Japanese firms reduce teleworking despite workers' wishes: survey

David BrentToday 07:17 am JST

It’s no secret that “working from home” actually means “dossing around from home”. Employers aren’t stupid.

Yes, but you would be surprised how much people will do voluntarily for you if you don't keep them chained to a desk for regular hours plus traffic. People can't generally sleep 24 hours a day and do want to look competent.

It’s no secret that “working from home” actually means “dossing around from home”. Employers aren’t stupid.

We haven't noticed a decrease in work product from our employees working from home during covid. And by dropping one of our offices, we cut overhead. For us, it actually turned out well.

… rising as high as 28.5 percent in February 2022.

I would have guess that a higher percentage of the workforce was working remotely during the peak of the pandemic.

Unless you really love what you do, no one deserves to get less family/hobby time just to spend surrounded by people you dont even like.

Where is Premium Friday?

If you're going to swap people's precious life time for money make it at least 4x3 not 5x2..

My life was saturday to actually enjoy the whole day trekking/surfing/camping, sunday to rest from the trip and next day was the long 5 day waiting just to be able to do what I like again. Rinse, repeat.

Had to go ask some 3 people just to be able to take a weekday off to get my new zairyu card or go to the city hall. Never again.

The remote work revolution is crashing into a cold reality: Research is finding workers are less productive at home

I think the worker's stance on this is: too bad, we're not going back to the office full time.

And who can blame them? It's not like profits are being shared with the people at the bottom.

*Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg might be right:* Remote workers are less productive, new research finds

Quoting two billionaire oligarchs who spend their time on social media and training to give/not give each other a beating as authorities on "productivity".

That does sum up the discussion pretty well AaB.

Labor market experts have pointed to various reasons for the limited spread of telework in Japan, including persistent concerns about a lack of face-to-face communication, the rigid and hierarchical work culture and slower digital transition in society.

So no valid reasons, meanwhile teleworking promotes higher productivity, better work-life balance and helps introducing companies to the 21st century.

From a company view this is quite a percentage which in fact is out of any control reach and thus practically not really 100% needed, therefore a big cost factor and potentially the part which could also be fired immediately

This makes no sense, teleworking employees are still under control, and even without it that do not make them automatically not needed nor they can just be fired without heavy consequences for the company.

A two-year study published in February 2021 of 3 million employees at 715 U.S. companies, including many from the Fortune 500 list, showed that working from home improved employee productivity by an average of 6 percent.

Another survey of 800 employers found that 94 percent of employers said their employees were just as productive or even more productive while working remotely. And 83 percent of workers said they were happy with remote work arrangements, while only 7 percent wanted to return to an office immediately. Most workers said they wanted a hybrid setup when they do eventually return to their workplaces, splitting their time between home and the office.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/intentional-insights/202210/the-truth-about-work-from-home-productivity

It’s no secret that “working from home” actually means “dossing around from home”. Employers aren’t stupid.

Im inclined to agree. But when most workers spend hours of the day pretending to work in the office, or being assigned pointless busy work by their managers, what difference does it really make if they are at home one or two days a week. At least they can feel less stressed out.

Opponents of telework seem to be arguing that we're just going back to how work always was, but from where I sit, things are a lot more stressful than in 2019.

At my employer, once telework started, they reduced office space and switched from regular assigned seating to a system where you have to find an open seat when you arrive. We also started monitoring what people are doing on their computers all day, mandating Outlook calendars with each person's activity, and communicating mostly through Teams chat. But now that WFH is ending, we're keeping all these stressful micromanage-y new ways of communication while bringing back all the bad parts of in-office work, and we're not getting the office space back so everybody is crammed into a smaller space and not knowing where they'll be sitting until they walk in that day.

I love telework, and can tolerate pre-2019 on-site work. But what they seem to want going forward is worse than either.

I would have guess that a higher percentage of the workforce was working remotely during the peak of the pandemic.

This data gathered by Persol Research and Consulting doesn’t even come close to matching that gathered by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

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December 26, 2022

A survey conducted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government found that half of the companies located in Tokyo are implementing telework in the second half of 2022, and that 20% of remote working employees rarely come into the office.

Among the 56 companies with 300 or more employees, 67.9% had introduced a remote work system. The rate was 58.5% among the 123 companies whose workforce was 100 to 299 employees, while the rate was 49.3% for the 268 companies with between 30 and 99 employees.

Among the 240 companies surveyed that offer the remote work option, 42.8% reported that employees were actually engaged in telework in October.

Among company employees who regularly engaged in remote work, the most common frequency was one day per week, as reported by 34.6% of those surveyed, followed by five days at 21.8%, two days at 20.9%, three days at 13.1%, and four days at 9.6%. This shows that a total of 44.5% of these telework employees were working remotely three days or more per week. This is a decrease of 3.9 points compared to the combined total of 48.4% for September.

https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h01527/

Japan's private sector is a dinosaur, and a very narrow-minded one at that. The govt does have some good and progressive ideas on work-life balance, etc., but the private sector won't listen, usually citing some bizarre and irrational reason why it can't change its oppressive and old-fashioned ways.

These companies pledge allegiance to Japanese-run organizations such as JR. They need you out of the house to pay for infrastructure. They need you out of the house for tax breaks. It's always about money.

Some jobs require more time at the office, others don't. If people can't perform working from home then they can be asked to come to the office more or get fired. It's not as if telecommuting means working all days at home. It can be 2 - 3 times a week, etc. Then again, I don't think many Japanese companies actually do real performance evaluations. How many get fired for poor performance...not many.

Companies can decrease expenses by having employees continue to telecommute: less space needed less rent, less gaz/water/electricity, less commutation expenses, less paper and supplies, less furniture, etc. I guess they don't want to reduce overhead.

Employees who have become accustomed to teleworking might experience a decrease in job satisfaction and morale if they are required to return to the office against their wishes. This could lead to decreased motivation and productivity. Some employees may be attracted to or remain with a company specifically because of the option to telework. Reducing this flexibility could potentially result in losing valuable talent to competitors that offer remote work opportunities.

Japanese firms reduce teleworking despite workers' wishes: survey

Japanese firm just want to keep unnecessary overtime and long working hour to be spent in office.

Always going backwards

I work for myself and most of my work is done at ho to my on schedule. Would never want to work for anyone else again, lol

Of course every side has it's own preferences and workload as well as cost considerations, so that problem just balances out now. I guess a rate of about 20% is still very generous. From a company view this is quite a percentage which in fact is out of any control reach and thus practically not really 100% needed, therefore a big cost factor and potentially the part which could also be fired immediately. Isn't it very nice and friendly that all the bosses and the 78% of the other company employees, who are actually present at the company, willingly carry the burdens and give them a generous timeout and in addition even big monthly wages sent right into their private homes? That's soon almost like in theoretical communism, for those lucky pampered 22%.

If you're going to swap people's precious life time for money make it at least 4x3 not 5x2..

howdy Rich, welcome to this world called monetary inslavement

Whaaaaat? Japan Inc. not listening to its workers? Tell me it isn't so!

They just lazy and want sit at home and VPN actuas if they are working by shooting emails. Get out of the house hermits

So no valid reasons, meanwhile teleworking promotes higher productivity, better work-life balance and helps introducing companies to the 21st century.

Another one.

The remote work revolution is crashing into a cold reality: Research is finding workers are less productive at home

https://www.businessinsider.com/are-remote-jobs-more-productive-work-life-balance-return-office-2023-8

Whaaaaat? Japan Inc. not listening to its workers? Tell me it isn't so!

And It looks like Japan Inc is correct  about remote work.

Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg might be right: Remote workers are less productive, new research finds

https://fortune.com/2023/08/03/remote-workers-less-productive-research/

 Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

A JT poster who should do  more research before posting?  Tell me it isn't so!

It’s no secret that “working from home” actually means “dossing around from home”. Employers aren’t stupid.