Hiring Your First Employee
Hiring your first employee in Japan turns a founder into an employer with standing duties to three different office networks.123 Get the sequence right at the first hire and every later hire reuses the same accounts, notices, and payroll mechanics.
Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the Japan Pension Service. This article is general information, not legal, tax, or immigration advice; for your specific case, consult a licensed shakai hoken roumushi for labor-insurance, social-insurance, and work-rules filings, a tax accountant (zeirishi) for withholding edge cases, or an immigration lawyer or gyoseishoshi where a foreign hire's duties may not match the status of residence.
Overview
This article is for a small-business owner or incorporator hiring a first worker at a workplace in Japan.1 It applies whether the business is a KK, a GK, or a sole proprietor taking on staff, because the labor statutes trigger on the employment relationship, not the entity form.1
The hiring sequence has six parts: open the insurance accounts, issue the statutory notice, track the work-rules threshold, set the pay date, run monthly withholding, and know the dismissal-notice floor before you ever need it.145 The rules below are national law. The offices where you file depend on where the workplace sits, so confirm the competent Labor Standards Inspection Office, Hello Work branch, and Pension Office for your address.623
Opening Your Insurance Accounts at First Hire
The first hire opens two paired systems at three office networks. 労働保険 (rodo hoken, "labor insurance") pairs Workers Accident Compensation Insurance with Employment Insurance.2 社会保険 (shakai hoken, "social insurance") pairs Health Insurance with Employees Pension.3 The diagram below shows the filing map.
Labor insurance: Workers Accident Compensation and Employment Insurance
Labor insurance is the collective name for the two employment-related insurances, with accident compensation running through the Labor Standards Inspection Office channel and Employment Insurance through the Hello Work channel.2 The first hire creates the employer's insurance relationship, after which each joining worker is reported through worker-level Employment Insurance qualification notices.2
The employer-side establishment filing exists as a distinct duty at first hire. The line-item form numbers and day-count deadlines were not confirmed from the pages fetched for this article, so use the current MHLW employer-establishment page and your competent offices for the exact forms and timing (as of 2026-09; confirm current figures with the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare).2
Social insurance: Health Insurance and Employees Pension
Health Insurance and Employees Pension enroll as a pair through the Japan Pension Service and the Pension Office with jurisdiction over a newly covered workplace.3 The Japan Pension Service hub confirms the employer-side establishment, coverage, premium, and form sub-pages as the filing channel.3
Premium rates and the standard-remuneration grading change on an administrative schedule, so this article states no rate. Treat any rate table you find elsewhere as dated material and check the current Japan Pension Service schedule before running payroll (as of 2026-09; confirm current figures with the Japan Pension Service).3
| Account | Filing channel | What triggers it | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workers Accident Compensation Insurance | Labor Standards Inspection Office with jurisdiction | First hire creates the insurance relationship | 2026-092 |
| Employment Insurance | Hello Work branch with jurisdiction | First hire creates the account; each hire files a qualification notice | 2026-092 |
| Health Insurance plus Employees Pension | Pension Office via Japan Pension Service | Newly covered workplace establishment filing | 2026-093 |
The table above carries the currency signal for the section as a whole: office channels are structural, while any rate or day-count figure attached to them must be checked against the current agency pages (as of 2026-09).23
Terminology
- 労働保険 (rodo hoken, "labor insurance"): Workers Accident Compensation Insurance plus Employment Insurance.2
- 社会保険 (shakai hoken, "social insurance"): Health Insurance plus Employees Pension for covered workplaces.3
Issuing the Labor Conditions Notice
Labor Standards Act Article 15(1) requires the employer, when concluding a labor contract, to make wages, working hours, and other working conditions explicit to the worker in the manner an MHLW ordinance prescribes.1 The 労働条件通知書 (rodo joken tsuchisho, "labor conditions notice") is that statutory disclosure document.46
The Ordinance for Enforcement of the Labor Standards Act, Article 5, itemizes what must be disclosed.4 The absolute items apply in every case. The relative items apply only where the employer has such provisions (as of 2024; confirm current figures with the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare).4
| Category | Disclosure duty | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Absolute (every hire) | Always required | Contract term; workplace and duties; hours, overtime, breaks, days off, leave, shift rules; wage determination, calculation, payment method, pay-closing and payment dates, pay raises; retirement including dismissal grounds |
| Relative (conditional) | Only if the employer has such provisions (as of 2024)4 | Retirement allowance; bonuses and temporary wages, minimum wage; worker cost-sharing; safety and health; training; accident compensation; commendation and discipline; leave of absence |
Effective April 2024, four items joined the disclosure duty (as of 2024-04).6
| Added item (since April 2024) | What it requires |
|---|---|
| Scope of possible future change to workplace and duties | Not only the conditions at hiring, but the range the employer could later change them to |
| Fixed-term renewal cap | Whether a fixed-term contract has a renewal cap, and what it is |
| Indefinite-term conversion opportunity | For fixed-term workers, notice when the conversion-application opportunity arises |
| Post-conversion conditions | The labor conditions that would apply after such a conversion |
If a stated condition turns out to be false, the worker may immediately cancel the contract.1 A worker who relocated for the job and returns home within 14 days of cancellation has travel costs borne by the employer.1
MHLW publishes a current model labor-conditions notice and Q&A for the revised rules.6 A template saved before April 2024 omits the scope-of-change and conversion items described above.
Work Rules at the 10-Employee Threshold
Labor Standards Act Article 89 requires an employer with 10 or more workers to draw up rules of employment and file them with the Labor Standards Inspection Office.1 The 就業規則 (shugyo kisoku, "rules of employment" or "work rules") is that workplace rulebook.1
The count is per workplace, not per company total.1 A head office with 30 staff and a branch with 4 staff means the head office crosses the threshold while the branch alone does not. Confirm which workplace has jurisdiction with the local office rather than aggregating company-wide.
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Mandatory | Working-hours matters; wage determination, calculation, payment method, pay-closing and payment timing, pay-raise provisions; retirement including dismissal grounds |
| Conditional (only if the employer has such a provision) | Retirement-allowance rules; temporary-wage and minimum-wage rules; other listed categories |
Article 90 requires hearing the opinion of the majority union, or the majority worker representative where no union exists, before filing or amending the rules.1 Article 106 requires making the rules known to workers, by posting, distribution, or an accessible system.1
The filing duty triggers the moment the tenth worker joins that workplace.1 Founders planning a second wave of hires often draft the rules at 5 to 8 workers so the document is ready before the threshold bites.
Running Payroll: Payment Dates and Withholding
Monthly payment date and wage-payment rules
Wages must be paid in full, in currency, directly to the worker, subject only to statutory or agreement-based deductions and approved transfer methods.1 Wages must be paid at least once a month on a fixed date, except ad hoc wages, bonuses, and ordinance-defined equivalents.1
Fix one pay date and one pay-closing date and state both in the labor-conditions notice. The Article 5 disclosure list makes pay-closing and payment dates an absolute item, so the dates belong in the hiring paperwork, not only in an internal memo (as of 2024).4
If a worker requests early payment for childbirth, illness or injury, or another ordinance-defined emergency, the employer must pay for work already performed before the normal date.1
What gets withheld each month
Each monthly pay run deducts three streams before the worker receives net pay. Income-tax withholding follows the National Tax Agency tables in force at the pay date (as of 2025-04-01; confirm current figures with the National Tax Agency).7 Social-insurance deductions follow the administrative premium schedule (as of 2026-09; confirm current figures with the Japan Pension Service).3 Residence-tax collection follows the municipal cycle (as of 2026-09; confirm current figures with the local tax office).
A person who pays salaries, whether a company, an individual, a school, a public office, or an unincorporated association, must withhold income tax and special reconstruction income tax at each payment.5 The withheld amount is remitted in principle by the 10th of the month following payment.5 An employer newly starting salary payments files the salary-payment-office opening notification within one month, to the tax office with jurisdiction (as of 2025-04-01).5
The withholding amount comes from the NTA tax tables: the monthly table for monthly pay, the daily table for daily or weekly pay, and a separate bonus table, using the Ko column where the dependent-deduction declaration was filed and the Otsu column otherwise (as of 2025-04-01).7 The table applies to pay after deducting social-insurance premiums, including Employees Pension, Health Insurance, and Employment Insurance, from gross pay.7
| Deduction stream | Basis | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Income tax and special reconstruction tax | NTA tables on net pay after social-insurance deduction; Ko or Otsu column by declaration status (as of 2025-04-01)7 | Withhold each pay; remit by the 10th of the next month5 |
| Residence tax | Municipal special collection through the employer (as of 2026-09) | Follows the municipal cycle; new-hire switchover lags the hire date |
| Social insurance (pension, health, employment) | Administrative premium schedule (as of 2026-09)3 | Deduct each pay; remit on the agency schedule |
The worker deduction is only half the social-insurance picture. The employer pays its own matching share out of pocket, so a salary figure without the employer premium loaded underestimates headcount cost.3
Ending Employment: The 30-Day Notice Rule
Labor Standards Act Article 20 requires an employer wishing to dismiss a worker to give at least 30 days advance notice.1 Without 30 days notice, the employer must pay average wages for at least 30 days, with each shortened day payable in average wages.1
Two exceptions remove the duty, both subject to Labor Standards Inspection Office certification: business continuation has become impossible due to natural disaster or another compelling reason, or the dismissal is for reasons attributable to the worker.1 The rule also does not cover day-hired workers, workers hired for a fixed period of 2 months or less, seasonal workers hired for 4 months or less, or workers in a probationary period, except once they have stayed past the statutory grace periods.1
Dismissal is separately barred during absence for work-related injury or illness treatment, plus 30 days after, and during pre- and post-childbirth absence under Article 65, plus 30 days after, except on discontinuation-compensation payment or certified impossibility of continuation.1
The 30-day payment option looks like a shortcut around notice. In practice it still requires the dismissal to satisfy the separate reasonableness standard, and the payment itself is an added cost, not a waiver.1
Hiring Foreign Employees: Status Verification
Work eligibility follows the status of residence.8 A foreign hire may only perform work within the activity scope the status permits. The employer's hiring step is to check the residence card or equivalent at hire and confirm the offered duties fit that scope.8
Where the offered duties fall outside the current status, the worker needs a status change or permission before starting that work. Employing a worker outside the permitted scope creates immigration-law exposure for both the business and the worker, which is exactly the case to route to an immigration lawyer or gyoseishoshi before the start date.8
Ward or municipal offices do not decide this question. Status scope is national immigration law, while the filing offices for insurance and payroll vary locally by workplace jurisdiction.238
Good to know
The first hire creates standing duties, not a one-off registration
Opening the three office channels at first hire starts recurring duties rather than closing a file.235 Premium declarations, per-hire qualification notices, and monthly withholding and remittance repeat on their own cycles. Calendar the repeat filings the week the accounts open, not when the first reminder arrives.
A pre-April-2024 notice template is missing required items
A notice drafted from an older template omits the now-mandatory scope-of-change item for workplace and duties plus the fixed-term conversion items.6 Download the current MHLW model notice and compare section by section before issuing anything recycled from a previous employer or a template site (as of 2024-04).6
The 10-employee work-rules count runs per workplace
Founders routinely aggregate headcount company-wide and either file too early or miss the real trigger.1 Article 89 attaches at 10 or more workers at one workplace and files with the office having jurisdiction there. A branch expansion that pushes one site to 10 triggers the duty even while total headcount looked safely above or below the line for months.
Residence-tax collection for a new hire lags behind day one
A new hire's residence-tax special collection through the new employer does not start on the hire date (as of 2026-09). Collection follows the municipal cycle, so the first payslips may show income-tax and social-insurance deductions before residence-tax withholding appears. Confirm the switchover timing with the local tax office when the hire joins.
See also
- Reading a Japanese Employment Contract
- Japan Job Offer Letter and Work Rules (Shugyo Kisoku)
- Seishain, Keiyaku, Haken, and Arubaito: Japan's Employment Categories
- Minimum Wage and Wage Payment Rules
- Dismissal Law and the Unfair-Dismissal Standard
- KK vs. GK: Choosing a Corporate Entity