Hello, I decided after I got a new job offer to change to the new company. I work currently in a big Japanese company and have questions about the bonus and vacation days. I know that it is sometimes different from company to company, but considering I work in a very big company, it should be what the norm in Japan is.
1. So the new job starts from August. Originally I planned to ask again to start from September to allow my current employer to train someone to take over my job, but I heard it is quite common in Japan that you don’t get a percentage of your bonus if you leave earlier. My company pays two bonuses, end of June and end of December. So if I leave end of July, I assume I get the June bonus, but will not get any percentage of the next bonus for July. So in order to not loose 2 months of bonus payment I am forced to leave end of July or will it be sometimes possible to negotiate with the company a part of the bonus, if the company cannot afford to loose me that early?
2. We get 20 vacation days in April, am I allowed to take all of those, or only less than half if I leave earlier.
8 comments
1. You usually consider your bonus forfeit when you leave the company
2. You can usually take your vacation days as a garden leave at the end, provided that you requested your vacation days off before or upon resignation. If you do not, this is also forfeited, and there is no law that requires companies to convert vacation days to cash
> I leave end of July, I assume I get the June bonus
Assume you get your bonus when you see it in your bank account.
You might negotiate partial bonus as condition of handover.
For vacation your rule book should say/confirm when a new allocation of vacation is issued. If you follow that rule then yes. You can take it all then hand in your notice.
“lose”
If you quit without the bonus in your bank account, there’s a high chance you are not eligible anymore for it
If you work in a big company, these things should be explained in their policy documents about bonuses and paid leave. It can vary company to company.
On my previous company I did got bonus when I quit (bonus in June and I quit in may). Also I took all my days off, so my last day of work was April, May was Holliday (new fiscal year when we get more holidays , so I also took them). Bonus arrive normally in June when I was already working on my new company.
If is a big company all that should be written on the HR web page documents and flow of quitting.
1. Don’t tell them you’re leaving until after the bonus is in your account. It’s a bonus it won’t be prorated and if you tell them you’re leaving the day before it’s paid they can stop that payment.
2. You get all your vacation days. You need to use them before your last day. Expect pushback. I suggest resigning in 2 weeks + vacation days and you will be taking your vacation from X date till your final day. Or just start using several a month – they’re under no obligation to pay them out so if you don’t take them you lose them.
Regarding your vacation days, be sure to check the fine print in the Work Rules. In my experience, even if PTO is allotted all at once in the HR system, it may actually be based on a prorated schedule meaning you may not have earned all of them yet. Once you submit your resignation, HR will run a calculation on exactly how many days you have actually earned for the given period/year.