[My Work] Raising the minimum wage and the existence of zombie companies; improving management literacy is also necessary. [HR Work / CEO Work]

I read the news that the minimum wage for this fiscal year will be raised by 63 yen, the largest increase ever, bringing the current national average from 1,055 yen to 1,118 yen, meaning the minimum wage will exceed 1,000 yen in all prefectures.

That was the news I read.

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Since my work involves many small and medium-sized enterprises in the Tohoku region, the topic of conversation at the places I visit has been entirely about this minimum wage increase.

As expected, the fact that the minimum wage will exceed 1,000 yen nationwide has had a significant impact on every CEO.

While this is effective as a joke, simply lamenting the current situation will hinder company operations, so looking toward the future, I discuss the following:

The role of future company (SME) CEOs will be:

How to increase sales

That is the role they will have.

Until now, companies could function by cutting costs, but with the continued rise in labor and material costs, simply cutting expenses is no longer enough to keep up.

Increase sales,

and further increase profits as well

CEOs who can do these things will be necessary for companies from now on, and there is no doubt that such companies will survive.

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And just as CEOs need to change as described above, employees also need to change.

That is,

Being able to not only leave on time but also work long hours when necessary

There is no doubt that the need for such flexible and adaptable employees will increase.

Today, I visited a small-to-medium-sized construction company and spoke with the executives about various things,

the current situation is that when they need manpower, they borrow people from companies they know in the form of outsourcing

but,

ideally, they would like to directly hire three or four people in their 20s or 30s

was what they said.

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As I have written in previous articles, it can be said that it is currently easy to increase sales if you have proper employees.

However, because the problems associated with increasing staff are significant, there is an aspect where it is difficult to increase the number of employees.

For my part, I can only focus on talking about the fact that there are areas where the risks of direct employment are high.

And, it is the role of a Labor and Social Security Attorney to advise on how to manage the company to reduce risks (from an HR and labor perspective) and to put that into practice.

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Furthermore, this news also contained some very interesting content,

stating that there are 228,000 zombie companies nationwide that are "effectively in a state of bankruptcy but continuing operations" or "in a state of continued default," with a zombie rate of 15.5% (as of the end of November 2024).

That is what it said.

I had heard about the existence of zombie companies in various places, but I did not know the numbers were this high.

Also, the news states that "support for small and medium-sized enterprises (subsidies and grants) is difficult to apply for and the screening is strict," but to be frank, "much of the support content is not actually necessary for small and medium-sized enterprises in the first place" can also be said.

Small and medium-sized enterprises do not need manufacturing support or IT subsidies...

Even the Career Up Grant, which is the only grant that can be used for small and medium-sized enterprises (it is easy to apply for and fits the actual situation), has been worsened (the grant amount has decreased to 400,000 yen depending on the conditions), so it is a winter era for small and medium-sized enterprises.

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There are other good things written in the news content as well,

This is undoubtedly true.

A president of a small or medium-sized enterprise I met about ten years ago had this attitude, and naturally, they went bankrupt.

Also, for sole proprietors (professionals),

the way of thinking is the same as those who think they can make a living if they get a qualification.

When you are trying to survive as a small or medium-sized enterprise or work alone as a freelancer, you must move on your own to go get work and money.

Currently, we are in a transitional period in various industries and fields.

We must take actions that suit the times.

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