I was recently offered a position in a small company, and contrary to my previous jobs where I’ve been a 社員* from the start (albeit with the classic 3 months “trial” period), in this case they want me to be a contract employee for 3 months, and after that I would be officially hired as a regular company employee.
I’m wondering if this is standard practice that I had somehow avoided until now, or if this is a sketchy thing I should be wary of.
So, if anyone has experience regarding this kind of thing, I would very much appreciate any input~
3 comments
I think you mean shain, but that’s not the point.
My company did the same thing, but also part time. It’s a test if you’ll fit in at the company.
That 3 months trial period for permanent employees isn’t real. They can let you go within 2 weeks but someone after that isn’t that easy. Extending probation also doesn’t mean you’re not good enough, it means they haven’t trained you enough yet.
For better or worse there is a lot more responsibilities on companies to train their people. Think of all the new grads who are basically clean slates when they start.
As for your main question, some companies hire initially on direct contract. There are even companies that only hire direct contract and nobody is permanent employee. It’s not that uncommon and does not indicate that a company is necessarily shady. I’d still do my research on Glassdoor and other sites.
No, you have nothing to worry about. Sounds like you are being treated like a normal employee in Japan. It’s common practice for Japanese employees to transition to a seishain contract after 3 months. Although I’m talking about Japanese employees here. Perhaps less common for foreign workers though since many companies seem to be more strict about the management of their foreign workers and just keep them as keiyakushain indefinitely. Or limit the number of seishain contracts to exclusive job titles.