Survey Shows Japanese Companies Falling Well Short of Government’s 70% Teleworking Target

In July 2020, Tokyo Shōkō Research released the results of a survey they conducted targeting 14,300 companies nationwide. It showed that while 31.0% of companies were currently implementing working from home, a further 26.7% had introduced it temporarily, but have now ceased. This was due to concerns about managing information online and employees not being able to get used to the system. Companies that never implemented teleworking to begin with accounted for 42.2%.

The number of new infections is continuing to increase in urban areas like Tokyo and Osaka and from late July onward the rate of unknown infection routes has exceeded 50% nationwide. Minister for Economic Revitalization Nishimura Yasutoshi, who is in charge of COVID-19 countermeasures, has requested that the business world implements a rate of over 70% for teleworking.

To achieve this though, companies need to introduce systems and software for managing online meetings and work duties as well as adjusting more intangible aspects, such as personnel evaluations. Small and medium-sized businesses are held back not only by not having the capital to invest in such systems but also by traditional corporate culture. The Tokyo Shōkō Research survey showed that while 55.2% of large enterprises had implemented working from home, only 26.1% of small and medium-sized businesses had been able to do the same.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo: © Pixta.)