Japan’s Keidanren Decides to Scrap Corporate Hiring Guidelines

October 10, 2018

Tokyo- The Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, said Tuesday that it will scrap its guidelines for corporate hiring of college graduates who will join the workforce in spring 2021 or later.

The abolition of the guidelines, which have been in place since 1953, is likely to affect students' academic activities.

The decision by the largest employers' group in the country means that the long-standing yardstick for when students should start their job hunting will disappear.

This is raising concerns that companies may move up their hiring schedules considerably and that students may end up having to spend a long time seeking jobs during their college lives.

"It's not Keidanren's role to set rules and enforce them," Chairman Hiroaki Nakanishi told a press conference after the decision to scrap the guidelines was made at a meeting of the federation's chairman and vice chairs.

The guidelines call on Keidanren member companies to start explanatory sessions in March for students who will graduate and enter the workforce in the spring the following year, and selection processes including interviews in June, with job offers to be given in October or later.

Keidanren member companies have complained that due to the guidelines, they lag behind firms outside the federation that are not bound by them, such as startups and foreign firms, in the competition to acquire talented workers.

"Member companies have been abiding by the guidelines while feeling discontent," Nakanishi said.

Participants to Tuesday's meeting raised no objections to scrapping the guidelines while sharing the view that certain alternative rules are necessary for the time being, informed sources said.

The government plans to keep the current hiring schedule in place for students who will join the workforce in spring 2021, even after the Keidanren guidelines are abolished, to avoid confusion.

The government plans to set up a council with the business sector and universities to discuss how hiring activities should be carried out after the Keidanren guidelines are abolished. The council's first meeting is scheduled for Monday.

In September, Nakanishi expressed his intention to abolish the hiring guidelines. At the time, he pointed to the need to review the current employment practices in the country, including hiring a batch of new college graduates once a year and promising lifetime employment. Jiji Press