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Foreign travel advice Indonesia
FCDO advises against all travel to parts of Indonesia.
Foreign travel advice Romania
Warnings and insurance Still current at: 24 April 2024 Updated: 23 April 2024 Latest update: Information related to drug offences and Romanian music festivals (under 'Laws and cultural differences' subheading on the 'Safety and security' page).
Foreign travel advice The Gambia
Warnings and insurance Still current at: 23 April 2024 Updated: 22 April 2024 Latest update: Ferry services between Banjul and Barra have been suspended until further notice; The Islamic Summit of the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) will be held in Banjul on 4-5 May; road closures and delays at Banjul International Airport ('Safety and security' page).
Foreign travel advice China
Warnings and insurance Still current at: 23 April 2024 Updated: 22 April 2024 Latest update: Updated information on flooding (‘Safety and security’ page).
Guidance Living in South Korea
Information for British citizens moving to or living in South Korea, including guidance on residency, healthcare, driving and more.
Government monitoring staff turnover rates
Designed as a way to stem abusive employment practices, the Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry is now actively requesting that businesses disclose their employee turnover data when hiring new graduates. What is being targeted are employers that sign up a large number of new graduates assuming many of them will quit due to harsh working conditions such as extended overtime, low wages and harassment. These are colloquially known a “black companies”.
The Ministry is asking companies that hire university and graduate school students to include in the job opening posts they submit to Hello Work (the government’s job assistance bureau) figures for how many employees they hired and how many quit in the previous 3 years.
It is not mandatory to provide the turnover data, but failure to do so will likely raise suspicions among job seekers. Job opening posts for high school graduates already have boxes for disclosing turnover data.
Young workers at IT companies are said to have been the first to call their exploitive employers “black companies” in the early 2000s. Such companies are now found in a broad range of businesses, including retail, food, servicing, nursing and nursery services.
The ministry has surveyed about 4,000 companies across the country to check if they are complying with the Labour Standards Law and has provided guidance when necessary. It plans to bar companies that persist with abusive hiring practices from soliciting employees through Hello Work job centres.