There are many people who would like to work for a Japanese company. In this article, I will explain the advantages and disadvantages of working at a Japanese company.
Advantages
Stable income
The merits of working in Japanese companies. First, you can earn a stable income.
In Japanese companies, the basic salary system is fixed and monthly, and the amount of salary rarely depends on the results or output of work.
In addition, they tend to place importance on the length of service, and the longer you work, the more you can expect to be promoted and receive a raise.
Since there is no need to constantly pursue results, even those who are not prone to pressure will not feel stressed.
In addition to fixed salaries, Japanese companies also offer generous benefits such as housing allowances, retirement allowances, spousal allowances, and recreational facilities. In IT companies, where there are a lot of women, there is an increase in benefits such as birthday leave and menstrual leave, which are not offered by the older companies.
In Japan’s corporations/companies, employees are basically hired on a lifetime employment basis and are not fired unless something goes wrong.
For more information on why Japanese companies cannot simply fire employees, please refer to the following article.
Well-developed education system
Most Japanese companies, with their strong culture of lifetime employment and long-term employment, tend to hire new graduates and spend a lot of time and effort on employee development and training.
“This style of employment is one of the main reasons why it is common to think that it is natural for new employees to not be able to do their jobs.
Since the mainstream thinking is to comprehensively train employees who are hired at a young age to become the strength of the company, there are personnel transfers for the convenience of the company, and changes in departments and job types occur frequently.
For this reason, when hiring, there is a tendency to recruit for “career-track” or “general” positions, and it is unlikely that a high level of specialized knowledge and skills will be required from the start.
One of the reasons for this is to maintain the retention rate of employees.
We want them to stay with us as long as possible and contribute to the company.
In addition, I think this is also a factor to appeal to the students, such as “zero turnover rate for three consecutive years,” which is submitted to the university when recruiting new employees.
Easy to make a life plan
A stable salary and good benefits package will make it easier for you to plan your future.
Ease of planning for the future is especially important for life stage changes such as marriage.
If you know your monthly income, it will be easier to calculate your monthly savings based on the cost of buying a house, education for your children, and retirement.
In Japanese companies, the monthly salary amount rarely goes up or down drastically unless there is a very serious cause.
Rather, the longer you work, the more you can expect a base increase, etc. The seniority-based approach tends to be reflected in the compensation as well.
This makes it easier to envision your career design 10 or 20 years from now.
Of course, you don’t have to rely solely on the company’s training system, but you do have to develop the skills you think you need.
Compared to foreign companies, it is an environment where it is easier to design your future.
Human relations are easy to build
People who work in Japanese companies change jobs less frequently.
There are many new graduates who continue to work without changing jobs.
In some cases, welcome parties, farewell parties, and other regular events and drinking parties allow people to spend more time with their co-workers outside of work and build relationships.
As a result, it is easier to build human relationships than in foreign companies.
On and off work are important, but another advantage is that by accompanying your boss to drinks and meals after work, you can more easily connect with your boss, subordinates, and colleagues, making it easier for both parties to work together.
Disadvantages
Low salary level
Because Japanese companies are not performance-based, it tends to be difficult for work evaluations to be reflected in salary. There are companies that have uniform seniority-based compensation rules and companies that do not have properly defined evaluation standards that should be reflected in salary, so abilities may not be properly evaluated.
Also, even if a person who has been with the company for a short period of time achieves results, it may be difficult for them to be evaluated fairly for their achievements.
Therefore, when looking at the younger generation, there seems to be a large gap between foreign companies and their salaries.
These factors often make it difficult to have the spirit of “producing better results” in the work environment.
Overtime work and working on holidays is the norm
Overtime work and working on holidays have become the norm in many Japanese companies.
It is a fact that until recently, there was a strong tendency to consider it a virtue to work late after regular hours rather than to work quickly and go home on time every day. Also, unlike foreign companies where people tend to work individually or in small groups, in Japanese companies where people tend to work in organizations, there is a subtle atmosphere where it is difficult to go home if your boss or colleagues are working late.
Recently, the term “black companies” has become widely used, and the concept of working environment has made great strides.
Even so, to some older people, a person who works late and lazily rather than crisply may be seen more favorably as “contributing to the company at the expense of his or her private life.
This can also be the cause of a lack of job satisfaction.
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