As of October 2024, the number of foreigners working in Japan will be 2.3 million. This is a 12.4% increase from the previous year, and the increase will be 250,000. The productive-age population is rapidly decreasing due to the declining birthrate and aging population. In such a situation, foreign workers are becoming indispensable to Japan’s growth. The number of foreigners working in specialized technical fields such as university professors, highly skilled professionals, and medical professionals has reached a record high of about 360,000. Japanese companies have also begun to seek the knowledge, experience, and technical skills of foreigners. To that end, it seems that the challenge is to create a human and physical environment that foreigners can engage in research with peace of mind. Of course, the working environment of those engaged in skilled labor must also be improved.
In the future society, what is desired from working people is the ability to solve complex problems, creativity, and communication skills. Furthermore, it has become clear that these abilities can be improved in heterogeneous groups. The high added-value productivity of teams that bring together so-called heterogeneous human resources is attracting attention. However, there are cases that teams that have been organized with excellent human resources do not achieve the results expected. Among them, it is known that the teams that increase productivity have a culture that members respect each other’s ideas. There is a sense of security within the team that allows them to admit mistakes and take risks and challenges.
There are several ways of looking at human resources development. One of them is that it is said that if you experience a lot of failure, reflection, and regret, your talents will blossom. Employees who experience both failure and success on a daily basis will be able to think and act on anything for themselves. If you experience a lot of failures, successes, regrets, and accomplishments, you will become a human resource that knows how to overcome adversity. It seems that a growing company needs the tolerance of a company that tolerates the process of failure. Strong organizations and companies seem to take mistakes and failures for granted and use them as a source of growth. Companies that value failures and mistakes will be workplaces that employees can work comfortably. In some ways, blaming failures and mistakes is necessary. However, if you stop all work and focus only on blaming and criticism, only exhaustion will surface. It is necessary to keep criticism in the back of one’s mind while making improvements and increasing productivity. Companies that are strict in some ways and tolerant in others may be the ones that achieve growth.
