Large Japanese companies do not mainly fill roles one vacancy at a time. They move people in a batch. Once or twice a year, typically with effect from 1 April and sometimes also 1 October, HR announces a list of transfers, promotions and new assignments across the organisation. Employees learn their new role in a short notice, often called a naiji, a few weeks before. A sales manager may become a planning manager, a head office analyst may go to a regional branch, and a factory engineer may join the procurement department.
The logic comes from membership-type employment. A seishain is hired into the company, not into a job, and the employer develops them as a generalist by rotating them every few years. Rotation spreads knowledge, prevents people from becoming too attached to one client or supplier, and builds the internal network that decision-making relies on. Legally, it rests on the employer's broad right to assign work and transfer employees under the work rules.
Some companies are moving away from this. Job-based systems, internal job postings and employee-initiated transfers have spread at a number of large employers, but the annual rotation remains the norm at most traditional companies.
What it means for a foreign employer
- Hiring windows follow the cycle. Candidates who dislike their newly announced posting become open to moves in March and April. Those expecting a good one wait.
- CVs reflect rotation, not choice. A senior candidate with five functions in fifteen years may be a strong generalist rather than a job-hopper. Ask what they chose.
- Specialists are rarer. Rotation produces fewer deep functional experts, which is part of why experienced HR, finance and legal specialists are hard to hire.
- Joint ventures inherit it. Staff seconded from a Japanese partner can be recalled at the next rotation, regardless of the venture's needs.
Sources
- Employer practice; transfer rights rest on the work rules and the Supreme Court Toa Paint case, 14 July 1986.