"If You Use AI Well, Your Salary Goes Up by 1.39 Million Won" Japanese Firms Reflect AI Use in Performance Reviews

[Tokyo = Financial News, Seo Hye-jin, correspondent] Japanese companies that have been slow to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) are encouraging employees to use AI by tying it to pay and promotions, The Nikkei reported on the 12th..Honda will pay employees with strong AI skills an allowance of up to 150,000 yen a month, or about 1.39 million won, while convenience store chain FamilyMart will include AI usage plans in the performance goals of all 4,500 employees.
According to The Nikkei, Honda operates a system that certifies AI skills in three levels for its roughly 45,000 employees in Japan and provides an allowance on top of base pay. As of July this year, 280 employees had been certified, and the company plans to raise that number to 1,000 within a few years.
Employees are certified through self-nomination, a written test, and an interview. Key evaluation criteria include whether they have developed programs using AI or achieved business results with it.
Employees in the top tier receive 150,000 yen a month. About 10 employees are currently certified at that level. Honda is selecting talent with consultant-level capabilities who can propose AI applications to other employees, regardless of whether they work in R&D, production, or administration.
Honda expects these employees to help promote AI adoption across each division. The company posted a net loss of 423.9 billion yen, or about 394.13 billion won, for the fiscal year ending March 2026, which runs from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026. After swinging from a profit of 835.8 billion yen, or about 777.11 billion won, the previous year, it now urgently needs to improve efficiency in vehicle development and production through AI.
FamilyMart also began requiring all 4,500 employees to include AI usage plans in their performance goals starting in April this year. The company plans to reflect results based on those plans in personnel evaluations.
A challenge is that job roles vary widely, from store supervisors to headquarters staff, and the conditions for using AI differ by department. FamilyMart plans to narrow evaluation gaps between roles by having a dedicated office support each department and trained 'AI promoters' handle employee consultations.
All Nippon Airways (ANA), one of Japan's two major airlines, has been linking AI-related achievements to pay by giving them bonus points in personnel evaluations since 2024. It has already produced tangible results, including a system developed by a mechanic that streamlines visual inspections of aircraft engines through AI-based image analysis.
ANA evaluates AI use separately from regular work. It considers the difficulty of implementation, quantitative impact, the scope of the results, and how sustainable they are. The company also sets different standards by rank, allowing lower-level employees to receive higher evaluations if they achieve major results.
However, some warn that using the amount of AI use itself as an evaluation criterion could create side effects. Amazon suspended the public ranking of employees' AI tool usage after some workers were found using AI agents even for unnecessary tasks. Salesforce introduced metrics to track how much AI actually contributes to business performance.
Shohei Chino, a researcher at the Recruit Works Institute, said, "The ease of using AI differs by job, and learning environments are not equal," adding, "If all employees are uniformly required to use AI, it could create a sense of unfairness."
A February survey by Persol Career of more than 500 companies using AI, including manufacturers and telecom firms, found that only 20% were using AI companywide. Many firms limit its use to certain units, such as digital divisions.
Japan's level of AI adoption still lags behind major countries. In a survey released by Microsoft in May, Japan's generative AI adoption rate stood at 22.5%, ranking 48th in the world. The United Arab Emirates was at 70.1%, France at 47.8%, and the United States at 31.3%.
A Nikkei survey of 143 major Japanese companies in March found that fewer than 10% had reflected AI use in personnel evaluations.
Mitsubishi Corporation will make certification in the Japan Deep Learning Association's "G Test" a promotion requirement for section-manager-level executives starting next year. Analysts say Japanese companies have begun seriously revising compensation, evaluation, and promotion systems to boost AI adoption.

[email protected] Seo Hye-jin Reporter