Sharp Corp. will start a new service to lease multilingual smartphones to companies that accept foreign technical interns, expecting a high demand from employers who hope to improve the environment for their interns.
The new service will start in late June, and smartphones to be leased will have eight language settings, including Chinese and Vietnamese, according to Sharp.
The number of foreign technical interns working in the nation has been increasing due to a labor shortage. The figure is estimated to reach 620,000 in 2020, an increase of about 220,000 from 2018.
However, many foreigners find it difficult to follow procedures to make contracts to become cell phone subscribers in Japan, mainly because of differences in business customs from those in their home countries. In addition, many of them do not know how to use software designed for Japanese speakers. These factors have made the cell phone subscription procedure become a major concern for newly arrived foreign interns.
Under the new service, employers complete procedures for subscription contracts before leasing the devices to interns. The service will make it easier for them to stay in touch with their families at home, while companies can use the devices to send work-related messages to their trainees and give them learning support via apps.
Sharp aims to increase the number of service users to 60,000 by 2020.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
