JR East to raise fresh graduates' salaries for 1st time in 3 yrs, welcome back ex-staff

Mainichi Japan
January 20, 2023

East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) is set to raise the initial salary for fresh graduates by 8,000 yen (about $62) across the board starting April 2023, the company announced on Jan. 18.

It will mark the first pay hike for new graduates in three years since April 2020, when the starting salary was raised by 400 to 575 yen (approx. $3 to $4.5), according to the railway operator.

College graduates on the career track assigned to work in central Tokyo's 23 wards from April will be entitled to 233,630 yen (around $1,814) per month. Employees currently in their first through fourth years will also get a pay raise of 2,000 to 6,000 yen (roughly $16 to $47) per month.

In addition, the company will also introduce a system to welcome back former employees who have switched jobs or left the firm due to family matters. Under the new initiative, ex-staffers' titles when they left the railway operator, and their job history and experiences at their new jobs will be taken into consideration when assessing their pay and other work conditions. JR East aims to secure personnel who are well-versed in its operations while having acquired a variety of experiences outside, and tap their abilities as work-ready forces.

"We will continue to develop an environment and systems to allow diverse human resources to display their potential," the company commented.

(Japanese original by Shuhei Endo, Tokyo Business News Department)

Source
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20230120/p2a/00m/0bu/002000c