Episode #309: English Speaking Japanese Staff Have Disappeared

Japan seems to be going in opposing directions at the same time, when it comes to the supply of internationalised staff suitable for foreign companies. The statistics show a peak in 2004 of 83,000 Japanese students venturing off-shore. This dropped to a low of 57,500 in 2011 and since that point has climbed back above 60,000. Just to put that in context, Korea has over 117,000 students studying overseas but has half the population of Japan. Today, with many international companies looking to hire English speaking, internationalised Japanese staff, the supply situation is looking grim.

Some Japanese domestic companies are becoming strong competitors because they need more international Japanese as well. These firms are branching out overseas because they fear the decline in the Japanese consumer population will stunt their future growth. Once upon a time, this meant shipping Japanese expats off overseas to be forgotten for five years, before sending the next one. The shortage of staff in Japan makes this proposition harder these days, because they are needed here as the boomer generation retires. Also with the increasing integration of overseas enterprise purchases into the Japanese mother ship, the internationalisation of the local headquarters staff is also becoming more important.

So we have less Japanese youth going overseas and an increasing demand at home for those with good English and international experience. Previously the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) had been attempting to address this shortage. In 2013, the Japan Revitalization Strategy announced a government target of doubling the number of students studying abroad to 120,000 by 2020. There have been previous programmes introduced such as the “Reinventing Japan” project (2011), the “Tobitate!” (Leap for Tomorrow!) study abroad campaign (2013), and the TeamUp campaign (2015). Looking at the numbers though, none of these has had much impact to date.
The current Government target of increasing the overseas Japanese student varsity population to 150,000 by 2030 sounds like an education bureaucrat’s wild fantasy, but at least there is an effort being made to address the shortage. I won’t be holding my breath in anticipation that their programmes will be producing the numbers needed in the immediate future.

Why aren’t this generation heading overseas to study? A British Council study found four key reasons: 1. Don’t have the language skills 2. Too expensive, 3. Unsafe and 4. Courses abroad are too difficult.

There has been a lot of discussion also about the inward looking nature of this generation. The Lehman Shock put loyal staff out on the street and shook up their kid’s assumptions about following the same lifetime employment path of their fathers and mothers. Consequently, like Millennials elsewhere, they seem very focused on themselves. They don’t have much patience for things which are mendokusai or troublesome. That particularly includes studying English and dealing with pesky foreigners.
The 3/11 triple whammy of earthquake, tsunami and triple nuclear reactor core meltdown refocused everyone on family, staying close (kizuna) and personal safety. Going overseas doesn’t really fit into that picture. Having said that though, the British Council study concluded that the interest in studying abroad is still strong. The interest may be there, but their actions are not matching the needs of business here.

The risk aversion of the Japanese mentality also operates against going overseas. Their perfectionist qualities also make the mastery of English seem like the impossible dream. Getting a job when you get back is an issue because of the inflexible nature of Japanese company hiring practices. Being older than your sempai (seniors) who entered the company before you, is confusing for the company hierarchical culture. Fitting in is also harder because now because they no longer think the same as everyone else. They have dared to be different and this is not a formula for career success in Japan. Fitting in and being just like everyone else is preferred.

There are a couple of things we can do. Larger companies can look at providing scholarships, with golden handcuff clauses, to assist the motivated who want to study overseas, but may be financially restrained from doing so.

Related to that is the issue of keeping internationalised youth in the company after hiring them. This is where company culture becomes a winner, if you are smart about it. Conditions of employ can be a lot more flexible than in competitor Japanese companies. With a declining youth population, (the number of those aged zero to thirty-four, halves over the next 40 years) employers will have to become a lot more flexible anyway, if they want to retain staff.

These graduates often want to work in an international environment. However, they find themselves surrounded by local Japanese colleagues and they can’t get to use that English they worked so hard to improve. If you are running a multi-national company, why not create opportunities for them to use their English by making English the real language of the office. Monday and Wednesday can be designated Japanese day and Tuesday and Thursday English day. Friday is your free choice.

Getting middle managers properly trained to lead the young is going to be a key to retention and even more so with those international youth returned from study overseas. Coaching and communication skills are going to be at a premium, because in the coming free agent world of work, the young will walk out the door to the competitor without hesitation.

Recruiters will be ringing their cash registers hard as they pick up fees for luring your young away by painting a glowing picture of the greener grass at your rival’s firm. Your managers have to preclude that possibility by knowing how to provide the young a style of leadership they themselves never experienced. Tough love leading is definitely out. If your leaders pursue that route all that will be left will be tough times, as staff shortages hit companies hard. Our hiring Armageddon winter has well and truly arrived and hungry recruiters are the White Walkers taking our young English speakers away from us.