As in other economies, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a driving force for remote work in Japan. However, the rigid business culture and lagging digitization are seen as an obstacle to the wider acceptance of teleworking in the country.
Aside from technological aspects, Japan’s rigid and hierarchical corporate culture that favors face-to-face communication, collaboration in teams, and close consultation with supervisors made businesses reluctant to switch to a working from home arrangement.
The share of workers working remotely was highest in Tokyo, but only reached around 16 percent in rural areas. The pandemic has also highlighted discrepancies between large corporations and small businesses. While many medium and small enterprises did not have the resources to make large investments to offer work from home arrangements, some of Japan’s largest corporations embraced the new situation as an opportunity to reform their work style policies in general.
Barriers to the spread of remote work
Just like everywhere around the world, the pandemic has accelerated the spread of telework in Japan. The share of businesses that implemented telework jumped from a mere 20.2 percent in 2019 to 47.5 percent in 2020. The sudden need to reduce contact unveiled barriers entrenched in Japan’s work culture that hindered a quick response to the new situation. The pandemic revealed a backlog in digitalization among the business and public sectors, which, due to a lack of IT investment in the past decades, were not technologically prepared for a shift to remote work. Media reports about business procedures in Japan still relying on paper documents, hanko seals, and fax machines went around the world. This even sparked the establishment of a new government agency to promote digitalization in the country.Aside from technological aspects, Japan’s rigid and hierarchical corporate culture that favors face-to-face communication, collaboration in teams, and close consultation with supervisors made businesses reluctant to switch to a working from home arrangement.
Telework in recent years
The share of corporations offering telework reached a peak of 51.9 percent in 2021 and has seen a slight decline in 2022. A similar trend could be observed among teleworkers. The percentage of workers who have worked remotely at some point in their current job peaked at 27 percent in 2021, but has been on a downward trend in the past two years. Over 44 percent of workers said their company did not allow teleworking. Most teleworkers expressed their desire to work from home more frequently, citing the time saved by not commuting as one of the major advantages.The share of workers working remotely was highest in Tokyo, but only reached around 16 percent in rural areas. The pandemic has also highlighted discrepancies between large corporations and small businesses. While many medium and small enterprises did not have the resources to make large investments to offer work from home arrangements, some of Japan’s largest corporations embraced the new situation as an opportunity to reform their work style policies in general.
