This study examines the transformation of cognition toward work among middle-aged workers faced with caregiving responsibilities. In order to support employees in balancing work and caregiving, it is necessary for companies to have open conversations with them regarding the support they need and the choices they make in their work arrangements. However, in order to establish this premise, it is important to understand how caregiving workers are transforming their cognition toward work. Therefore, semi-structured interviews were conducted with fulltime employees in their 40s and 50s who provide caregiving for family members or relatives aged 65 and above for 15 hours or more per week. The data were analyzed using a Modified Grounded Theory Approach (M-GTA). The burden of caregiving led to two changes in cognition toward work among workers: a sense of crisis and a reevaluation of the importance of work and career. This prompted workers to seek changes in their work arrangements, including efficiency improvements and time management strategies. The threat to continued employment caused by increased burden stimulated workers to recognize issues in their past work practices and the necessity to explore new approaches. This observation led to two kind of behaviors, such as reducing one's own workload and seeking collaboration with colleagues. The former can facilitate psychological withdrawal from work through the sensation of approaching the end of one's career. The latter can lead to finding new value and roles in work, which suppress psychological withdrawal from work.

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the current state of vocational training in Japan and the debates that have taken place so far. Vocational training has been discussed from various disciplines and perspectives, and its discourse has not been treated as a single theoretical system. Most traditional studies have considered the connection and integration between in-company training and external vocational training to be weak, and there have been no attempts to comprehensively grasp them as a unified system. However, in recent years, researchers have shown interest in identifying the organizational basis for the provision of vocational training, known as vocational training providers. The concepts and terms “demand-led approach” and “meeting the employer's requirement” have been redefined in recent years to emphasize a positive linkage between in-company training and vocational training, rather than viewing them as separate entities. Based on the discussion up to this point, it is necessary to focus the analysis on how vocational training is connected to in-company training in order to address traditional issues concerning about vocational training in Japan. Therefore, this paper reviews vocational training with a focus on the following three points: Firstly, it will explore the formation of the internal labor market and the establishment of in-company training, considered characteristic of the Japanese employment system, to clarify their interrelationship with vocational training. Secondly, it will review past issues regarding vocational training in Japan. Thirdly, it will examine the development of new debates on vocational training and the challenges.

In this paper, we conducted a literature review with the aim of clarifying the characteristics, developments, and challenges of critical HRM (CHRM) research, which has been attracting attention in recent years, particularly in the United Kingdom and Europe. The review revealed that four topics have developed in CHRM research: (1) critical research on the gap between rhetoric and reality, (2) focus on manager-employee perceptions of the management process, (3) criticism of monistic HRM, and (4) integration with the findings of mainstream HRM theory.

In addition, although there are some commonalities between so-called “mainstream” HRM research and CHRM research, the lack of integration of findings makes it difficult to have a productive dialogue between the two, and we discussed the research agenda that should be addressed in order to overcome this challenge. The research agenda that should be addressed in order to overcome this challenge was discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to review research on the topic of balancing fertility treatment and work. First, this paper showed that the issue of balancing fertility treatment and work emerges at the intersection of gender bias in healthcare and employment. Second, this paper reviewed research trends in following two groups of studies: “studies on balancing fertility treatment and work” and “studies on the relationship between reproductive technologies and the labor market.” As a result of reviewing the two groups of research, it was found that the development of reproductive technology could function in ways that either strengthen or weaken gender bias in the labor market. Third, I discussed the following three points as prospects for research on balancing fertility treatment and work; (1) the influence of insurance coverage for fertility treatment to the labor market in Japan; (2) the relationship between “support programs for balancing fertility treatment and work” and “employment equity policies”; and (3) the impact of the reproductive technology of egg freezing on the gender structure of the labor market. Finally, it was pointed out that gender norms of division of labor would have an impact on the interaction between reproductive technology and the labor market, and that initiatives based on egalitarian norm regarding gender division of labor by countries and companies could lead to the dismantling of the intersection of gender bias in healthcare and employment.