News Aeon to employ 4,000 foreign workers with specified skilled worker visas by 2030

[thomas]

Japanese retail conglomerate Aeon aims to hire 4,000 overseas employees by 2030 to address labour shortages in retail and food services. Aeon, known for supermarkets like Peacock Store, Maruetsu, and My Basket, already has around 1,500 foreign skilled workers, primarily in food production for its stores. Japan's government recently broadened the specified skilled worker program to include more industries, allowing visa holders in food services to work beyond traditional factories, including preparing supermarket meals, such as those at Aeon. According to spokesperson Yuki Ishimoto, Aeon Delight, a subsidiary focused on facility management, plans to recruit these workers to meet its labour demands and then allocate them to other Aeon companies and external firms.

"Currently, our biggest management issue is definitely the labor shortage," Ishimoto said, adding that the company has started hiring foreign workers from Indonesia under the specified skilled worker program for janitorial jobs. He added that the firm is looking to bring in more such staffers in other sectors such as hospitality. These workers are trained overseas through the company's local subsidiary in Indonesia, with cooperation from local language schools and the Indonesian government, Ishimoto said. In addition, a separate Aeon subsidiary that operates travel businesses in Japan will assist workers with accommodation and logistics once they arrive. "We don't want them to end up finding a place on their own and leaving because of poor living conditions — that would prevent us from achieving our original purpose," Ishimoto said. "We want them to work and live comfortably."

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2024/06/26/companies/aeon-foreign-workers/]

Paywall alert:

Japan's Aeon to take on 4,000 skilled foreign workers by fiscal 2030

Retailer to take advantage of March expansion to key work program

asia.nikkei.com