The 'Wave of Young Employee Resignations' Emerging After Golden Week: The Key to Retention Shifts from 'Salary' to 'Work Environment, Openness, Management, and Systems'

RX Japan Ltd. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo) will hold the '25th General Affairs, HR, and Accounting Week [Tokyo]' at Tokyo Big Sight for three days from June 17 (Wed) to 19 (Fri), 2026.

The 'May Sickness Resignation' Emerging After Golden Week The period after Golden Week is when fatigue and stress from environmental changes tend to surface for new and young employees. While often dismissed as temporary 'May Sickness,' in reality, it is a period when thoughts of resignation quietly progress from the weeks following Golden Week until the summer bonus.

Past surveys show that over 60% of young employees have felt like quitting at least once after joining a company, with the timing tending to spread from immediately after joining to after Golden Week and toward summer. For companies, the period from late May to June is a critical phase for determining how to retain young employees who are already leaning toward leaving.

Shift in Reasons for Resignation: From 'Salary' to 'Work Environment' Furthermore, it has become clear that the background for considering resignation is not just salary or benefits, but factors related to the work environment and communication, such as 'relationships with supervisors and colleagues,' 'absence of someone to consult with,' and 'loneliness in the workplace.'

Many young employees consider leaving for reasons like, 'I don't have major complaints about my salary, but I feel uncomfortable with the work environment.'

Changes Required in Corporate 'Retention Strategies' Against this backdrop, corporate talent retention strategies are at a major turning point. Rather than relying on improvements in salary and benefits as in the past, companies are shifting toward 'approaches that improve the working environment itself,' such as creating an open organization where opinions are easily voiced, improving management and dialogue skills of supervisors, systematizing internal communication, and designing convincing evaluation and HR systems.

At 'General Affairs, HR, and Accounting Week,' solutions directly linked to retaining young talent—such as workplace environment visualization, engagement improvement, 1-on-1 support, mental health, and organizational improvement—will be gathered in one place.