Sanpo-yoshi Communication

President's Column] Recruitment of Foreign Nationals

In this full-fledged post-Corona era, the main theme of management has once again shifted to "hiring people. Last year, the number of births finally dropped below 800,000 and the number of deaths was 1.56 million, so the population will continue to decline every year by 700,000 to 800,000. Although the population has been declining in the past, it has been somehow compensated for by women entering the workforce and the continued employment of the elderly, and I believe that there are some industries and areas, especially urban centers, where the situation has not been so severe. On the other hand, the situation was already severe in rural areas and in occupations that are not popular among young people. In addition, the baby boomer generation, which is the volume zone of the population, will become the elderly in the latter half of their lives, and more people are expected to retire.

In other words, I believe that a full-blown labor shortage is just beginning. And it will continue for a long time. While it is only natural to improve the company and enhance salaries and benefits, I believe that the seriousness and determination of managers will be tested if they are to survive in the competition for human resources as other companies are doing the same. Naturally, the increase in compensation must also be backed up by the underlying funds.

I believe that many companies have already accepted technical intern trainees from Vietnam and other countries.
We have five or six trainees working for us at any given time. They work very diligently and are willing to work overtime, late at night, and on holidays. Unfortunately, due to language problems, we have so far asked them to do mainly light work. However, I was surprised to hear that a company I met with last month in the Kansai region is having Vietnamese trainees work on their printing presses. It seems that a trainee who happened to have a high level of Japanese comprehension came in, so he was trained first, and then he instructed other trainees. Hearing this made me reflect on how I had deviated from the original purpose of technical training. We are currently looking for N1 and N2 (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) level personnel. If we can hire them, we would like to use them as interpreters and train the technical intern trainees in the same way as Japanese people.

On the other hand, due to the weak yen, Japan is already becoming an unattractive country in their eyes. The reality is that Japan is losing out to countries such as South Korea and Taiwan. If we are willing to use our services cheaply and conveniently, it is likely that we will not be able to attract Vietnamese to our country anytime soon. I also hear that the number of Japanese language departments in Vietnamese universities is decreasing rapidly. There is neither demand nor popularity.

We have heard that it is possible to hire young people from Korea and Taiwan if they are not technical interns but in white-collar positions that require a work visa. It seems that there are a certain number of people who are not fluent in Japanese and would like to work in Japan. We are currently investigating.

We will surely face an era of manpower shortage that no one has ever experienced before. We are prepared to face a crisis in which the continuation of our business will be in jeopardy unless we secure human resources in every possible way, including women, the elderly, foreigners, and "alumni" (people who have left the company in the past).