社員

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 社員(しゃいん) means an employee belonging to a company.
• Basic usage: It appears in 新入社員, new company employees, and in discussions of employees' working conditions.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Affiliation compared with 会社員
  • 会社員(かいしゃいん) is often used as an occupational category: someone who works for a company. 社員 focuses more on membership in a particular company's workforce.