1 in 3 Job Changers Regret Joining -- 'The Dark Side of the Job Market' Revealed in Exclusive Survey, and the Need for 'Hiring Compliance' Advocated by Lawyer Takeyuki Matsuo
An exclusive survey by Taiken Nyusha Inc. revealed that 32.7% of job changers regret their decision due to gaps between job postings and reality. Lawyer Takeyuki Matsuo warns that under the revised Employment Security Act, companies face heavy legal responsibilities for misleading job descriptions, making strict hiring compliance essential.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 14, 2026 at 18:30
- 🔍 Collected: April 14, 2026 at 10:01
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 19, 2026 at 18:55 (128h 53m after Collected)
Today, as labor shortages become increasingly severe, securing human resources is a matter of life and death for companies, and job advertisements are overflowing more than ever. However, are you aware of the reality behind the scenes where the 'quality of information' is being left behind?
An exclusive survey (*1) conducted by Taiken Nyusha Inc. in February 2026 revealed a serious reality: approximately 60% of job changers feel a gap after joining a company, and about one in three 'regret joining because they trusted the content of the job description.' Furthermore, such mismatches are no longer just a 'compatibility issue.' Coupled with recent revisions to the Employment Security Act, they have become a factor causing companies to bear unexpected legal risks.
Now that an update in compliance awareness is demanded, what exactly is the 'accuracy of facts' that companies must observe? How should it be guaranteed? We explain the new standard for information disclosure in the digital age, including insights from Takeyuki Matsuo, a leading expert in corporate law (Project Associate Professor, Keio University).
■ The Current State of Job Ads Where 'Believers Lose Out', and the Regret of 1 in 3 People
While an increasing number of companies are suffering from labor shortages due to a declining birthrate and aging population, there is no end to the number of people who leave their jobs shortly after joining. To investigate what lies behind this mismatch, Taiken Nyusha Inc. conducted an independent questionnaire survey in February 2026. As a result, responses were collected from 385 people who have experienced changing jobs.
According to the results, approximately one in three, or 32.7%, of people with job change experience answered that they 'have experienced regret in changing jobs after trusting the text information written in the job posting and joining the company.'
Additionally, in a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare survey report submitted in 2020, the proportion of those who 'found an inconvenient gap between the workplace information obtained during their job search and the actual workplace environment discovered after starting work' was cited to be around 60% of the total (*2).
■ Discrepancies Between Job Descriptions and Reality Lurking Everywhere, from Workplace Environment to Salary Conditions
What kind of regrets and gaps specifically did this lead to? According to our survey, at the top of the expressions respondents felt were 'contrary to fact' were pleasant-sounding phrases like 'At-home workplace' and 'Almost no overtime'. Both are expressions that anyone has likely seen at least once on a job site.
In the survey responses:
- It stated 'almost no overtime,' but the reality was that due to chronic understaffing, overtime was the norm.
- It said 'at-home workplace,' but upon entering, it was a family-run paradise of power and moral harassment.
- It claimed a 'friendly atmosphere,' but an employee was told by a boss during training to 'be ashamed of asking questions' regarding things they couldn't possibly know without asking.
Such vivid discrepancies between recruitment expressions and reality were detailed. Many of the problematic expressions are abstract and subjective, which makes them prone to misinterpretation by the receiver. Even considering this, it is clear that there are cases where the reality is not accurately represented, or where companies tolerate or overlook it despite being aware of it.
This current situation leads to a 'hollowing out of trust' where even companies that disclose information honestly are viewed with suspicion. It is an alarming situation that leads to a decline in the overall quality of matching between job seekers and companies in society. The fact that the Employment Security Act has been revised multiple times over the past few years serves as proof of this.
■ The Impact of the 'Employment Security Act Revision' Pointed Out by a Lawyer: Heavier Responsibilities for Companies
In response to this survey, to confirm the presence or absence of legal liability for recruiting companies, we spoke with Takeyuki Matsuo (Momoo, Matsuo & Namba Law Offices, Project Associate Professor at Keio University), an expert in corporate law.
Lawyer Matsuo points out that due to the revision of the Employment Security Act, strict scrutiny is being applied not only to 'false job postings' but also to 'misleading expressions.'
- 'False job postings' can be a criminal offense: Especially when objective figures such as salary differ from the facts, there is a possibility of facing imprisonment for up to 6 months or fines.
- Guidelines for 'misleading expressions': The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare states that when providing numerical information, it is desirable to add definitions, calculation methods, and annotations for the numbers used for calculation to ensure job seekers are not misled.
- Primary responsible party: Even if the text is created by an advertising agency, the entity that bears the legal liability is the recruiting company.
An exclusive survey (*1) conducted by Taiken Nyusha Inc. in February 2026 revealed a serious reality: approximately 60% of job changers feel a gap after joining a company, and about one in three 'regret joining because they trusted the content of the job description.' Furthermore, such mismatches are no longer just a 'compatibility issue.' Coupled with recent revisions to the Employment Security Act, they have become a factor causing companies to bear unexpected legal risks.
Now that an update in compliance awareness is demanded, what exactly is the 'accuracy of facts' that companies must observe? How should it be guaranteed? We explain the new standard for information disclosure in the digital age, including insights from Takeyuki Matsuo, a leading expert in corporate law (Project Associate Professor, Keio University).
■ The Current State of Job Ads Where 'Believers Lose Out', and the Regret of 1 in 3 People
While an increasing number of companies are suffering from labor shortages due to a declining birthrate and aging population, there is no end to the number of people who leave their jobs shortly after joining. To investigate what lies behind this mismatch, Taiken Nyusha Inc. conducted an independent questionnaire survey in February 2026. As a result, responses were collected from 385 people who have experienced changing jobs.
According to the results, approximately one in three, or 32.7%, of people with job change experience answered that they 'have experienced regret in changing jobs after trusting the text information written in the job posting and joining the company.'
Additionally, in a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare survey report submitted in 2020, the proportion of those who 'found an inconvenient gap between the workplace information obtained during their job search and the actual workplace environment discovered after starting work' was cited to be around 60% of the total (*2).
■ Discrepancies Between Job Descriptions and Reality Lurking Everywhere, from Workplace Environment to Salary Conditions
What kind of regrets and gaps specifically did this lead to? According to our survey, at the top of the expressions respondents felt were 'contrary to fact' were pleasant-sounding phrases like 'At-home workplace' and 'Almost no overtime'. Both are expressions that anyone has likely seen at least once on a job site.
In the survey responses:
- It stated 'almost no overtime,' but the reality was that due to chronic understaffing, overtime was the norm.
- It said 'at-home workplace,' but upon entering, it was a family-run paradise of power and moral harassment.
- It claimed a 'friendly atmosphere,' but an employee was told by a boss during training to 'be ashamed of asking questions' regarding things they couldn't possibly know without asking.
Such vivid discrepancies between recruitment expressions and reality were detailed. Many of the problematic expressions are abstract and subjective, which makes them prone to misinterpretation by the receiver. Even considering this, it is clear that there are cases where the reality is not accurately represented, or where companies tolerate or overlook it despite being aware of it.
This current situation leads to a 'hollowing out of trust' where even companies that disclose information honestly are viewed with suspicion. It is an alarming situation that leads to a decline in the overall quality of matching between job seekers and companies in society. The fact that the Employment Security Act has been revised multiple times over the past few years serves as proof of this.
■ The Impact of the 'Employment Security Act Revision' Pointed Out by a Lawyer: Heavier Responsibilities for Companies
In response to this survey, to confirm the presence or absence of legal liability for recruiting companies, we spoke with Takeyuki Matsuo (Momoo, Matsuo & Namba Law Offices, Project Associate Professor at Keio University), an expert in corporate law.
Lawyer Matsuo points out that due to the revision of the Employment Security Act, strict scrutiny is being applied not only to 'false job postings' but also to 'misleading expressions.'
- 'False job postings' can be a criminal offense: Especially when objective figures such as salary differ from the facts, there is a possibility of facing imprisonment for up to 6 months or fines.
- Guidelines for 'misleading expressions': The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare states that when providing numerical information, it is desirable to add definitions, calculation methods, and annotations for the numbers used for calculation to ensure job seekers are not misled.
- Primary responsible party: Even if the text is created by an advertising agency, the entity that bears the legal liability is the recruiting company.