Employee perceptions of recent work environment changes in Japan

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to assess how Japanese employees perceive their changing work environment.Design/methodology/approachThe perceptions of Japanese white‐collar employees towards defined aspects of their work environment were tested and compared in a sample set of Japanese, European and US financial securities companies operating in Japan, in order to find which international model provided the highest evaluations.FindingsResults revealed that employees in Japanese companies displayed significantly higher levels of understanding of company goals and objectives than their counterparts in the foreign companies. Employees in Japanese companies also evaluated their training significantly higher than their counterparts in European companies. However employees in European companies rated their future prospects significantly higher than their counterparts in Japanese and US companies. Perceptions of Japanese employees of US and European companies provide mixed results which should be of serious concern to foreign companies aiming to integrate and motivate Japanese workers.Originality/valueThe paper shows that despite the trend towards the “westernization” of the work environment in Japan, key elements of the Japanese model remains highly‐rated.