MOF Personnel to Be Rated by Subordinates

October 19, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's Ministry of Finance plans to adopt a personnel evaluation system involving subordinates and others in 2019 as part of an effort to prevent irregularities after a series of scandals at the ministry, according to informed sources.

The "360-degree evaluation" system calls for multifaceted reviews of employee performance by multiple people, including not only superiors but also other colleagues including subordinates.

It is designed to help personnel to understand and accept their shortcomings and encourage them to work on improvements.

The MOF hopes to create an organizational environment conducive to smooth communication, the sources said. It is looking at the application of the new rating system in regional offices, they said.

The ministry also plans to set up a whistle-blowing system to allow personnel to expose illicit behavior.

The systems are included in an interim report on organizational reforms, to be released soon.

The report was drawn up following scandals at the ministry, including the doctoring of records on the discounted sale of a state-owned land plot to Moritomo Gakuen, a school operator once linked to the wife of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The MOF plans to produce a final report by June 2019, aiming to ensure full compliance with laws and regulations by its staff, the sources said.

In July, the ministry invited Reiko Akiike of the Boston Consulting Group to become an adviser, in order to reflect an outside perspective on organizational reform. Jiji Press