Hello all,
First, my background: I did my PhD in Norway and currently approaching the end of my two-year postdoc in Sweden.
After hunting for a position in Japan since February this year, finally one of many applications I sent (required only basic Japanese) went through the document selection. I had an interview with them in the third week of June, and an unofficial offer sent to my email the following week. Early July I received their “Notice of Terms and Conditions of Employment”. So the job is within nanotechnology field, and it will carried out in a relatively new joint-venture between a Japanese company and research institute.
This position is a temporary, with a possibility of being a permanent after two years, depending on my performance. Upon reading the document, I was not satisfied with the salary they offered to me. After sending an email asking for a possibility of getting higher salary, they agreed with my term, and even more surprising, higher than what I originally proposed. Guess their expectation on me is on the roof, which also put me under pressure.
When I read the rest of the contract, everything seems fine, for example: average overtime of 40 h (paid accordingly), commuting and meal allowances, and bonus (unfortunately, there won’t be a retirement allowance). Except the following points that I found it a bit strange compared with the conditions where I have been working so far:
1. Annual paid leave: 10 days. I am entitled for this on the first day of joining
2. Wage raise: No
3. Not mentioning any “sick leave” anywhere in the document
For certain, I want to double check with them regarding point no. 3. However, I am bit unsure whether or not to ask them about the first two, so I would like to hear your experience, both permanent and those with temporary positions (but it would be interesting as well to hear from you who got promoted from temporary to permanent position):
1. Is the annual paid leave of 10 days standard in Japan for a fixed-term position?
2. Is it common not to get a wage raise for temporary employee?
Maybe I miss some important points what I should look carefully in the job contract? Other than what I have mentioned, what normally did you check before signing the job contract?
Thanks for reading, any thoughts and advice would be appreciated!
8 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
—
**Just got a job offer – need insight -**
Hello all,
First, my background: I did my PhD in Norway and currently approaching the end of my two-year postdoc in Sweden.
After hunting for a position in Japan since February this year, finally one of many applications I sent (required only basic Japanese) went through the document selection. I had an interview with them in the third week of June, and an unofficial offer sent to my email the following week. Early July I received their “Notice of Terms and Conditions of Employment”. So the job is within nanotechnology field, and it will carried out in a relatively new joint-venture between a Japanese company and research institute.
This position is a temporary, with a possibility of being a permanent after two years, depending on my performance. Upon reading the document, I was not satisfied with the salary they offered to me. After sending an email asking for a possibility of getting higher salary, they agreed with my term, and even more surprising, higher than what I originally proposed. Guess their expectation on me is on the roof, which also put me under pressure.
When I read the rest of the contract, everything seems fine, for example: average overtime of 40 h (paid accordingly), commuting and meal allowances, and bonus (unfortunately, there won’t be a retirement allowance). Except the following points that I found it a bit strange compared with the conditions where I have been working so far:
1. Annual paid leave: 10 days. I am entitled for this on the first day of joining
2. Wage raise: No
3. Not mentioning any “sick leave” anywhere in the document
For certain, I want to double check with them regarding point no. 3. However, I am bit unsure whether or not to ask them about the first two, so I would like to hear your experience, both permanent and those with temporary positions (but it would be interesting as well to hear from you who got promoted from temporary to permanent position):
1. Is the annual paid leave of 10 days standard in Japan for a fixed-term position?
2. Is it common not to get a wage raise for temporary employee?
Maybe I miss some important points what I should look carefully in the job contract? Other than what I have mentioned, what normally did you check before signing the job contract?
Thanks for reading, any thoughts and advice would be appreciated!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/movingtojapan) if you have any questions or concerns.*
10 leaves is normal, and is the minimum stated by law. Most companies combine annual and sick leaves.
https://japan-dev.com/blog/vacation-days-in-japan
Welcome to Japan.
Also make sure that the overtime is not prepaid overtime みんし残業.
>Annual paid leave: 10 days. I am entitled for this on the first day of joining
>
>Is the annual paid leave of 10 days standard in Japan for a fixed-term position?
That’s what’s legally required in Japan, and it’s what the *vast* majority of workers get.
But wait, it gets “better”! Your company is legally allowed to schedule 5 of the 10 days at their discretion, so it’s entirely possible that you’ll only get 5 discretionary days.
>Wage raise: No
>
>Is it common not to get a wage raise for temporary employee?
That’s also pretty standard. As a temporary contract employee the salary that’s in your contract is what you get. You can try to negotiate a higher salary when your contract gets renewed.
>Not mentioning any “sick leave” anywhere in the document
Unless your company is *very* progressive “sick leave” is part of your 10 days of paid annual leave.
To answer your questions first:
1. Yes, 10 days paid leave is standard for fixed term.
2. Yes, it is common not to review wages for temporary (keiyaku) employees.
3. Yes, sick leave is not a thing for most companies.
Transport allowance is the standard, meal allowance is rare and a very nice bonus.
As you may have realised already, working conditions aren’t anywhere near European standards, besides unpaid overtime is common.
The wages on average in Japan are lower than in most of Europe, only Japanese universities are taken seriously and I would reconsider whether you need this position with your impressive credentials to begin with.
This is extremely normal. Leaves in Japan kind of suck, while there are many public holidays it means you cannot really schedule the paid leaves by yourself much
Heya Norge!
The offer you got is standard for a Japanese company. Take it or leave it, the choice is up to you. If you like benefits, don’t move to Japan.
As others mentioned, it’s normal not to have allocated sick time here. If it helps, I recommend asking about their policy on at least working from home when you are sick (the one I am joining does allow that). Otherwise, yes you need to take from your main paid leave. If you are *really* sick (ie, enough to be hospitalized), that may fall under an actual medical leave category, however.
yeah 10 days vacation is normal and if you get sick you take them from your vacation days…honestly it’s a serious downgrade from EU, but hey at least you’d be in japan! if you can i’d try to get into a western company if possible