We supported the company’s owner, their accountant, and management consultant on the opening of three branches in Japan. The company was started, and is headquartered outside of Japan. They have hired Japanese and foreign staff to operate and work in the schools. We prepared all work rules, employment contracts, salary & deduction calculations. We set up all social (pension, health & labor) insurance for the CEO and all staff. We now advise them on all of their ongoing labor law and Social Insurance requirements. Recently we supported the owner’s changing country of residence, and a staff member's retirement with all necessary government procedures, document preparation and submission, and necessary payments.
A global corporation with over twenty country branches and already established in Japan some years earlier, we were introduced to resolve a number of labor law deficiencies, establish employment rules and resolve various contractual matters. We now continue to advise the company on changing labor laws and guidelines, and we support all their wage/salary calculations and social insurance procedures for their full-time and part-time staff on an ongoing basis. Head Office HR has recently established global standards for staff screening, hiring and budgeting due to the highly sensitive and valuable products they import and distribute in Japan. This has required our regular interaction and cooperation with the Head Office and the local management & staff to bring the Japanese office in line with the global standards.
WIth 30 employees in 6 Tokyo locations and over 350 elsewhere. This is a 24-hour, 3-shift, flex-time operation with full-time, part-time and seasonal workers, most of the staff being foreigners. The business involves importing, growing and commercially selling flowers to large Japanese companies. We’ve handled a myriad of issues relating to visas, maternity & child-care subsidies, overtime and sick leave, in addition to advising on work rules and Social Insurance. All of this being critical to avoiding business interruptions.
During the pandemic, this Japanese SME was unsure if it could, or how to qualify for needed wages and other subsidies to cope with its financial challenges. Despite their small size and their concern about fees, we efficiently secured over ¥3M to ensure the successful continuation of their business. Many staff are PT (Part-Timers), which poses special challenges. Recently, the Japanese government is pushing hard to improve wages and conditions of PT workers, a growing part of the country’s workforce. We established new work rules, wages levels, and remote work systems. We supported the application of subsidies for purchasing computers and other equipment for remote work, and also other subsidies for building a skills-upgrading program.
We also supported the company’s certification as an employment agency business for new revenues. There are very strict regulations to gain this certification, such as specific document submission to establish the legitimacy of worker and company skills to enter and promote the new business. It should be noted that only certified Sharoushi are approved to do this.
This established business, still using a time-card system, was experiencing difficulty managing and tracking work time, overtime, absences, time/off & holidays. This system was extremely time-consuming, and resulted in numerous mistakes, omissions and employee grievances. We supported the smooth transition to a web-based system that has improved management and budgeting, eliminated errors and improved staff relations.
