At the center of this is "shūshin koyō", referring to lifetime employment, apractice that could be seen in the Western world until the last few decades. Although eroding, the tradition continues to shape the Japanese recruitment industry. Understanding nuances such as these can help HR professionals gain insights into Japanese culture and also hiring strategies in general.
Shūshin Koyō: The Legacy of Lifetime Employment
Japanese recruitment has been synonymous with lifetime employment for decades, starting in post-war Japan. Larger companies like Mitsubishi and Toyota recruited graduates and promised them stability and loyalty, two things highly regarded and sought after. To incentivize staying in the company for life, or longer periods, seniority was rewarded and progression was mapped out. For employees, they found a job that valued them and created stability, while companies could worry less about retention and recruitment.
Japanese culture is centered on the idea of working together, rather than as individuals, as we see in the Western world. Due to this, businesses created hiring rituals that emphasized group conformity, such as wearing identical black suits and formal induction ceremonies. Companies placed emphasis on loyalty and working as a collective, and employees were socialized through months of training. Although global practices are slowly influencing the practice, some of these rituals still remain to this day.
The Rise of Flexibility: Balancing Tradition with Modern Demands
With this growing foreign influence coupled with stagnation in the 90s, Japanese companies were forced to reconsider the idea of lifetime employment. Practices such as "haken" (temporary contracts) and "gyōmu itaku" (outsourcing) were introduced. We can see companies such as Sony have changed their ideas and the mindset of employees started to change too. Some began to consider career mobility as a positive; however, companies continued to place importance on loyalty and group cohesiveness during the hiring process, highlighting a clear preference for the group over the individual. Even in modern-day hiring, businesses still consider ideas like "wa," meaning harmony. They analyze how candidates interact with each other and work in a collective, rather than solely focusing on resumes and experience.
Cultural Influence Beyond the Workplace
The interplay of Japanese tradition and Western culture reflects a wider cultural pattern and infusion of the two cultures. The influence extends beyond recruitment into other sectors like entertainment. The Japanese emphasis on discipline and ritual is seen in martial arts movies and anime.
We can see the character of the disciplined and loyal samurai appear in the digital gaming world too. The Pixel Samurai slot at Betfair, for example, blends retro Japanese aesthetics with new mechanics in the gaming world. It offers gamers a chance to experience a piece of East Asian culture mixed with traditional slot features leading to progressive jackpots. It's a reminder that the same values that inform the Japanese workplace are present in other forms of the culture.
Japanese recruitment practices continued to be shaped by tradition. Even though this is slowly changing, they continue to affect hiring strategy and illustrate the importance of cultural knowledge in the hiring process.
