Firms in Japan still not adopting teleworking enough, survey shows

Despite calls from authorities to adopt remote working arrangements, fewer people are teleworking, shows a survey conducted on April 12 and 13 by the Japan Productivity Center. 

At the time, companies in Miyagi, Osaka, and Hyōgo Prefectures were asked to adopt remote work arrangements to control the spread of Covid-19. However, the teleworking rate for staff in Osaka and Hyōgo was 18.4%, similar to that of the surveys conducted in January 2021 and October 2020, reports Nippon.  

Employees teleworking from zero to two days a week accounted for 51.2% of remote workers, down 55% from the survey in January.

Some 40% of respondents said that they faced trouble with costs for working at home, such as setting up a work space and securing internet access. They were also worried on how their work performance would be judged.

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In January, businesses implementing telework dropped 2.8 points in a survey conducted then. During Japan’s first state of emergency in May 2020, the teleworking rate had been over 30%, but steadily ticked lower since July last year.