Japan’s current weakness is a labor shortage. There are plenty of places to work. However, due to the lack of people, society and the economy continue to be unable to run smoothly. Among these, the shortage of IT engineers who will drive Japan’s economic growth is becoming a serious problem. In this situation, local governments near metropolitan areas are rushing to secure highly skilled foreign talent, such as IT (information technology) engineers. Each local government aims to secure highly skilled human resources, increase competitiveness, and attract production bases. For example, Hamamatsu City in Shizuoka Prefecture signed a memorandum of understanding with the Hyderabad campus in December 2024 regarding the attraction of highly skilled foreign talent. This Hyderabad campus is considered to be the top university in India for science and technology. Hamamatsu City is accelerating its exchanges with India from 2025. Hamamatsu City has dispatched employees to a Suzuki subsidiary in India. This is intended to promote exchanges between Indian startups and companies in Hamamatsu City.
The challenge from now on will be how to make them feel comfortable at work. To achieve this, it is important to develop leaders from the same country. There are things in the workplace that are dissatisfying or unpleasant. It is natural for foreign workers to be dissatisfied with their workplace or the area. It is necessary to endure this, but it is also important to release stress. If the leader is mentally and physically stable, he or she can provide thorough care to the people of the same country. However, if the leader is unstable, the care will be insufficient. Therefore, we must devise ways to maintain the mental and physical stability of the leader. The best cure is to spend time with the family. Inviting the family and creating a system that allows the family to contribute to the community is a long-term measure.
There is also a trend on the part of companies to make use of foreign human resources with skills such as IT (information technology). Issues have also become apparent in order to have foreign workers settle in as excellent workers, such as cultural differences and how to increase motivation. In a workplace that retains a strong Japanese culture, customs and human relationships that are different from those in the home country are born. Friends are needed to share differences of opinion and worries and release this stress. It is desirable to work with multiple colleagues who can communicate well so as not to feel isolated. In the DX Technology Department of Mitsui Information Systems, out of the 12 people on the system development team, four are foreigners. It seems that they are providing a system that will help people avoid isolation and resolve their concerns. From now on, highly skilled personnel will come from many countries. We want to provide an environment that these people can work with high motivation.
