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| Japan's government has struggled to induce firms to offer teleworking, but the coronavirus epidemic means many are now experimenting with working from home (AFP Photo/ CHARLY TRIBALLEAU) |
The longstanding stereotype of Japan's office-bound "salaryman" is being tested as companies cautiously embrace working from home in a bid to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
Japan's
government has for years been trying to encourage firms to implement
"flexible working patterns", hoping that less demanding office hours
will help women return to work after having children and men share more
housework and childcare.
But uptake
has been slow. A survey published last year found around 19 percent of
companies offered a telework option, but just 8.5 percent of employees polled
had tried it out.
Experts say
part of the challenge is the social stigma attached to deviating from the
"salaryman" stereotype of the suited-up office worker who proves his
dedication by spending long hours at his desk.
Polls show
"the Japanese still have this image that telework isn't real work because
you're not physically in the office," said Haruka Kazama, an economist at
the Mizuho research institute.
That's a
view familiar to Yuki Sato, 35, currently experimenting with teleworking for
the first time.
"The
image of going to the office is very strong. You have to show that you work
hard and long hours and that you help your colleagues," Sato told AFP.
"With
telework, we can't show our goodwill and motivation," he added.
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Yuki Sato
has been working at home since February, and has more time to spend
with his
two daughters and wife (AFP Photo/Behrouz MEHRI)
|
'It's
actually nice'
But the
spread of the new coronavirus has forced employers and workers to give telework
a try in Japan, and Sato for one has been pleasantly surprised.
"Unlike
I'd expected, it's actually nice. Much easier than going to the office,"
said Sato, who has been working at home since February when the government
began asking workers to telework to avoid spreading the new coronavirus.
He works
for a Tokyo start-up, Phybbit, which offers services to counter digital fraud,
and had never before tried working from home.
"This
experience has completely changed my image of teleworking," he told AFP in
the small office he has set up in the family home he shares with his wife and
two children.
For a
start, it saves him two hours of commuting a day, meaning he has more time with
his daughters, whose schools are currently closed.
"I can
also give them their bath in the evening, something I could never do during the
week before because I was never home before 8pm."
Sato's wife
Hitomi takes primary care of their daughters, six-year-old Yurina and
four-year-old Hidano and said she has welcomed the helping hand at home.
"I'm
glad that he's here, and the girls are happy to spend time with their
dad," she said.
The
Japanese government has renewed its push for teleworking and off-peak commuting
in recent years, hoping to ease the burden on the notoriously congested Tokyo
public transport system, particularly ahead of the Olympics.
But there
hasn't been much enthusiasm.
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Japan's
government hopes telework can help mothers return to employment after
having
children and ease the burden on Tokyo's notoriously congested transport
system
(AFP Photo/CHARLY TRIBALLEAU)
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'Mindsets
are changing'
Kunihiko
Higa, a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology who specialises in
flexible work options, attributes that to reluctant managers.
Many of
them "consider teleworking only as a tool for workers," he told AFP.
"In
other words, they don't understand that teleworking, if used in the right way,
can be a management strategy tool."
The
coronavirus outbreak appears to have achieved what government campaigns could
not, forcing the hands of firms who may previously have been reluctant.
"The
situation has put their backs against the wall. They've been forced to give
their employees the choice to telework," said Kazama.
A poll
carried out at the end of February by the Keidanren business association of
nearly 400 major firms found nearly 70 percent had already begun implementing
teleworking or were planning to because of the pandemic.
The switch
hasn't been universal. Workers still cram onto commuter trains -- albeit in
smaller numbers -- and Japan's parliament is hardly setting the tone,
continuing to hold sessions and ministerial press conferences.
And there
is no guarantee yet that companies will continue to allow teleworking when the
crisis eases.
But experts
said being forced to try teleworking was likely to leave a lasting impact in
Japan, with companies beginning to see working from home as a feasible and even
attractive option.
"I
think mindsets are changing," said Kazama.
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