Practical Guide for Aichi Manufacturers to Avoid Failures in Hiring Vietnamese Talent [2026 Edition]

Consideration for religion and annual events

Buddhists form the majority in Vietnam, but a certain number of people are Catholic. Lunar New Year (Tet) is the most important event in Vietnam, and the culture places strong value on spending time with family. Because the dates differ from Japan’s New Year holidays, it is advisable to prepare shift adjustments and paid-leave rules in advance on the assumption that some employees will want temporary return home around Tet.

Family values and remittance culture

Many Vietnamese talent come from a cultural background of remitting part of their income earned in Japan to family in their home country. Some may feel anxious about managing living costs or how to send money, so supporting bank account opening and explaining remittance methods during onboarding orientation helps build a sense of security.

Arranging the workplace with these cultural backgrounds in mind should be positioned not merely as richer benefits, but as a practical investment in lowering turnover.

Points to watch in workplace communication

On manufacturing shop floors, accurate transmission of instructions and communication for safety are extremely important. Below are points that especially warrant attention when communicating with Vietnamese talent.

First, Japanese honorifics and indirect phrasing can be hard to understand for Vietnamese talent with limited Japanese study experience. Plain Japanese and work procedure manuals that use illustrations or photos prevent misunderstandings more effectively than euphemisms such as “Would you mind doing…?” In Vietnamese, titles and forms of address strongly reflect the relationship with the other person, so even how names are used can change the sense of distance. For comparison with other international talent, our article on workplace communication with Myanmar talent also explains the importance of cultural consideration around names and forms of address; those managing multinational shop floors should refer to it as well.

In addition, Vietnamese talent tend to value direct instructions and evaluation from supervisors, and Japan’s characteristic communication style of vague instructions or expecting others to “read the air” readily causes misunderstanding. Regular one-on-one meetings and consultation channels with interpreters or Vietnamese-language support can address small frustrations before they grow into major reasons for leaving.

Basic checks on status of residence and hiring operations

In parallel with cultural consideration, checking status of residence—the foundation of hiring operations—must never be skipped. When hiring Vietnamese talent in manufacturing, common pathways include Specified Skilled Worker, transition from Technical Intern Training, or employment after studying in Japan as an international student.

For the Specified Skilled Worker system, the Immigration Services Agency of Japan’s Specified Skilled Worker system pages publish eligible fields and criteria for accepting employers. Manufacturing-related fields (such as materials processing, industrial machinery, and electrical/electronic information-related manufacturing) are included among Specified Skilled Worker fields; always confirm that accepting employers must join the relevant council and implement support plans.

For employment management overall, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s foreign worker employment measures pages publish the obligation to notify the employment status of foreign nationals and guidelines on improving employment management. Employers who hire foreign workers must notify Hello Work of foreign national employment status regardless of whether an employment insurance qualification acquisition notice is filed, so responsible staff must operate this notification flow without omissions.

To confirm the statutes underlying the system, it is also useful to check the text of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act and the Labor Standards Act directly via e-Gov Law Search. Systems are amended from time to time, so it is important to build an operating structure that always checks primary sources rather than locking internal decision criteria to “last year’s information.”

When considering statuses of residence other than Specified Skilled Worker—for example, Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services or Highly Skilled Professional—reviewing our article explaining statuses of residence for highly skilled international talent alongside this guide makes it easier to organize differences by status type.

Diagram: Pre-hire confirmation flow

Organized in text, the flow hiring managers should confirm before hiring is as follows. In actual operations, we recommend embedding this flow in internal checklists or flowcharts.

First, confirm the candidate’s status of residence and, using the information on the residence card, whether it permits work. Next, if the person is transitioning from Specified Skilled Worker or Technical Intern Training, confirm that the accepting employer meets the relevant criteria (council membership, readiness of support systems, and so on). Then have HR and legal confirm that the employment contract complies with labor-related laws on minimum wage, working hours, social insurance enrollment, and similar items. After that, file the foreign national employment status notification with Hello Work and prepare post-hire living support (housing, living orientation, language support). Finally, set follow-up meeting schedules in advance at milestones such as 30 days, 90 days, and six months after joining so early signs of turnover can be detected.

Visualizing this full process internally as a “Diagram: Pre-hire confirmation flow” makes it easier to prevent missed checks even when multiple staff are involved in hiring operations.

Common questions from the field

Here are frequent themes among inquiries we receive from manufacturers in Aichi Prefecture.

The first is: “An employee wants temporary return home around Tet, but we cannot build the shift.” This can be addressed by building long-leave application rules and backup staffing plans into the annual schedule in advance.

The second is: “Japanese instructions are not understood, and work errors occur.” For safety-critical processes, more companies are introducing visual instructions that do not depend on Japanese ability (pictograms and multilingual signage).

The third is: “Vietnamese workers in the same factory stick together, and interaction with other employees does not develop.” This is a natural phenomenon, but joint events with Japanese employees and opportunities for interaction outside work often ease it over time.

A common feature of these questions is that cultural understanding and system operations are intertwined. Addressing only one side will not lead to a fundamental solution.

Failure patterns and how to avoid them

Below are typical failure patterns in hiring and retention support.

The first failure pattern is completing status of residence checks by HR visual inspection alone and overlooking expired status or work restrictions. Effective countermeasures include residence card number verification and automated alerts for deadline management in systems.

The second failure pattern is reusing onboarding materials designed for Japanese employees as-is and omitting explanations that address cultural background. The countermeasure is to prepare Vietnamese-language orientation materials and always include living-related topics (housing, medical care, banking, and taxes).

The third failure pattern is ending retention support “only at hire” and providing no follow-up afterward. Turnover six months or one year after joining is not uncommon, so ongoing regular meetings and consultation channels are essential.

All of these failures stem from the mindset that “system compliance is done, so we are finished.” It is important for both executives and frontline managers to share the premise that retention support is continuous operations.

Points hiring managers often overlook

Below are points hiring managers tend to overlook in day-to-day practice.

First, confirming that the Specified Skilled Worker field category matches the actual job content. Even within manufacturing, eligible fields are finely divided, so you must always confirm with Immigration Services Agency of Japan information whether the role you want to hire for falls within an eligible field.

Second, social insurance and labor insurance enrollment procedures. Cases occasionally arise in which enrollment is postponed because the person is international talent; this is not only problematic under labor-related laws but also a critical procedure that directly affects the individual’s living foundation.

Third, the status of multilingual safety training. Safety training under the Industrial Safety and Health Act can become merely formal because of language barriers; it is desirable to include tests or demonstrations that confirm actual understanding.

Fourth, support systems for housing contracts and living infrastructure. For international talent, guarantor issues for rental contracts and the burden of initial costs can be major barriers; whether the company has company housing or partnerships with real estate agents greatly affects peace of mind immediately after joining.

Practical checklist

Items that hiring and retention practitioners should confirm, organized as a checklist.

• Have you confirmed the candidate’s status of residence, period of stay, and work restrictions on the residence card?
• For Specified Skilled Worker, does the eligible field match the actual job content, and are acceptance criteria such as council membership met?
• Do the employment contract’s working conditions (wages, working hours, days off) comply with labor-related laws?
• Are you prepared to file the foreign national employment status notification with Hello Work within the deadline?
• Does onboarding orientation include Vietnamese-language living guidance (housing, medical care, banking, taxes)?
• Have you established leave and shift rules that accommodate home-country annual events such as Tet?
• Have you set follow-up meeting schedules at 30 days, 90 days, and six months after joining?
• Do you have a system to deliver safety training in multiple languages with confirmation of understanding?

We recommend treating this checklist not as a one-time tool per hire, but as a standard internal operating flow that is reviewed regularly.

Why clear decision criteria matter

The most important point when advancing Vietnamese hiring is to document internally who decides hire/no-hire and assignment, and on what information. Clarifying role division—for example, confirming status of residence suitability against legal/HR decision criteria, and deciding assignment suitability against frontline managers’ criteria—prevents person-dependent inconsistency in judgment.

If hiring proceeds with ambiguous decision criteria, the thoroughness of checks varies by staff member, making problems such as missed status of residence deadline management or insufficient cultural consideration more likely. Documenting decision criteria and embedding them in the hiring flow is an initiative that directly supports both compliance risk management and higher retention of international talent.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Q1. Which statuses of residence are common when hiring Vietnamese talent in Aichi manufacturing? The main pathways are Specified Skilled Worker (manufacturing-related fields), transition from Technical Intern Training, or employment after studying as an international student. Always confirm with Immigration Services Agency of Japan information that the actual job content matches the eligible field.

Q2. How should leave around Tet be handled? It is advisable to build the Tet period into the annual schedule and prepare leave application rules and backup staffing plans in advance. Note that forcing attendance can easily lower motivation and cause turnover.

Q3. Is it acceptable on the shop floor to hire talent with limited Japanese ability? For safety-critical processes, introducing visual instructions and multilingual signage that do not depend on Japanese ability can reduce certain risks. However, for work that requires emergency response capability or understanding of complex instructions, it is important to define Japanese ability requirements clearly.

Q4. Where is the foreign national employment status notification filed? File it with the Hello Work office that has jurisdiction over the workplace location. The notification obligation arises regardless of employment type or status of residence, so responsible staff must operate it without omissions.

Q5. How can I confirm system details or statutory text? Check the latest information on the official pages of the Immigration Services Agency of Japan and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare; when you need the statutory text itself, e-Gov Law Search provides access to accurate primary sources.

Conclusion

Hiring Vietnamese talent in Aichi manufacturing is an effective option for addressing labor shortages, but success depends on not stopping at system checks alone and instead building cultural understanding and retention support mechanisms as a set. Consideration for annual events such as Tet, support for food culture, and communication design matched to Japanese ability are practical investments that prevent early post-hire turnover.

At the same time, system responses—status of residence checks, fit with Specified Skilled Worker eligible fields, and Hello Work notifications—must be operated on primary information from the Immigration Services Agency of Japan and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, with internal decision criteria documented. By drawing on common field questions, failure patterns and countermeasures, and capturing points hiring managers often overlook in a checklist in advance, you can run the process from hire through retention more stably.

For a fuller institutional overview of hiring foreign nationals and differences from other statuses of residence, also see our basics article on hiring foreign nationals and our explanation of statuses of residence for highly skilled international talent. If you are unsure about building your own hiring framework, practical consultation is available via the Foreign Talent Insights inquiry form.

Where to confirm official information

Systems, employment management, and official announcements by country are updated over time, so also confirm the following primary sources around the time of publication.

Immigration Services Agency of Japan Specified Skilled Worker system page — check and cross-reference the latest systems, employment management, and official announcements.

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare foreign worker employment measures page — check and cross-reference the latest systems, employment management, and official announcements.

e-Gov Law Search — check and cross-reference the latest systems, employment management, and official announcements.

Related articles: practical topics to review together

Also review practical articles on related themes as needed.

• Vietnamese Talent in Manufacturing Education | Practical Shop-Floor Guide and Retention Support Checklist
• How to Hire Vietnamese Nursing Care Talent in Osaka? Practical Guide to Retention Support and Workplace Consideration
• Hiring Vietnamese Talent in Fukuoka | Practical Guide to Status of Residence, Cultural Understanding, and Retention Support