As the labor shortage in Japan becomes more serious, an increasing number of companies are considering hiring foreigners using the specified skills system. However, many hiring managers feel that there is a lot of uncertainty about how much it actually costs. In this article, we will provide a detailed explanation of the total costs involved in hiring specified skilled foreign workers, starting work, and providing support for their daily lives, as well as practical approaches to wisely reduce costs. Understand the cost structure in advance and create a reasonable hiring plan.<\/p>\n\n\n
The cost of hiring a foreigner with specific skills can be broadly divided into two categories: “initial cost” and “maintenance cost”. A typical initial cost is the “introduction fee” paid to the recruitment agency. The introduction fee is generally set at around 20% to 35% of the expected annual income of the person being hired, or around 300,000 yen to 800,000 yen. Furthermore, when bringing in human resources from overseas, there are additional costs such as fees paid to the local sending organization, travel expenses for the person himself\/herself, and pre-medical examination costs. When you add these up, it is not uncommon for initial costs alone to amount to between 500,000 yen and nearly 1,000,000 yen per person.<\/p>\n\n\n
Next, we will explain the running costs that occur every month after you start working. Companies that accept Specified Skilled Worker 1 foreigners are obligated to provide mandatory support (life orientation, support for securing housing, support for Japanese language learning, etc.) stipulated by the Immigration Bureau. If this support work is outsourced to an external “registered support organization”, a monthly management fee of approximately 15,000 yen to 30,000 yen will be incurred for each person. If you employ 5 people, the fixed cost will be up to 150,000 yen per month, and the annual burden will be 1.8 million yen. In addition, there will be salaries and bonuses that are equal to or higher than those of Japanese people, the company’s share of social insurance premiums, and, if company housing is provided, management and maintenance costs. In this way, it is necessary to recognize that hiring foreigners with specific skills is not about “securing cheap labor,” but rather “acquiring ready-to-work human resources equivalent to Japanese workers.”<\/p>\n\n\n
So how can you reduce these significant costs? The most effective reduction method is “in-house support operations (in-house support)”. By performing daily life support and regular reporting to the immigration office in-house rather than outsourcing to a registered support organization, you can completely reduce your monthly support outsourcing costs to zero. However, in order to provide in-house support, it is necessary to meet strict requirements such as “having a track record of accepting medium- to long-term residents in the past two years” and “having a dedicated support person who can provide life support in a neutral manner.” In addition, multilingual support (consultation desk in the person’s native language) is also required, so if the company does not have bilingual staff, the hurdles to introduction will be high. If in-house support is difficult, the best cost measure is to choose a reliable partner like MirocStaff that offers referral fees and monthly support commission fees at reasonable prices.<\/p>\n\n\n