2025-06-26

The “Specified Skill System” is a system for companies in industries with a shortage of human resources to hire foreign nationals with certain expertise and skills. We will explain in detail about one of these, the “building cleaning field.

What is the “Specified Technical Skills System”?

The “Specified Skill System” is a system to allow foreign nationals with a certain level of expertise and skills to work in the industrial fields in Japan, where it is difficult to secure human resources. The “Specified Technical Skills” status of residence includes the following

There are two types of “Specified Technical Skills” residence statuses: “Specified Technical Skill No. 1,” which allows foreigners with knowledge and experience to engage in specific industrial fields, and “Specified Technical Skill No. 2,” which allows foreigners with skilled skills to engage in specific industrial fields.

What is “Specified Technical Skill 1” and “Specified Technical Skill 2”?

The building cleaning industry is one of the fields where it is difficult to secure human resources. According to a survey published by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, 37.2% of all cleaning workers are 65 years old or older.

If building cleaning services are not performed properly due to the aging of workers or a shortage of human resources, the sanitary conditions of buildings will deteriorate, and the health of the people who use them will suffer.

To avoid such a situation, the government has established the Specified Skill System. In order to avoid such a situation, the government has established the Specified Skill System, which actively employs foreign workers to maintain the building cleaning business. In the building cleaning field, foreign nationals who have obtained the status of residence of specified technical skill No. 1 are allowed to work for building maintenance companies that meet the requirements for a maximum of five years.

Building cleaning is the work of cleaning buildings used by an indefinite number of people, such as offices, schools, entertainment venues, and stores. In addition to cleaning work, the specified skill “building cleaning” also allows trainees to engage in bed-making work in hotel rooms within a certain scope.

Available work

In the specified skills “building cleaning,” trainees select appropriate cleaning methods, detergents, tools, etc. and perform cleaning work at their own discretion, paying attention to the different types of dirt inside buildings, their intended use, and the characteristics of the parts, etc.

Specifically, the following tasks can be performed.
Building cleaning (daily cleaning, periodic cleaning, interim cleaning, occasional cleaning, etc.)
・Bed making work in guest rooms
・Maintenance work in storage of materials and equipment
・Washing of building exterior (exterior walls, roof top, etc.)
・Planting work inside and outside buildings
・Transportation of materials and equipment (when moving to other sites, etc.)
・Bed making work outside guest rooms
・Bed Maintenance work for guest rooms, etc., excluding bed-making work

The term “building cleaning” may give the impression of only cleaning work, but the specified skill “building cleaning” also includes bed-making work for hotels and other lodging facilities. This is because the lodging industry, like the building cleaning industry, is suffering from a shortage of human resources.

Front desk work at lodging facilities and customer service work at restaurants are also in the specified skill “lodging” field, but bed making work alone is not possible in this field. Bed making work can be performed mainly in the specified skill “building cleaning” field.

Summary

The specific skill “building cleaning” was established to address the shortage of human resources in the building cleaning industry. In this field, trainees can perform not only cleaning work, but also bed-making work in guest rooms.