The challenge of "we can hire them, but they don't stay"
The concern we hear most often from companies considering hiring international talent is "early turnover." Even after investing time and money into accepting someone, if they leave within a few months, it places a heavy burden on the workplace — and becomes a reason to hesitate about hiring at all. However, when you break early turnover down into its causes, much of it can be prevented in advance. This article organizes the 5 main reasons and the countermeasures for them from a practical, on-the-ground perspective.
5 reasons international talent leaves early
1. The communication barrier
When Japanese doesn't get through as intended, and a person can't understand instructions or ask for advice, the resulting sense of isolation leads to turnover. Not being able to practice "ho-ren-so" (report, contact, consult) on the job is itself a source of stress.
2. Struggling with the gap in daily life
This is the case where someone becomes exhausted trying to adapt to differences in daily life — food, climate, garbage-disposal rules, public manners and more. If daily life isn't stable to begin with, it becomes difficult to keep working for the long term.
3. A mismatch in expectations
When the actual workplace differs from the picture of job duties, pay and overtime they were given before entering Japan, it creates distrust. As a general tendency, the vaguer the explanation given beforehand, the larger this gap tends to become.
4. Insufficient support
Without anyone inside or outside the company to turn to with problems, small frustrations build up and eventually lead to resignation. Ongoing support after acceptance is essential.
5. Insufficient pre-departure training
When someone arrives in Japan without having built up Japanese ability, work ethic and the basics of their job, they tend to feel the work is "harder than expected" once on site. A lack of preparation is one of the root causes of early turnover.
Practical steps to improve retention
Most of these causes can be eased through preparation and follow-up before and after arrival in Japan. As a training and sending organization rather than a placement agency, Kiraboshi handles everything consistently — from local recruiting and selection to pre-departure training and post-arrival follow-up.
- 1,500 hours of live-in pre-departure training: At our training center, trainees learn Japanese, daily-life habits, work ethic and job-specific practical skills. This narrows the language barrier and the gap in daily life before they arrive in Japan.
- Instruction from a teaching team that keeps the real workplace in mind: Guidance grounded in the actual worksite, reducing the gap between expectations and reality.
- Continuous follow-up after arrival: We coordinate with the structure on the Japan side to support both the individual and the company through to retention. This prevents turnover caused by insufficient support.
- A candidate pool of about 3,000 and roughly 60 partner schools across the regions: Through careful selection, we can propose talent matched to the job category and personality you need.
Job placement, registered support and employment procedures within Japan are handled in partnership with licensed Registered Support Organizations and Supervising Organizations. Kiraboshi holds a sending-organization license (MMR000448) and takes full responsibility for the local side.
Conclusion: retention changes with "preparation" and "ongoing support"
Early turnover doesn't happen simply "because someone is international talent" — it happens through an accumulation of preventable factors: communication, daily life, expectations, support and training. Combining pre-departure training with post-arrival follow-up is essential for retention. If your company is struggling with hiring and retaining international talent, please feel free to consult Kiraboshi. We will propose an approach to acceptance and retention suited to your workplace, together with our partner organizations.