Relationship of Japanese proficiency level and the amount of employment benefits received by Filipino IT workers in Japanese companies

• Main Authors: Alberto, Kathrinne Minlyn B., Ferrer, Ivy Fatima B., Takada, Sandra Michi M.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2008
• Subjects: Employee fringe benefits; Information technology; Japanese language > Spoken Japanese; Filipinos > Foreign elements; International and Area Studies
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/7254
• Institution: De La Salle University

Japan as a technological and financial superpower has been known to have high specialization in Information Technology industries which called the attention of many IT professionals to gain better economic opportunities. In line with the internationalization of Japanese IT industry is the increasing importance of Nihongo. In a survey conducted by the researchers among the IT students of Mapua and DLSU-Manila, 84 percent want to study Nihongo because they think that learning the language is advantageous to their future career, are naturally interested in the language, influenced by anime, and prefers to work in Japan and in Japanese companies. On the other hand, there are other students who do not want to study Nihongo because they feel that it is not necessary in their work and is costly. This study aims to further explain the importance of Nihongo to the IT students careers by seeking to determine whether Japanese Language Proficiency Level affects the amount of benefits received by IT employees working in a Japanese company. Since the company is 100 percent Japanese-owned, Nihongo is obviously necessary hence, the researchers focused on Japanese proficiency level based on JLPT standard. The researchers hypothesize that Japanese language proficiency level affects the amount of benefits received by Filipino IT employees in Japanese companies. The higher the Japanese language proficiency level is, the higher the employment benefits a Filipino IT employee receives from the company. A survey of 16 intermediate IT employees in AWS, Inc. interview and FGD with key employers in AWS, Inc. and JSYS Philippines, Inc. were conducted to obtain the results. These were analyzed using the rational framework. In terms of the contributions of Japanese language proficiency to the benefits received by IT employees, researchers have found that there are contradictions between the statements of the employers and the survey results of the employees. In the interviews conducted, the employers have given different point of views. Ramil Villanueva, AVP for Corporate Planning of AWS, Inc. stressed that Japanese proficiency level determines the amount of benefits received by their employees. Meanwhile Roderick Amado, Human Resource Manager of the same company emphasized that skills are still highly considered in determining the amount of benefits while language is only a tool to attain higher competitive skills and efficiency in work. The companies conduct in-house trainings and the employees choose the best option that will give them the best economic and social satisfaction which is to attain higher proficiency level for higher employment benefits. In fact, from the interview and FGD, the researchers have found that employees with no proficiency level do not receive any employment benefits while Level 1 passers of the JLPT receive the highest amount of benefits. However, the survey results among IT employees generally show an insignificant difference between Japanese proficiency levels and employment benefits. This tells us that the independent variable does not necessarily affect the dependent variable. In terms of hiring or the employability of IT applicants based on the perspectives of the interviewed employers, technical skills are still highly preferred, along with academic performance. Degree ranks third and school as the last. Japanese language proficiency ranks only fourth (out of the five criteria presented to the interviewees). The companies believe that technically-skilled employees can easily learn Japanese since inhouse language trainings are being provided. Furthermore, technical skills are important for employees since the companies require them to pass several technical exams. JLPT is one among these exams and is the only Japanese language assessment test therefore In terms of hiring or the employability of IT applicants based on the perspectives of the interviewed employers, technical skills are still highly preferred, along with academic performance. Degree ranks third and school as the last. Japanese language proficiency ranks only fourth (out of the five criteria presented to the interviewees). The companies believe that technically-skilled employees can easily learn Japanese since inhouse language trainings are being provided. Furthermore, technical skills are important for employees since the companies require them to pass several technical exams. JLPT is one among these exams and is the only Japanese language assessment test therefore indicating that priority must be given to technical knowledge and capabilities. Even the employees see technical skills as the most important factor since the very nature of their work is technical, they feel that Japanese language proficiency is not necessary to their field. They are not fully aware of its benefits in their future work since they are not yet in the workplace. Nonetheless, they regard Japanese language proficiency as advantageous for them since it opens them to higher competence and more opportunities here and abroad. The employees see the capability of speaking Japanese as a tool in communicating and interfacing with their Japanese clients. Other factors that the employees see as very important are personality, academic achievements and credentials, previous work experience, and field of study.