Free, browser-based templates for the ten Japanese HR notices an employer issues during active employment, between hire and separation. Probation, transfer, compensation, promotion, secondment, and discipline. Generate, edit, and export to PDF in your browser.
Each template generates a Japanese HR notice for one specific event. Fill in the conditions, preview the document in Japanese or English, edit any clause inline, then export to PDF.
Extends a probation period when performance is not yet conclusive at the original end date. Cites the contractual basis, sets the new end date, and reaffirms the path to confirmation.
Confirms an employee has passed probation and is now a permanent (本採用) employee. Records the probation end date and any conditions that change at confirmation.
Notifies an employee of an internal transfer to a different department, role, or location. Aligned with the April 2024 scope-of-change disclosure rule under Enforcement Regulation Article 5.
Records a pay raise: prior salary, new salary, effective date, and basis (annual review, promotion, market adjustment). The cleanest paper trail for compensation transparency.
Notifies an employee of a promotion in title, grade (昇格), and / or position (昇進). Records new role, reporting line, compensation change, and effective date.
Documents any structural change to compensation, raises, decreases, allowance changes, or restructuring. Includes the employee acknowledgement block needed when changes are unfavorable.
Communicates the amount, calculation basis, evaluation period, and payment date for a seasonal or performance bonus. Pairs with the social-insurance bonus filing (賞与支払届).
Sends an employee to work at another company while preserving the original employment contract. Covers scope, duration, salary responsibility, day-to-day management, and return conditions.
Formal written warning for performance or conduct issues. Documents the specific issue, the expected change, the timeline, and the consequences if the issue is not corrected. Essential paper trail for any later disciplinary action.
Self-account written by the employee following a misconduct event. Records what happened, the cause, the impact, the employee's reflection, and a commitment to corrective action. Strongest evidence of acknowledgement in the disciplinary file.
These ten documents cover the entire active-employment phase, between the hire (covered by the contract templates) and the separation (covered by the separation templates).
| Phase | Trigger | Notice | Japanese |
|---|---|---|---|
| Probation | Performance unclear at end of probation | Probation Extension Notice | 試用期間延長通知書 |
| Probation passed | Confirmation of Permanent Employment | 本採用通知書 | |
| Status change | Internal reassignment | Transfer / Reassignment Notice | 配置転換通知書 |
| Sent to another company | Secondment Agreement | 出向契約書 | |
| Title or grade change | Promotion Notice | 昇格・昇進通知書 | |
| Compensation | Pay raise | Salary Increase Notice | 昇給通知書 |
| Structural pay change | Compensation Revision Notice | 給与改定通知書 | |
| Bonus payment | Bonus Payment Notice | 賞与支給通知書 | |
| Discipline | Performance / conduct issue | Warning Letter | 警告書・注意書 |
| Misconduct event | Incident Report | 始末書 |
The right notice follows from the actual employment event, not from internal naming. Issuing the wrong document, or skipping documentation entirely, is one of the most common compliance weaknesses Japanese SMBs carry into the next year.
At the end of the original probation period, the employer must take a position. Confirm the employee with the Confirmation of Permanent Employment notice (本採用通知書), extend probation with the Probation Extension Notice (試用期間延長通知書), or move to non-renewal. Silent passage of the probation end date is treated as automatic confirmation.
Use the Transfer / Reassignment Notice (配置転換通知書) when moving an employee within the company. Use the Secondment Agreement (出向契約書) when sending the employee to work at a different legal entity while keeping the original employment contract. Use the Promotion Notice (昇格・昇進通知書) for title or grade changes; the underlying compensation change is paired with a salary or compensation-revision notice.
Use the Salary Increase Notice (昇給通知書) for a clean upward change in monthly base pay. Use the Compensation Revision Notice (給与改定通知書) when restructuring the package, allowance changes, downward adjustments, or shifts between fixed and variable components. Use the Bonus Payment Notice (賞与支給通知書) at each bonus cycle.
The Warning Letter (警告書・注意書) is the employer's formal record of the issue and the expected correction. The Incident Report (始末書) is the employee's self-account; it is requested, not compelled, and submission is voluntary. Both belong in the personnel file as the paper trail any later disciplinary action depends on.
Skipping the paper because it feels formal. Japanese employment courts repeatedly invalidate disciplinary actions, downward compensation changes, and non-renewals where the employer cannot show contemporaneous written notice. The notice itself is often what makes the action defensible.
The April 2024 amendment to Enforcement Regulation Article 5 of the Labor Standards Act sharpened the disclosure obligation around the scope of change in workplace and duties. That rule plays out in two of the templates here:
If your existing internal templates predate April 2024, they are likely missing the explicit link back to the contractual scope-of-change clause. All templates in this hub include it.
Every template in this hub is built on the following primary Japanese government sources. Each link opens the issuing authority's own page so you can verify the underlying rule.
It depends on the notice. The Labor Standards Act (Article 15 + Enforcement Regulation Article 5, as amended in April 2024) requires written notice for changes to workplace, duties, working hours, wages, and contract term. So transfer notices, compensation revisions, and confirmation-of-permanent notices effectively become mandatory whenever the underlying conditions change. Discipline-track documents (warning letter, incident report) are not statutorily required, but courts treat their absence as evidence that the employer skipped due process.
Both move an employee to a different role or workplace, but the legal relationship differs. A transfer (配置転換) keeps the employee inside the same legal entity; only their internal assignment changes. A secondment (出向) sends the employee to work at a different company while keeping their employment contract with the original employer. Secondment requires explicit consent or a clear basis in work rules, plus a separate agreement covering who pays salary, who manages day-to-day work, and the return-to- original-role conditions.
Yes, but only if the original employment contract or work rules anticipate the possibility of extension. Probation must always have a defined end date. If the employer wants more time to evaluate, the standard practice is to issue a written probation-extension notice (試用期間延長通知書) before the original end date, citing the contractual basis and the new end date. Indefinite or repeatedly extended probation is treated as a circumvention of permanent-employee protections and gets struck down in court.
Yes. Under Article 9 of the Labor Contract Act, working conditions cannot be changed unfavorably to the employee without their agreement, except via a properly amended set of work rules that meets the reasonableness test. A unilateral salary cut without consent is generally invalid. The compensation revision notice (給与改定通知書) is the document that records the new conditions and the employee’s acknowledgement; without it, downward changes are exposed to challenge.
No. Compelling an employee to write a self-reflective apology has been ruled to violate the freedom of conscience under the Constitution. What an employer can do is request that the employee submit an incident report and treat refusal as a separate factual matter for the disciplinary record. The report itself, when submitted voluntarily, is strong evidence that the employee acknowledged the facts and accepted the warning. Templates work best as an offered format, not a mandate.
Japanese law does not set a specific number, but the doctrine of progressive discipline applies. Courts review whether the employer gave the employee fair notice of the issue, a reasonable opportunity to correct it, and graduated steps before dismissal. In practice, most successful disciplinary terminations show two or three documented warnings (口頭注意 → 警告書 → 始末書 / 戒告) over a meaningful period, with the issue not corrected. A single warning followed by dismissal is rarely defensible unless the misconduct is severe.
The legally binding version should be Japanese. For foreign-language employees it is best practice to issue both: the Japanese notice as the controlling document, and an English translation provided for understanding. Each template lets you toggle preview between Japanese and English so the same document can be reviewed and exported in either language.
Yes. The April 2024 amendment to Enforcement Regulation Article 5 added written- disclosure requirements for the scope of change in workplace and duties. The transfer/ reassignment notice (配置転換通知書) is the day-to-day document that operationalizes those disclosures every time the employer exercises a transfer right. All templates incorporate the post-April-2024 phrasing.
Japanese employment disputes are won and lost on the paper trail. Pick the notice that matches the event, fill in the standard fields, and review the result with a Certified Social Insurance and Labor Consultant (社会保険労務士) before issuing it for any non-routine change. If you need help building the operational stack behind the active-employment lifecycle, payroll, performance management, transfer policy, and discipline framework, you can book a free strategy call.
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