The Anime company Kadokawa offers its employees over 45 years to retire early. This is part of a restructuring.
Which employees are to retire? To retire early, employees of Kadokawa must meet several criteria:
- They must leave by July 31, 2026.
- They must belong to a certain salary level that is not specified in the letter.
- They must be at least 45 years old.
- They must have at least 5 years of service.
This also affects the first millennials, who will be between 30 and 45 years old in 2026. Those who turn 45 by the application phase can indeed be retired just in time. However, mostly Gen X and Baby Boomers are included in this measure.
The number of participants for early retirement has not yet been determined, as leaving is still voluntary and employees must apply during the period from June 1 to June 26, 2026.
Early Retirement in the Anime Business
What is being offered to them? In addition to the regular severance pay, there will be a severance bonus that exceeds the standard. Furthermore, interested parties will be offered support for reemployment.
Why is the company doing this?Even though Kadokawa refers to the program as early retirement
, it cannot be compared to pensions known in Germany. After the severance, employees are not further financially supported, as is the case with pensions in Germany.
Additionally, it remains unclear what will happen to employees who opt out of the program. In other industries and countries, it is common for employees to be laid off anyway. However, due to Japanese labor laws, it is more complicated and time-consuming to dismiss employees.
This is why there are methods like the one at Kadokawa to reduce the number of employees and save costs. Another Japanese company named KLab had previously missed its target of 100 voluntary departures and responded, for example, with natural attrition, hiring freezes, and transfers (see Automaton).
The company officially cites the rapid advancement of the industry and the establishment of a solid corporate structure and tight cost management
as the main reason.
This means that Kadokawa is expanding in areas such as publishing, anime, and video games. The workforce is therefore to be restructured so that it can respond more agilely to new challenges.
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