Randstad research highlights unique employment priorities for Japan's IT and finance professionals

The Randstad Employer Brand Research 2026 reveals distinct priorities for specialized professionals in Japan compared to global trends.

For IT professionals in Japan, salary and benefits are the top priority (63.9%), significantly higher than the global average of 54.1%. Interestingly, while global IT workers prioritize career growth opportunities, Japanese IT professionals rank job stability as their second most important factor. Additionally, Japanese IT workers show a much higher interest in the implementation of latest technologies (29.5%) compared to the general Japanese workforce (10.8%), viewing technical exposure as a way to maintain market value.

In the finance and accounting sector, Japanese professionals also diverge from global norms. While many global professionals prioritize work-life balance, only 39.0% of Japanese finance and accounting professionals do so. Instead, they prioritize meaningful work (47.5%) and career advancement opportunities (33.9%) following salary. The research suggests that for these high-level specialists, emphasizing low overtime alone may be counterproductive, as they seek challenging environments that allow them to enhance their professional expertise and marketability.