The English loanword is used widely in Japan. A "headhunter" can be a partner at an executive search firm or an agency recruiter sending messages through a job database. On BizReach, for example, registered agency recruiters are called headhunters. Being headhunted carries some prestige: it says the market sought you out. The Japanese word hikinuki, pulling someone out, describes the same act from the losing employer's side.
The legal position is straightforward. Article 22 of the Constitution protects the freedom to choose an occupation, and approaching another company's employees is lawful. Anyone who does it for a fee is running a placement business and needs a licence under the Employment Security Act.
The limit comes from case law on employees who recruit their own colleagues. In the Laxon case (Tokyo District Court, 25 February 1991), a sales director secretly planned the move of 29 subordinates to a competitor, taking many of them away on what was presented as a company trip. The court held that simply encouraging someone to change jobs is not unlawful. Recruitment that goes beyond social norms and is carried out in a seriously disloyal way breaches the duty of good faith in employment. It awarded damages against the director and the company that hired them.
What it means for a foreign employer
- Hiring a competitor's people is lawful. The risk lies in how a group move is organised, not in the fact of one.
- Be careful with team lifts. If your new hire is recruiting former colleagues while still employed, keep them out of planning the move and let each person decide and resign individually.
- Directors carry more duties. A sitting board director at a Japanese company has fiduciary duties and restrictions on competing during their term. Take advice before they recruit from inside.
- Keep confidential information out. Make clear in writing that new hires must not bring client lists or documents from their old employer.
- Seniority changes the approach. Senior Japanese executives often prefer to be approached through someone they know rather than by a cold message.
Sources
- Constitution of Japan, Article 22.
- Employment Security Act, Article 30.
- Tokyo District Court, Laxon case, 25 February 1991.