Toyota: We Are Hiring. Temporarily

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

In Japan, the land of the mythical lifetime employment, peaks and valleys in demand are managed with temporary workers. As long as work is there, they work. If demand dries up: “So sorry, your temporary time is up. Ja ne!” During carmageddon times, most if not all of the temporary workers in Japan had been sent home – often to no home at all. The hiring of temporary workers is a closely watched leading indicator in Japan, signaling an uptake in business. The Nikkei [sub] reports that Toyota companies are hiring contract workers again as production is picking up.

Toyota Industries Corp. will take on 350 or so new workers starting this July, the first hired in about a year. Denso will hire 200 new temps to deal with an increased demand for autoparts, especially for hybrid cars. Toyota itself started hiring temporary workers for the first time in about 16 months, adding 1,600 new workers.

The Nikkei urges caution: “A government program of subsidies for new-car buyers is set to end in September. Toyota group firms may be hiring again, but they will likely wait to see how conditions look in the fall before deciding whether to keep expanding their payrolls.” Push comes to shove, the temps will get the shove.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Stingray Stingray on May 28, 2010

    I read long ago about some Brazilian workers there. They get temporary jobs too?

  • Lokki Lokki on May 28, 2010

    The Brazilian workers are being offered one way tickets back to Brazil by the Japanese government. Have been for the last year. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/business/global/23immigrant.html In any case the lifetime employment system in Japan is dying an ugly death and has been for the last 20 years or so. There's a whole generation of workers - some now reaching their early 40's - who have never been made full-time by their companies. They're referred to as "Freeters". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeter It's a bad time in Japan these days, especially so because there's still a social expectation of lifetime employment.

    • See 2 previous
    • Robert.Walter Robert.Walter on May 28, 2010

      I think the UK and Ireland also share that concept, limiting it to the grandsons of the original emmigrant.

  • Pgcooldad Pgcooldad on May 28, 2010

    My parents are Italian born and I can also petition to get Italian citizenship. An interesting article I read a few months ago on the plight of the Brazilian-Japanese workers concluded that, although they receive Japanese citizenship, these workers are treated as foreigners. Feeling rejected by their ancestral birth place, they revert back to being "Brazilians" - and as anyone should know, no one can party like a Brazilian - loud music, good food, great drinks, lots of laughter, beautiful women alllll night long. Anyway, once they reverted back to being their joyous loud selves, they were further cast off. That's too bad ... the Japanese needs some Brazilian blood in them.

  • Skyguym42 Skyguym42 on Aug 07, 2011

    One thing they are neglecting to mention is the circumstances of these jobs. I live in Japan and work in a small technical school, and my students would rather stay at home and live with their parents than work for the auto companies now. They days of well-paid, motivated Japanese factory workers are long long gone. (L'avventura, 2500yen may be true for a full-time permanent staffer, but those jobs are virtually extinct now, especially for new hires. For real-world jobs, it's more like 1000yen/hour, no benefits, and part-time or temporary employees don't get bonuses) Toyota is looking looking for people who will move to the city where their factories are for a 6-month contract, low pay, no benefits and no chance of becoming an actual Toyota employee (these jobs are contracted through temporary agencies. Add to that the usual abusive Japanese work environment, forced unpaid overtime, and accommodations in crowded company dorms deducted from paychecks. Lifetime employment was certainly unsustainable and inefficient, but they have swung to the other extreme. If Toyota is having quality problems, it just might be because their cars are being built by workers who took the job out of desperation and are hoping to get out as soon as possible. Career counselors at my school say that 7-11 and McDonald's are offering better jobs and a brighter future than the "typical" Japanese industries.

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