SENKO GROUP HOLDINGS TO HIRE 100 FOREIGN DRIVERS BY 2032
SENKO Group Holdings (Headquarters: Koto-ku, Tokyo; President: Yasuhisa Fukuda) plans to hire 100 foreign drivers with specified skills and qualifications by 2032, aiming to accept the first batch in April next year. The company will establish acceptance steps at a model office set within the company and expand horizontally within the group. Initially, recruitment will be based on foreign technical intern trainees engaged in warehouse work within the group. Still, in the future, the company will also considers hiring drivers with specified skills and qualifications from overseas.
The first Batch to Be Accepted at Kanto Region Office
In April this year, “automobile transportation” was added to the “Specified Skilled Worker Type 1” residence status for foreign workers. SENKO, aiming to maintain a fleet of 10,000 vehicles as a management goal, recognizes the stable employment of drivers as a critical issue. Currently, the company owns 7,000 vehicles and employs about 7,000 drivers, with approximately 40% being over 50 years old. It is expected that around 1,000 drivers will retire in 10 years. “To support a fleet of 10,000 vehicles, securing over 3,000 drivers is necessary even now,” said Yuichi Sugano, Manager of the Personnel Dispatch Department at SENKO Group Holdings. Hence, the company decided to integrate foreign drivers with specified skills and qualifications as part of their workforce.
Initially, the company considered hiring overseas drivers with specified skills and qualifications but decided to avoid risks associated with handling incidents such as accidents. Thus, the current policy is to hire foreign technical intern trainees or dispatch foreign workers within the group who are proficient in Japanese and motivated. The model office will be set up in a business location that already employs technical intern trainees in logistics centers, with each office and the head office working together to prepare the acceptance system.
Specifically, after hiring driver applicants with ordinary driver’s licenses as specified skilled workers, they will undergo in-house training and on-the-job training (OJT) at the acceptance office. They will start solo driving with tasks such as inter-center transportation, then move to urban deliveries with small vehicles like 2-ton trucks, and eventually handle tasks like delivering residential materials to construction sites and night deliveries to major retail stores. Over time, they will update their driving licenses to operate medium and large vehicles, expanding their work scope.
The current residence status for Specified Skilled Worker Type 1 in the automobile transportation industry is valid for five years. “We want to create a system where the more effort an individual puts in, the higher their wages and motivation,” said Mr. Sugano. Furthermore, the company envisions transitioning to “Specified Skilled Worker Type 2,” which allows for permanent residency. “We hope that, at that point, they can become team leaders, just like regular employees,” he added.
CARGO NEWS JP
July 2, 2024
https://cargo-news.co.jp/cargo-news-main/4862
