After doing nearly five years of one-year contracts I want to ask my employer for something more permanent, and it seems like my options are either a seishain or mukirodo contract. Is there a huge difference between the two? I found [this](https://qbf-globalsupport.jp/en/blog/about-japanese-labor-contract-periods/) article highlighting some basic differences but I’d like to know about others’ experiences before I decide.
2 comments
I used to work as 無期契約社員 for big Japanese conglomerate. Below are the similarities and differences they explained to me as well as I noticed.
Similarities:
– Both types don’t have a fix contract duration. I didn’t have to renew my contract every year.
– Most benefits like PTO, leaves, flexible time,… was the same as regular employees.
– Health insurance, nenkin,… was exactly the same as regular employees.
– Bonus / Base salary ratio was the same.
Differencies:
– My performance was evaluated solely based on my work output, no soft skill nor “intangible” needed.
– My starting salary was mostly based on my skill, so I received a higher salary than regular employees my age.
– My salary didn’t go up automatically every year. Instead, each year I had a meeting with my boss and HR decide if I had taken on enough extra responsibility for a raise.
– Even though my bonus was the same percentage of my base salary as a regular employee, I receive it just once per year instead of twice per year.
– They told me they will not ever send me to other branches, while this is a posibility for regular employees.
– For normal people 無期契約社員 is a lot closer to comtract employee than regular employee. This was one of the reason I left that job.
Seishain doesn’t have a legal definition, it’s more of a cultural thing. It’s up to your employer if they want to consider you as seishain.However, you have a legal right to convert your fixed term contract with the same conditions to a non fixed term contract after 5 years. ie muki