More employees in Japan returning to the office

The survey, conducted by Tokyo Shōkō Research, showed that 29.1% of companies currently had employees working from home, which was a 7.9-point drop from the previous survey in October 2021 when it was 37.0%.

Of those still implementing remote work, 56.9% were large enterprises, while 24.4% were small and medium-sized companies.

Overall, 27.2% of companies said that while they had implemented working from home, they have now stopped – a significant increase from 20.7% at the time of the October 2021 survey.

The total percentage of companies that were not currently implementing working from home rose to 70.8%.

For companies that were still implementing working from home, the most common percentage of employees using that system was 10%. Those with “more than 70%” of employees working from home stood at 30.9%.

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While the remote working system was established at many companies during the height of the pandemic, it was regarded more as a temporary measure. As such, during times that the country is not in a state of emergency like now, working from home is currently being curtailed on a company-wide level.