Hiring working holiday participants to address staffing shortages: suitable industries and practical steps

Updated October 29, 2026

Hiring people visiting Japan on working holidays can help address staffing shortages with defined periods or duties, such as hotel peak seasons, restaurant rush hours, and harvest work. When a participant's travel plans fit the employment period you need and training is available, they can share the site's workload.

Start recruitment planning with when, which duties, and how many hours per week are understaffed, rather than how many foreign nationals to hire. Working holidays are primarily for holidays. The starting point is to respect each person's plans and jointly agree on work that supports your busy season. Ministry of Foreign Affairs program guide

Workplaces with defined periods and duties can more readily fill gaps

Working holiday recruitment fits workplaces with predictable peak periods and tasks that can be assigned for several weeks to several months. Examples include resort housekeeping, restaurant kitchen assistance, and sorting and shipping during harvest. The following is an editorial assessment of duties and ease of onboarding, not a national ranking of industry shortages or evidence of hiring results.

Industry / job	Gaps that can be filled	Fit with working holiday recruitment	What employers should prepare
Hotels and resorts	Seasonal housekeeping, food and beverage, customer-service assistance	Strong: employment periods can fit peak season	Accommodation and transport, role-specific training, time-off coordination
Restaurants	Lunch and dinner peaks, kitchen, dishwashing	Strong: tasks can be separated and taught gradually	Hygiene and allergy training, short instructions, a responsible trainer
Cleaning	Daytime guest-room and facility cleaning	Strong: procedures can be shared with photos and demonstrations	Quality standards, safety training, working alongside a trainer while learning
Warehouses and logistics	Sale-period sorting, checking, packing	Depends: an option if hours and commuting fit	Shuttles, safety signs, heavy-item handling, workload adjustment
Agriculture	Concentrated harvesting, sorting, shipping	Depends: can fit a desire to stay in a region	Housing, transport, explanation of work and pay during bad weather
Retail and tourism information	Serving tourists, explaining products	An option if languages, Japanese, and duties fit	Register and product training, emergency handover contacts
Security	Event or site shifts	Assess carefully: training and safety checks create a substantial burden	Statutory eligibility checks, initial training, reporting practice in Japanese

Assigning customer service simply because someone speaks a foreign language is premature. Check their languages, service experience, and required Japanese for each role. Do not infer preferred work or personality from nationality; explain actual tasks and check understanding.

Assignments always worked alone or specialist duties taking a long time to learn increase the onboarding burden. Filling a temporary vacancy is not an improvement if the trainer's overtime increases. Separate duties assigned to the new hire from decisions retained by existing staff first, making the impact easier to assess.

The difference from student recruitment is checking designation documents and stay plans

A working holiday is one category of “Designated Activities” residence status. At hiring, check the permitted activities in the designation document attached to the passport as well as the residence card. “Designated Activities” also covers other purposes, so that label alone does not establish permission to work. Immigration Services Agency Q&A

The 28-hour weekly limit under international students' comprehensive permission for outside activities does not automatically apply to working holidays. This does not mean unlimited work is allowed. Set contracts and shifts according to the individual's designation, residence expiry, and labor laws covering working hours, breaks, and days off.

What to check	How to assess it for working holiday recruitment
Permitted scope of work	Check residence card and designation document; ask immigration authorities if unclear
How long the person can work	Check residence expiry and preferred resignation date separately
Holidays and relocation	Ask about travel or moving plans and agree on available days
Contract terms	Explain duties, location, hours, wages, contract period, renewal conditions, and other required terms in writing
Eligible participants	Check eligible countries and regions and individual conditions; the term does not mean foreign nationals generally

Permitted participation counts and stay conditions differ by country or region, and some have been revised. Do not assume everyone has 1 year; check the particular applicant's permission. Work in adult-entertainment businesses and other prohibited establishments is not permitted. Check the actual business operations, not only the job title. Ministry of Foreign Affairs precautions about employment

To cover a 60-hour weekly gap, decide deployment before headcount

Suppose a hotel lacks 60 hours of cleaning assistance per week. A plan for each person to work 30 hours requires 2 people, but whether those 2 can work on the necessary days is a separate question. If the shortage is concentrated on weekend mornings, adding weekday hours will not solve it.

Hiring working holiday participantsMatch staffing gaps with the person’s plans

1. Identify the gap

When, which duties, and how many hours?

2. Match the conditions

Designation document, residence expiry and travel plans

3. Train and assign

Demonstrate, check understanding and name a contact

30 hours/week + 30 hours/week = 60 hours/week

Hypothetical staffing example. Account for training time separately; match the actual time slots you need.

View the original Japanese illustration

Working holiday recruitment process: identify missing hours, match residence conditions and personal plans, then train and assign staff. Example: 2 people working 30 hours each cover 60 hours per week.

This is a fictional recruitment plan, not a statement of actual results or available hires. First list shortages by time slot and overlay each person's availability. During initial training and accompanied work, do not expect normal productivity, and reserve existing staff time for instruction.

Costs for 2 people at JPY 1,400 per hour and 30 hours per week

The following example covers 4 weeks. JPY 1,400 is an assumption for calculation, not a market rate or minimum wage. Set actual recruitment conditions after checking the applicable location and occupational minimum wages and nearby vacancies.

Item	Calculation or check	Example over 4 weeks
Gross pay for 1 person	JPY 1,400 × 30 hours × 4 weeks	JPY 168,000
Gross pay for 2 people	JPY 168,000 × 2 people	JPY 336,000
Working hours provided	30 hours × 4 weeks × 2 people	240 hours
Costs to estimate separately	Recruitment and placement, training, employer insurance contributions, transport, housing support, etc.	Calculate under your company's conditions

JPY 336,000 covers wages only. If training is included in the 240 hours, fewer hours remain for normal site work. If training is added separately, add its wages and other costs too. Instead of only dividing recruitment costs by headcount, compare total onboarding costs divided by hours that actually covered the shortage.

Night work and overtime require the applicable wage premiums. Discriminatory treatment in wages, working hours, and other conditions on grounds of nationality is prohibited. Do not budget for working holiday participants as cheap labor; offer conditions appropriate to their duties. Labour Standards Act

Effective listings help applicants picture both work and daily life

“Foreign applicants welcome” or “Beginner Japanese accepted” alone does not help applicants plan their lives. State the location, period, duties, pay, housing, and transport after work specifically. Describe Japanese through workplace situations, such as understanding cleaning precautions and asking when something is unclear, rather than qualification names alone.

For hotel vacancies, present accommodation costs, utilities, meals, shared-room arrangements, and commuting together. State any difference between the last working day and accommodation move-out date. The more clearly applicants can compare conditions, the fewer post-hiring complaints that conditions differ from what they heard.

Possible recruitment channels include Hello Work, Foreign Employment Service Centers, and appropriately licensed employment placement agencies. Even when using an agency, the employing company must check residence status and contract details. A referral alone does not complete your company's checks. Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare guidance on foreign-worker employment notification and management

Decide site responsibilities from recruitment through the first month

Before hiring, compare documents with the person's preferences

Assign responsibility for checking the residence card, designation document, residence expiry, and planned duties. Also ask about the desired final working day, travel plans, and housing. Even if work is legally permitted, the vacancy is not a match when personal plans and the required employment period do not align.

Explain employment conditions in language the person understands and provide required details in writing. Check payroll cutoff and payday, deductions, workplace, renewal arrangements, and other terms one by one. Obtaining a signature without understanding can allow differences in expectations to emerge later. Employment management guidelines for foreign workers

On the first day, explain safety and who to call for help

Combine illustrated procedures with demonstrations, and have the employee explain and reproduce the task. Do not judge understanding solely from an answer to “Do you understand?” For cleaning, prioritize chemicals and damage reporting; for restaurants, hygiene and allergies; for warehouses, walking routes and handling goods.

Identify a person to answer questions on every shift, and teach employees to stop when they do not understand. Expand independent decision-making only after checking understanding and demonstrations. This prepares new employees to work safely regardless of nationality.

After 1 week and at the end of the first month, check both work and daily life

Use a short conversation to check workload, understanding instructions, commuting, housing, and time off. Travel plans discussed at hiring may change, so coordinate before setting the next shifts. A contact point for discussing changes early also helps employees continue working.

Measure outcomes beyond application numbers: hours of shortage covered, instruction time, the responsible employee's overtime, and completion of the planned contract period. Review first-month figures and revise assignments or explanatory materials before the next recruitment round to reduce repeated difficulties.

Do not leave notifications, payroll, and contract endings solely to the onboarding contact

Foreign-worker employment notifications are required when hiring and when eligible foreign employees leave. Working holiday participants are included. Procedures and deadlines vary according to employment-insurance enrollment, so assign responsibilities together with HR and payroll staff. Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare notification guidance

Domestic salary paid to tax nonresidents is generally subject to 20.42% withholding tax. Check tax-residency classification, tax treaties, and other relevant factors, and explain gross pay versus take-home pay. Do not determine payroll treatment solely from the residence-status name; the tax specialist should assess it. Check insurance enrollment conditions separately too. National Tax Agency tax-rate guidance

As the contract ends, confirm the last working day, final pay, accommodation move-out date, return of loaned items, and departure notification. Even if both sides want continued employment, an employment contract does not extend residence permission. Moving to another residence status requires a separate assessment of the person's eligibility, fit with the duties, and necessary applications.

Frequently asked questions

Can working holiday recruitment solve year-round staffing shortages?

It may cover peak seasons or fixed-period gaps, but the same person may not remain continuously. For year-round core duties, also consider retaining existing staff, redesigning work, and recruitment suited to long-term employment. If low pay or a lack of trainers causes the shortage, those issues need improvement.

Are working holiday participants suitable referrals for security companies?

Assess permitted work scope, Security Services Act requirements, Japanese for understanding safety instructions, and the available working period. Beginners generally require at least 20 hours of initial training, so a short stay limits the work period after training. Worker dispatch into security duties is prohibited: do not confuse appropriate employment placement followed by direct hiring by the security company with dispatch. Metropolitan Police Department training-hour guidance, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare prohibited dispatch duties

Where should we start?

Start at 1 workplace by tabulating the peak period and understaffed time slots, then decide the assigned duties and trainer. Match those conditions with the person's residence conditions and stay plans. Showing concrete work situations before hiring makes the decision easier for both applicants and the company than deciding assignments afterward.