TOKYO: As Japan’s food service sector grapples with a chronic labour shortage, efforts are being made to increase the number of foreign nationals who hold Category II status as Specified Skilled Workers.
Unlike Category I, Category II has no limit on how long a worker can stay in Japan, which many companies in the sector expect will lead to these employees eventually playing high-level roles in store operations.
World in Worker Co., a Tokyo-based company that connects foreign nationals with Specified Skilled Worker status to businesses, holds online seminars to help such workers in the food service industry with Category I status to upgrade to Category II.
About 100 Category I holders working at about 40 companies participated in seminars held over two days in June.
Category I holders do jobs that focus mainly on interacting with customers as front-of-house staff or on cooking in the kitchen.
Acquiring Category II status would allow these workers to become store managers or hold other management posts.
Seminar participants were instructed on what they need to know to hold a position of responsibility in the sector, such as causes of food poisoning and the length of breaks that an employee should take if they work for more than eight hours a day.
A long-term asset
Acquiring Category II status requires proficiency in Japanese language and advanced skills.
Category I allows a worker to remain in Japan for a maximum of five years, but Category II can be extended indefinitely.
A Category II holder also is permitted to bring family members from their home countries to live with them in Japan.
Having a Category II worker is far more appealing to a company because the firm could hire that worker without worrying about the capped length of employment, and the worker would become a valuable asset able to support store operations.
East Wood, a company in Fukuoka Prefecture that operates Japanese-style pubs and other businesses, had four of its workers with Category I status participate in the World in Worker seminars.
“If an employee has Category II status, there are no restrictions on how long they can work for us,” said an area manager at East Wood.
“We hope that, in the future, they develop into store managers that will keep the organisation’s wheels turning.”
However, switching to Category II takes time. To make this change, a Category I holder needs to gain at least two years’ experience handling supervisory duties in a position such as deputy store manager.
Improved working conditions
The food service sector has a cap of 50,000 Category I workers. In April, the government suspended, in principle, new admissions of such workers for the sector because the number was forecast to exceed the quota.
Given the sector’s increasing reliance on foreign nationals with Category I status due to labour shortages, many companies have been scrambling to come up with new solutions.
This has resulted in a push to provide more attractive working conditions to entice and secure workers from other companies.
According to Mynavi Global Corp., a Tokyo-based company that helps foreign nationals find employment in Japan, the average salary that food service companies offered to foreigners seeking jobs in May was ¥3.34 million.
This was up by ¥160,000 from the average salary offered in March. Linc, Inc., a Tokyo-based company that holds training workshops for businesses to help them provide comfortable work environments for foreign workers, said it is receiving requests from firms in the food service sector and other industries looking to improve employee retention. - The Yomiuri Shimbun
