to a senior position of the technical department in her company. She has been working there for 12 years and basically had to learn every technical skill by herself because the company refused to pay for a course, even though they required those skills. She quickly became the technical expert in her department and was pretty much given a untitled manager role, even though her salary has not changed since the day she was hired. Her manager or “mentor” as he is called is supposed to be the overseer of the technical department, but he actually has zero technical knowledge. According to my wife he barely knows how to operate a computer and only knows how to make Excel sheets.
She spent months preparing for the test, and was able to write some very detailed solutions to some of the problems that the test gave her.
So when her manager failed her she was obviously shocked. She went to a meeting with her manager afterwards who told her exactly why he decided to fail her: Her answers were too technical.
Basically he was annoyed that she gave him technical solutions that he could not understand, and told her that her answers should have focused on her “determination”. Instead of writing down a technical solution to a technical problem, he expected her to write how she would gather all of her team mates, brief them about the problem and give them a motivational speech, telling them how they should all work hard together, remember their company slogan etc.
He then went on saying that there had been talks in the department. Apparently some of her coworkers felt uncomfortable about her high technical level, saying that she makes them lose confidence when she gives technical presentations. He told her to be more humble and remember that they are a team and if she has to lower her skills to match with her coworkers, then that is the preferred option.
To add salt to the wound, the senior position was given to a coworker who also had zero technical skills, and whose contribution to the team is “みんながんばって!” (Good luck everyone!)
Since that talk my wife has fallen into depression and has given up putting any effort into her work. She barely talks anymore, and it’s a challenge just getting her to eat.
I want to help her, but my support and care alone is not enough, and I feel that we need help from someone who is more familiar with Japanese work culture.
I was wondering if anyone here knows a good psychologist who deal with work-related problems and NOT just going “しょうがない”? (“I can’t help it”?)
I have urged her to think about the possibility of moving to an international company, but it’s very easy for me to say. I am not the one who put 12 years of my life into a company that rewarded me by giving me the finger. I fully understand why she cannot just say “Oh well, moving on”