Telework amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: effects on work style reform in Japan

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic affected telework initiatives in Japanese companies and investigate the factors that affect telework based on the technology, organization and environment (TOE) model, through the analysis of published documents. Design/methodology/approach Document analysis was adopted. Documents were collected from English news articles in the Nikkei Asian Review and Nikkei Asia which cover Japan's economy, industries and markets. The results of surveys by the Persol Research Institute and Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry were also provided to discuss factors promoting and hindering telework. Content analysis was adopted to analyse the documents. Findings COVID-19 had an unavoidable impact on the implementation of telework that the government had previously failed to instigate. Japanese listed companies tend to implement telework, whereas small- and medium-sized companies are struggling. The ratio of telework has been low even after the declaration of the state of emergency because there exist organizational, technological and environmental barriers to telework in Japan. Originality/value This study contributes to discussions on work style reform by focusing on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on telework. This research also gives new insight into operationalization of telework in organizations not only in Japan but also in other countries known for low rates of telework and inflexible work styles such as Korea.

Estimating E-workability Components Across Central European Countries

“…But this was a novelty for most workers, and it was a test of a new workplace culture mediated by technology and Covid-19 pandemics. This is similar to a recent study from Japan, where the ratio of e-working was low due to organisational, technological and environmental barriers (Hosoda, 2021). Nevertheless, when we delve further into the detailed data, the striking results are that it [8] Estimating E-workability Components Across Central European Countries is possible to sustain GDP in services, technology and education with this kind of work flexibility.…”

Out of Sight, Out of Mind? A Longitudinal Investigation of Smart Working and Burnout in the Context of the Job Demands–Resources Model during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Finally, in this study, we also hypothesized that the work arrangement might affect the longitudinal relationship between work characteristics, in terms of workload and SS, and exhaustion. On the one hand, smart workers may have difficulty in managing their workload due to technology-related problems (e.g., network connections, securing devices) [67], frequent interruptions [68], high email quantity and poor email quality [69], and an overwhelming amount of virtual meetings [70], which may ultimately result in information overload [71] and loss of control over their work flow (see also [72] for a review). Additionally, smart workers may find it difficult to focus on their work due to family demands [7], and they usually have to perform multiple tasks at a time (both workand family-related), or switch from one task to another (i.e., multitasking) [73].…”

“…On the one hand, the association between workload and exhaustion over time was nonsignificant for in-person workers, but a positive (albeit marginally significant) longitudinal association between workload and exhaustion emerged for smart workers. A possible explanation is that smart working is associated with both work intensification and extensification [19,20]; due to difficulties in managing their workload [67][68][69][70], smart workers may end up investing more effort-physical and mental-and spending more time in their work to perform their tasks effectively and achieve their goals. Additionally, given the blurred boundaries between work and family domains, they may also experience higher levels of work-family/family-work conflict [3,105].…”

Perceived privacy in home office and musculoskeletal complaints: a test of family–work conflict, work–family conflict, and relaxation as mediators

“…The progress of telework depends on the respective working conditions, which are handled differently from country to country (Kotera and Correa Vione 2020 ). Technological progress also necessarily differs between countries and must be considered, especially regarding teleworking (Eurofound 2020 ; Hosoda 2021 ; Morrison et al 2019 ).…”