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Japan Employment Solutions

ジャパン・雇用ソリューション株式会社

Japan Employment Solutions

Enabling Global Employers to

Develop Practical Solutions for

Workplace Issues in Japan.

CONQUER CULTURAL, LEGAL, AND COMPLIANCE BOUNDARIES.

ジャパン・雇用ソリューション株式会社

Japan Koyo Solutions K.K

Featured Services

Japan Employment Solutions can help:

  • Manage Downsizing and Personnel Crises

  • Educate Foreign Managers on Japanese Employment Laws

  • Lead Projects to Comply with Japanese Employment Laws

  • Merge Corporate Cultures and Values into Policies Consistent With Japanese Principles

  • Enhance your workforce management capabilities and topple workforce hurdles

  • Establish policies and practices consistent with Japan employment laws

  • Put in place the risk management tools needed to avoid audits, litigations, and exposure

  • Maximize protection through non-disclosure, restrictive covenants, and invention transer

Innovative Solutions that Work.

Concrete Results.

Synthesize your company’s employment practices within the unique employment structure of Japan.

Empower Your Company with Knowledge and Strategies to Synthesize Corporate Values with Japan Compliance and Culture.

Engage Japan Employment Solutions for resolving workforce challenges:

Downsizing, termination, disciplinary actions.

Adapt global policies to fit within Japan's cultural norms while preserving your brand and practices.

Educate your workforce on the "Do's and Don'ts" for navigating workforce issues in Japan.

Understand and manage Japan's specific regulations on overtime, timekeeping, non-disclosure agreements, restrictive covenants, and various types of leave.

Japan Employment Solutions LLC offers bilingual support for:

- Trusted advisory and expert solutions

- Seminars and workshops for training and prevention

- Assistance with projects and investigations

- Support for policy localization and mergers & acquisitions

- Negotiation in the Japan-meets-West style

- Expert witness testimony in English

- Connections and liaison with top local counsel and professionals in Japan

Japanese employment laws should not hinder your business.

Contact Japan Employment Solutions Today

Are you an employee seeking consultation?

Meet Consultant Attorney

Dr. Heath A. Havey

Dr. Heath Havey synergizes global companies with their Japan workforce.

As editor of the leading legal treatise on Japan employment laws, Heath literally “wrote the book” on Japanese employment law. Dr. Havey graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Japanese and earned his doctorate in 1998.

As a law professor in Tokyo through 2005, he taught Japanese, U.S. and international doctoral candidates comparative employment and international contract law.

In 2003, Dr. Havey was awarded a special license to practice as a “foreign attorney licensed in Japan.” He was the 439th foreigner in history to receive that honor and the first to focus exclusively on Japan and comparative employment law advice.

Dr. Havey practiced international employment law at the world’s top international law firm in Tokyo and California.

As in-house counsel, he oversaw all employment law for both Japan and South Korea for the world’s largest and most successful e-Commerce giant.

After over 25 years of advising foreign companies and helping them find unique “out-of-the-box” solutions for employment problems in Japan, Dr. Havey opened Japan Employment Solutions LLC in the United States and Japan Koyo Solutions K.K. in Japan in 2024.

The goal of JES is to provide a non-law firm and less expensive alternative to solve employment issues in Japan. His methodology enables companies to (1) be more efficient, (2) save money, (3) expand options, (4) cultivate an inclusive and unified work environment, and (5) synthesize the corporate brand and policies within the restrictive structure of Japan’s cultural and compliance practices.

When he is not assisting employers in Japan, Dr. Havey studies the ancient samurai sword fighting technique called Iaido. Heath lives in Tokyo, Japan.

What is the difference between a consultant and an independent contractor?

An independent contractor is a peer with your employees—a hired hand.

A consultant is a peer with the company—a trusted advisor.

An indendendent contractor is there to do what the company says it needs.

A consultant is there to tell the company what it needs after being told what it wants.

The Employment Culture Gap between Japan and the West

“There is a gap between the goal-oriented Western style of managing employees and the custom-oriented Japan style of cultivating employees throughout their lifetime employment. Global employers can cross this gap and see success by utilizing proper finesse, nuance, and understanding. They simply need the proper guide who understands both sides. Local attorneys do not understand Western ways or laws, and Western companies often do not understand the important nuances of Japanese employment.”

Why the Japanese Rarely Use Employment Lawyers

“Many in the West do not understand that most Japanese companies rarely use attorneys for employment issues outside of litigation or union management. Undergraduates with majors in law, in-house counsel who only dabble, or HR departments that function in a primarily administerial capacity typically handle these situations. They often do not have a “think outside the box” mentality and rely solely on traditional conservative ways of doing things. This leaves a wide range of untapped employment solutions that many companies do not even realize are possible. In Japan, the employment law specialty is a unicorn, and law firms tend to provide advice that avoid all risks, even smart risks. But sometimes smart risks are best to maintain forward momentum of a company and to allow for innovation. Japan has legal constraints. They must be navigated rather than avoided.”

Seminars Bring Cultures Together and Harmonize Understanding

“Never underestimate the value of an entertaining and enlightening seminar to bring disparate cultures together. When cultural issues such as DEI, discrimination, harassment, and HR issues cross boundaries, they can take on a dimension far more interesting and valuable than in a mono-cultural atmosphere. If your company has anyone working with Japan who does not know what “power harassment,” “Article 36,” “Employee representatives,” or the details of the “Equal Right to Equal Benefits” laws, they need training. Many new laws passed during PM Abe’s last year as prime minister in 2020 that have never been fully accounted for in many non-Japanese companies, and simple training could remedy this, not only to prevent litigation, but also to create a positive and effective employment experience.”