HMC>Honda MotorMore than 2000 early retirees were recruited among Japanese employees over the age of 55, accounting for about 5 per cent of the company's total domestic workforce.
This is Honda's first recruitment of early retirees in about a decade. In order to shift to pure electric vehicles (EV), the company is adjusting its workforce with a high proportion of middle-aged and elderly, promoting the hiring of young people and accelerating the shift to new technologies. Other Japanese car companies are also likely to adjust the staff structure that used to produce and sell diesel locomotives.
Honda's early retirement preferential treatment system, which is aimed at employees over the age of 55 and under the age of 64, will increase pensions equivalent to up to three years' salary. Registration, which began in April this year, is now over, and the registration has been communicated to the trade union. Honda did not set a recruitment target, but the final number far exceeded the initial expectation of 1000. About half of the applicants are under the age of 60, and some employees have been retiring since the end of July.
Honda will continue to implement the system after 2022, recruiting employees under the age of 59.