Dispatch Work in Japan

There are many people working as a dispatcher in Japan nowadays. If you are considering a dispatch work too, you may need a basic knowledge of it. This article will tell you what a dispatch work is in Japan, the pros and cons of working as a dispatcher and how to find one.

What is a dispatch work?

Dispatch work is a kind of work that an employee does not make a contract with the company where he or she works at but with a dispatch agency. A dispatcher will receive tasks from the company working at, but the salary will be paid by the dispatch agency directly and the same for all payroll and insurance procedures. That is to say that dispatchers have an employment relationship only with the dispatch agency but not the company where they work at.

Advantages of dispatch work

There are many advantages of working as a dispatcher like below.

You can work under desired conditions

With a dispatch work you can work under your own desired conditions. You can search for jobs with special conditions set for such as job types, working hours, and work locations that match the lifestyle you want. Different from regular employees, the work content of a dispatcher is determined by a contract, so that basically no other work occurs. For example, if you want to work near your home for a less commute time, or if you don't want to work overtime, a dispatch work may be ideal for you.

Working as a dispatcher you can choose the job that you want to do. The dispatch agency will help you to find a workplace that make full use of your previous experiences and expertise.

You can gain various experiences

You are able to experience various companies and work places and improve your skills through these work, which is also an advantage of dispatch work. For people working as regular employees in a company, they may have no chance to know the situation of other companies, especially considered of lifetime employment in Japan, while a dispatcher is able to experience various workplaces and different kinds of companies. Also maybe you can join a company as a dispatcher where you dream a lot but can't get in as a regular employee. In addition, you can refine your skills by working in multiple companies with different ways of working. There is no need to say how important a rich and various work experience is when you want to change a job someday.

You can consult with a dispatch agency

If you are a regular employee, it may be difficult to talk about your problems or concerns in work with your supervisor. But for a dispatcher, you are able to consult work troubles with your dispatch agency. Furthermore, even if the contract with the current company has expired, the dispatch agency will still be with you and help you to find a new company. In addition, a dispatch agency can help you to plan long-term career plans. With telling them what you want to do in the future, you may be suggested some ideas that you could not think of on your own.

You can start with no experience

Even if you have no work experience at all, a dispatch company can still help you to find out your strength and get a job.

Disadvantages of dispatch work

Though there are many advantages of dispatch work, there are also disadvantages about it.

An upper limit to the dispatching period

There is a 3-year limitation for a dispatcher, which means you may need to change jobs 3 years after you enter a company. This time limitation is set to ensure that dispatchers can choose to go to another company freely after staying in a place for 3 years.

As we know that companies prefer to hire dispatchers out of the big fixed labor cost caused by a regular employee. The contract may also be terminated by the company earlier out of cost or if you got a bad assessment in job. Actually on average dispatchers are changing job between half a year and 1.5 years.

Different treatment from regular employees

Dispatchers may be treated differently from regular employees, such as lower wages or bonuses or no transportation allowances. While the salary of a regular employee is paid by the company, the salary of a dispatcher is paid by the dispatch agency, and basically there is no bonus besides the salary. And you may not be paid more because of a higher job assessment from the company. Usually you have to pay for transportation expenses by yourself. Sometimes the wages may reduce a lot after deducting the transportation expenses.

Big salary gap depending on skills

Professionals such as engineers and pharmacists often have higher salaries, while people who have little special skills or qualifications may get a lower salary. On average, an experienced person may get an hourly wage from 1,500 yen to 4,000 yen, while an inexperienced person may be around 1,000 yen to 1,500 yen. It's also a fact that people with skills can get more chances for higher paid jobs and it is difficult to find a good paying job if you are new to the job. So at the beginning of your job searching, try different job types and get more chances to work. As your work experience increased, you will get more job opportunities.

How to find a disatch work?

It is necessary to register a dispatch agency for finding dispatch works. And the employment relationship with the dispatch agency will not begin at the time of registration. You will get introduced to work at other companies, and the employment relationship will be established when the work at the company actually starts, which is to say the dispatch contract term start date. When the dispatch contract ends, the employment relationship also ends. If you continue to work at the same company, or work at another company, you will establish a new employment relationship with the dispatch agency.

The difference between dispatch work and other job kinds

It will be necessary to understand the difference among different job kinds like regular employees, contract employees, part-time workers and dispatchers so that you can make a better decision.

With regular employee

A regular employee is someone who makes a contract with the company where he or she works at for a lifetime period. If you contract with a company as a regular employee, you will be required to work in the company until retirement. Therefore, a regular employee is guaranteed a stable employment as long as the company exists. And usually the welfare and salary for regular employees are quite good. Although things may vary depending on the company, there are many companies that offer housing allowances, dependent allowances, transportation expenses, etc.

While a dispatcher contracts with a dispatch agency as "fixed-term employment" for up to three years. And dispatchers often do not have the right to use the benefits of the company they are dispatched to. Although some dispatch agencies also offer well-being benefits, but it differs greatly from company to company.

Regular employees are not able to choose working hours or work locations, while dispatchers are able to work the type of job they want, and at the place with working hours they desired. Regular employees may also be faced with work transfers and overtime work.

With contract employee

A contract employee will make a contract directly with the company where he or she works for a fixed period. After contract expired they have to find a job by themselves, while a dispatcher can get a job introduced from the dispatch agency.

Different from an hourly work basis for dispatchers, contract employees are often on a monthly basis. So for a dispatcher, monthly income may fluctuate depending on the hours worked, while for a contract employee, a stable income is guaranteed and will not decrease even during holidays.

With part-time work

A part-time job is a job that someone works based on a one-day or two-day contract or a short contract of several weeks. As a short-term job, you can feel free to do in vacancies. You may get paid on the day you work and you may feel less stress as you have no need to communicate with other people at work a lot.

But a dispatcher is not allowed to be dispatched on a day-to-day basis by the law. In detail, the employment contract between the dispatcher and the dispatch agency shouldn't be within 30 days. Though there are also some certain types of jobs which can be dispatched on a day-to-day basis such as software development, machine design, secretarial processing, financial processing, research and development, and advertising design.

Summary

In this article you must have got a full understanding of dispatch work and how different it is from other work kinds, the advantages and disadvantages of working as a dispatcher and how to find one. Based on these information, we hope that you are able to decide not to be or to be a dispatcher and find a suitable dispatch agency.