How much progress has been made in improving the treatment of part-time and fixed-term employees?

◆Enforcement of the Part-Time and Fixed-term Employment Labor Law
In order to eliminate unreasonable differences in treatment between regular employees (full-time workers with indefinite employment) and part-time and fixed-term workers within the same company, the Part-Time and Fixed-term Employment Labor Law (hereinafter referred to as the Part-Time and Fixed-term Employment Labor Law) came into effect in April 2020. The law will apply to small and medium-sized companies from April 1, 2021.
The Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training (JILPT) has released a questionnaire to companies that was conducted prior to the implementation of the law.

◆To what extent can you explain the reasons for differences in treatment?
Under the Part-Time and Fixed-term Employment Labor Law, the reason for the difference in treatment between full-time and part-time/fixed-term employees must be explained to the employee upon his/her request.
69.3% of the companies that “know the details” of the Part-Time and Fixed-term Employment Law answered that they could explain most of the differences in treatment, while only 45.1% of the companies answered that they did not know the details.

◆Efforts to eliminate differences in treatment
The report also summarizes what we have done so far and what we plan to do in the future to eliminate unreasonable differences in treatment between regular, full-time employees and other workers.
Of these, the following initiatives were selected by a greater percentage of respondents as those that they plan to implement in the future.

*Introduction of retirement benefits and review of calculation methods for retirement benefits, etc.
*Introduction of various allowances and review of calculation methods, etc.
*Review of the system and utilization of dispatched workers

The survey provides information on trends in wages, bonuses, benefits, and leave systems, so why not use it as a reference for future initiatives?
Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training, “Results of a Survey on the Utilization of ‘Part-Time’ and ‘Fixed-term’ Workers: Company Survey.
https://www.jil.go.jp/institute/research/2021/207-1.html