Understanding Japan’s Salary System

7 comments

1. This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.

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   **Understanding Japan’s Salary System**

   As I get ready to move to Japan for a new job, I’ve discovered an interesting aspect of their salary system. It seems that salaries for the current month are paid out at the end of the following month. this means I’ll receive my first salary after two months of work. I’m curious to understand how this practice works and if it’s common in Japan. Being a contract employee without a joining/moving bonus, I’m worried about managing my expenses for the initial two months. Could someone shed light on how much of a burden this might pose?

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2. Usually you are paid at the end of your first month for that month, but your overtime pay is added to the pay of the following month. That is my experience.

3. I am paid at the end of the month for that month, but I’m a salary employee.

   Maybe it’s because you are a contract employee? Payroll wants to make sure you actually work to the end of the month. If a company pays at the end of the month then they usually need to calculate payroll a week or so before the actual payroll date.

   Since you don’t have the joining/moving bonus, I hope that you have enough saved for an apartment.

   There are other interesting aspects of the Japanese Salary system like the 13th and 14th month. Do you get that as a contract employee?

4. The reason is you need to submit your timesheet at the last working day each month. This timesheet in turn will be approved by your managers and processed by the HR and/or your staffing agency.
   There’s no way all of this will be processed by end of the same month. Accounting closing as well

   Hence, you’ll receive this month salary at the end of next month

   When I started, my contract was from 15th day of the month. So, I only received half month salary after 2 months. So, yeah you need to have some money prepared.

   Good luck

5. There’s no absolute consistency with this, but typically as a contractor you’re dealing with extra delays because:

   1. You report your time up to the closing date for the month.
   2. Your “supervisor” approves your time (maybe digitally, maybe on paper, maybe both)
   3. You may/may not submit time to your agency, I did not when I was a contract, instead someone at the company took my signed time sheet. (My current company does it the same, contractors use the same SAP as employees use.)
   4. If you submit to agency, they send an invoice to Company AP.
   5. Accounts Payable (these guys pay your agency, not payroll) approves the payment and pays it – possibly there’s an approval back to a VP/Director on your Dept.
   6. Agency’s Payroll department does their thing and pays you – possibly there’s several other internal steps at your agency because people like to make things complicated.
   7. You get your check at the next payroll date. (This step is also fuck all weird, I got paid CASH up until 13 years ago, no check/direct deposit option at all.)

   There are companies that do all this electronic (even automatically in some cases) and super fast – so if they have an early payroll date you could get paid as soon as 1 week after the timesheet is approved by your supervisor. I’ve heard some agencies have rolling payroll dates, like every Friday.

   Unfortunately at many companies the last approval is the end of the month and the next pay day is the 25th. I’ve also heard of people that because of fuck all reasons didn’t pay until 2 months later.

   My company’s hourly employees in California and at our factory (in SEA) actually get paid weekly and it’s the next day after time is approved, so as long as you don’t start on a Friday, you get paid the first week of work.

6. My first two jobs in Japan I was on a contract/hourly basis and was paid in arrears. When I started my current job I was a directly hired salaried employee and now am paid at the end of the month for that month. Which meant that my first month working at my current job I received my last months pay from my previous job and my first months pay from the current job at the same time.

   But yeah, you can expect to not get paid until the 25th (or the Thursday night before if the 25th is a Friday/Saturday/Sunday) of your second month of employment. So make sure you’ve got a wad of cash to survive on until then.

7. I’m paid at the end of the following month so it’s not that uncommon, though they paid for my rent for the first 3 months so I could manage