In the traditional model, a career at one employer ended in a predictable sequence: loss of a line post in the mid-50s, retirement at 60, and perhaps re-employment on lower pay until 65. What came next was left to the individual. With longer lives, a shrinking workforce and pension ages that make work into the late 60s common, companies have taken on more of the planning.
Second career programmes usually start with career design training in an employee's 50s, sometimes earlier. They cover finances and pensions, an inventory of skills, and options inside and outside the company. Some employers add secondments to smaller firms, side-job permission, support for qualifications, and introductions to outside roles. The legal backdrop is the 2021 amendment to the Act on Stabilisation of Employment of Elderly Persons. On top of the duty to keep employment open to 65, employers must now make efforts to secure work until 70 by one of five routes: raising the retirement age, abolishing it, continued employment, continuous freelance contracts, or work in social contribution projects that the employer runs or funds. The last two options let a company support a second career without keeping the person as an employee.
For many people, the second career is a move out of the large company that employed them for decades, into a smaller firm, an adviser role, a non-profit or their own business.
What it means for a foreign employer
- This is a deep pool of experience. Executives in their late 50s and early 60s planning a second career are often open to a hands-on role that their own company no longer offers. Many have the networks a Japan business needs.
- Be clear about the horizon. A candidate hired at 58 may want to work into their late 60s. Set out your own retirement and contract terms early.
- Adviser roles fit well. Part-time adviser and board roles can tap senior people without a full-time employment commitment.
- Plan your own retirees' path. If your Japan entity employs people approaching 60, decide which of the 70-year routes you will offer before they ask.
Sources
- Act on Stabilisation of Employment of Elderly Persons, as amended in force 1 April 2021 (efforts to secure work opportunities to age 70).
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, guidance on employment measures for older workers.