Counteroffers happen everywhere. Three things make them harder to beat in Japan. First, loyalty carries real weight. A resignation brings out a manager's distress, colleagues' surprise and an unspoken question about whether the team was not good enough. The Japanese word for this effort to persuade someone to stay, iryu, has a sense of consoling as well as retaining.
Second, Japanese employers have become much better at it. A senior resignation is now often met with a promotion, a new title, a bigger remit and a stated commitment to invest, as well as a pay rise. The response is designed to fix whatever drove the person to look.
Third, saying yes costs the candidate little. A professional who considered a move, heard their employer's answer and chose to stay has behaved reasonably by Japanese norms, especially if no contract has been signed. Their standing with the employer and in their network usually survives. Only the relationship with the recruiter becomes awkward.
The window is usually the period between the conversation with the manager and the employer's acceptance of the resignation. See taishoku negai and taishoku todoke.
What it means for a foreign employer
- Do not plan to outbid it. Bidding wars are hard to win against a company that can also offer a promotion. And winning one means hiring someone who joined for money while under strain.
- The best protection comes before the offer. It is a candidate whose reasons for moving are lasting and already decided: a stalled career, a difficult manager, a mismatch in values. Test that motivation early, and ask directly how they expect their employer to react.
- Stay in contact through the notice period. The weeks between acceptance and start date are when counteroffers land. Someone the candidate trusts should keep checking their thinking and remind them why they started looking.
- Counteroffers often do not last. In practice, people who accept one frequently leave within a year, because the conditions behind the search rarely change. That is worth keeping in mind if a candidate you wanted stays put. Keep the door open.
Sources
- Market practice; no statutory basis. The resignation rules that frame the counteroffer window are in the Civil Code, Article 627.