Survey Finds 28% of New Employees in Japan Plan to Leave Company Within Three Years

In a survey of new employees in Japan, 28% answered that they thought they would work at their company for three years or less, which was a 5.9-point increase from the previous year’s survey. The ratio of those who answered four to five years dropped by 0.1 points to 14.8% and people who said six to ten years dropped by 2.3 points to 7.5%. There was a rise of 2.2 points to 9.8% for people who thought they would stay with their employer more than ten years; however, the ratio of people who thought they would work at their current company until retirement fell 3.9 points to 17.9%.

The survey was conducted online by human resources company Mynavi during the period July 31 through August 3, 2020. It received valid responses from 800 people (400 men and 400 women) aged 22 to 23.

Among the reasons new employees gave why they do not think they will stay a long time at their current company, 38.1% said they wanted to change the way they worked to be able to match the life stage they were at (such as if starting a family), while 35.8% answered they intended to switch jobs to further their careers. A total of 25.9% (down 3.0 points) had an improved image of their company since joining, while 20.3% felt it had changed for the worse (up 7.9 points).

When asked how satisfied they were with their company’s COVID-19 measures, 51.9% of respondents answered that they were either very satisfied or somewhat satisfied. On the other hand, 22.6% felt quite dissatisfied or completely dissatisfied.

Among the reasons for being satisfied, employees who were working remotely said it was because they could work comfortably from home, even when training. Some of those that were dissatisfied mentioned that they had wanted to work from home sooner and those that could not telecommute said that information on internal decisions made by the company were not reaching each employee.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo: © Fast&Slow/Pixta.)