YOLO JAPAN Co. LTD; a company that manages comprehensive media for foreigners staying in Japan, announced the results of survey on awareness about Japanese work environment among foreigners on December 25, 2018.
About “Employment in Japan”, 70% of the foreigners replied that they were asked for native level Japanese making it clear that they are struggling due to language barrier. Moreover, 50% responded that they are not proactive in recruiting foreigners and there are cases whereby foreigners are rejected due to external appearance and nationality. It was also said that apart from conversation, other communication skills are also considered such as necessity of Japanese resume.
【About working in Japan】However, foreigners working for Japanese companies that are proactive in hiring foreigners had many positive opinions. When asked about the “Benefits at current work place” almost 60% responded that “The staff is kind to explain us various things” and “Communication is assertive”.
Moreover, many people were impressed by the positive approach of enterprises with almost 50 % saying that “Communication is in languages other than Japanese”. Also, many of them responded that “Even though our Japanese was not understandable, seniors taught us with great patience and perseverance” and there was an acceptance of diversity such as “Understanding towards religion”. Also, there were comments saying, “There were invited for drinking parties” and “Besides work related conversation there was consultation for other than work related topics”.
【Benefits at current work place】As for the “Drawbacks at current work place”, around 30 % responded that “They are not satisfied with the wages” and “Not satisfied with the benefits package”. Also, it seems that there is no concrete system in place to accept foreigners at work place with comments like “There is no foreign staff” and “There is no staff for communication besides Japanese language”.
【Drawbacks at current work place】This survey was conducted from December, 14 to December, 24 2018 on 200 foreigners staying in Japan who had work visa. Looking at the percentage of responses, the top 3 citizenships accounted for Philippines 13.2%, Indonesia 11.2%, and Unites States 7.6% respectively. The top professions accounted for education 28.3%, hotel and travel industry 11.1%, food service 8.1%. When seen from the employment pattern ratio, part-timers accounted for 58.2%, permanent employees 29.4%, and freelancers 6.7%.
In anticipation of the revised Immigration Control Act, that will come in effect from April this year, we look forward to the initiatives that need to be taken for creating a comfortable work environment for Japanese companies and foreigners.
jopus Editorial Dep.
