Xymax Real Estate Institute

TOPIC REPORTNew Ways of Working and New Types of Office
Companies and office workers talk about new types of office from theirown perspectives.

April 13, 2017

Aging population and declining working-age population – the labor shortage concerns made companies inJapan to enhance their initiative to change the way people work. It is possible with new technology, which isallowing people to work any time and any place. "Where we work" is important for companies and office
workers alike because offices are the essential part of company's business activities and the place people work
affects large parts of work efficiency and worker's work-life balance.
Xymax Real Estate Institute, last year, organized two surveys on how people work. One survey, responded bycompanies, revealed that companies are starting to provide multiple workspaces for employees. The findings
were covered in our report "Metropolitan Areas Office Demand Survey 2016" (available only in Japanese). The
other survey, responded by office workers, asked them about teleworking.
This report, based on the result of the two surveys and reflecting the perspectives of both companies andworkers, summarizes the latest changes in how people work and the relations between the way of work andplace of work including the current situation, challenges and where the trends are headed.

Main Topics
Companies are taking initiative to change the way people work. Places other than the main
office are becoming more common for office workers: working from home, third place
office*, etc.

Upsides and downsides of telework** are different for those who never teleworked andthose who have teleworked.

People tend to work long hours when working from home because it is difficult to separate
work and private life.

Young workers and those with children are more interested in using third place offices.
Having a third place office is an effective way to keep existing employees and attract new
employees but it is also one of the ways to achieve better work performance.

* Third place office
It is an office space other than the main office of the company and home of the employees. Third place offices are often managed by aserviced office operator. Examples of such offices include satellite office, serviced office, shared office, mobile work office andcoworking space. The contract to use the space may be signed by the employer or by the individual worker.
** Telework
Telework refers to people working at a place other than their main office, with ICT tools (internet, etc.). Telework here does not have to
be a whole day; it includes all the short-time use (one minute or more per week). More specific examples are given below.
A) Home (personal space such as study room, family space such as living room, etc.)
B) Café and other places (café, comic café, internet café, library, karaoke booth, hotel, etc.)
C) When commuting or traveling (train, bus, airplane, station, airport, lobby of client's office, etc.)
D) Office space by service provider (individual workers subscribe and pay the charge) (such offices include serviced office, mobile work
office, shared office, coworking space, etc.)
E) Office space made available by the company. It is an office other than the company's main office but established or designated by
the company. Sometimes it is also referred to as "satellite office". This includes the office that employees used when they are on abusiness trip and the designated office space if the charge is paid by the company.
In this report, D) Office space by service provider and E) Office space made available by the company are regarded as the third place office.

All the contents are as of the date of this report. Xymax Corporation does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information herein.
Copying, quoting, forwarding, distributing, reprinting or any other use of this report is not allowed without prior permission from Xymax Real Estate Institute Corporation.
Copyright © 2017 Xymax Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TOPIC REP
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Companiess are taking
g initiative to change the way off work.
Commute too the same office,owork at your perssonal desk su
urrounded by your teamm members andaleave theeoffice every day at the sa
ame time – thhis has long been the typpical work da
ay for many ooffice workerrs in Japan.
However, thiings are changing. New technology aaccelerated thet spread ofo mobile wo
orking with th
he use of ICT
Ttools. This ne
ew trend willl have an imp
pact not onlyy on the way of work but also on the nature of offfice spaces.
Until Now andOfffice Work – U
a From No
ow On

mples. More than 50% off the companies already have mobilee working programspanddHere is one of the examatoo the compan
ny survey.
video or onliine conference systems, according
Mobilee Working M
Made Availlable by Co
ompanies

TOPIC REPORT
T: New Ways off Working and New Types of O
OfficeAll the contents are aas of the date of this report. Xymax Corpo
oration does not guaarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information hereiin.
Copying, quoting, fo
orwarding, distributing, reprinting or any otherouse of this repo
ort is not allowed witthout prior permission from Xymax Real EEstate Institute Corpo
oration.
Copyright © 2017 Xyymax Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TOPIC REP
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When comppanies try too change the way peop
ple work, theey need to take a com prehensive andacomplexx
approach whhich includess improving the personn el system, acchieving pap
perless officee and other efforts.
e
In theesurvey, we asked the respondents ho
ow the approoach to changge the way peoplepwork started. The vast majorityyof the comppanies started
d the approa
ach following
g the decisioon by top management, indicating that changingg
how people work is an immportant issu
ue which invo
olves commiitment of top
p managemeent.
Approach too Change th
he Way Peop
ple Work – HowH
it starteed?

Telework can be mobile
e working, workingw
fromm home or working at a third placce office. Ass mentionedd,companies aare working tot make mobbile working available forr employees. Then, are em
mployees rea
ally using theemobile workking program
ms offered byy their emplo
oyers? Our surveysfound that workerrs mainly teleework on theeoccasions off visiting cliennts or traveling on busineess rather tha
an deciding thet schedulee (date, time and place) toodo the telew
work in advannce.
Whe n do you telework?

TOPIC REPORT
T: New Ways off Working and New Types of O
OfficeAll the contents are aas of the date of this report. Xymax Corpo
oration does not guaarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information hereiin.
Copying, quoting, fo
orwarding, distributing, reprinting or any otherouse of this repo
ort is not allowed witthout prior permission from Xymax Real EEstate Institute Corpo
oration.
Copyright © 2017 Xyymax Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TOPIC REP
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Upsides annd downsid
des of telew
work changge after acttual experie
ence.
The compariison of officee workers' expectations fo
or telework anda actual up
psides of teleework given byb those whooexperienced telework sho
owed interessting results.
Office worke
ers expect teelework to reeduce travel ing time andd commuting time whilee those who experienceddtelework saidd that upsides were the improved wo
ork quality suchs
as concentration, beetter outcom
me, and beinggable to geneerate better iddeas, rather than upsidess related to time saving.
The responddents also said telework reducedrthei r stress. Thus, telework can be good for office woorkers' healthhtoo.
Upsides off Telework – Expectation
ns and Actual Experiencce("Yes" and "somewhat ye
es" combined)

TOPIC REPORT
T: New Ways off Working and New Types of O
OfficeAll the contents are aas of the date of this report. Xymax Corpo
oration does not guaarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information hereiin.
Copying, quoting, fo
orwarding, distributing, reprinting or any otherouse of this repo
ort is not allowed witthout prior permission from Xymax Real EEstate Institute Corpo
oration.
Copyright © 2017 Xyymax Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TOPIC REP
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The compariison of officee workers' prior concerns on telework
k and actual downsidesdoof telework giiven by thosee
who experienced telework also show
wed interestinng results.
The highligh
ht may be that those whoo have telew
worked feel notn so much downsides oon telework compared tootypical conce
erns people have, accord
ding to the reesults of all thet items in thet graph beelow. Many officeoworkers
worry that teelework mayy cause loss ofo communiccations such as reduced business com
mmunicationns, difficulties
for subordinates to report, contact an
nd consult w
with boss; thoose who havee teleworked,, however, were less likelyy
to feel such downsides.
The top dow
wnsides raised by those who
w teleworkked were nott related to the communiication loss butb related toothe hours off work and workw
load: diffficulties in seeparating wo
ork and privatte life, and p
possibility of workingw
longg
hours.

D
Downsidesof Telework – Prior Conccerns and Ac
ctual Experieence("Yes" and "somewhat ye
es" combined)

TOPIC REPORT
T: New Ways off Working and New Types of O
OfficeAll the contents are aas of the date of this report. Xymax Corpo
oration does not guaarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information hereiin.
Copying, quoting, fo
orwarding, distributing, reprinting or any otherouse of this repo
ort is not allowed witthout prior permission from Xymax Real EEstate Institute Corpo
oration.
Copyright © 2017 Xyymax Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TOPIC REP
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he top two downsides raiised by thosee
Regarding th
who have teleworked, we
e tried to findd out whetheer there
was a differe
ence betweenn the places of telework.

Downsidde – By Placce of Telewo
ork

Those who w
worked from home seemed to have mmoredifficulties inn separating work and private life andd haveconcerns of working longg hours.
Our interview
ws with those who telewo
orked from hhomerevealed that the home environmente
and whetheer thefamily membber was at ho
ome or not had
h impactedd thedownsides.
Therefore, coompanies should conside
er these dow
wnsides inadvance if th
hey want to promotepteleeworking.

Place of wo
ork also sta
arted to chhange.
The campaig
gn to changee the way we work often ffocuses on re
educing the long hours oof work. However, it is alsooimportant too think aboutt "where to work"w
becausse having sevveral work sp
paces can imp
prove work efficiency.
e
The results oof the company survey showedsthat the ratio off companies having workk-from-homee program orothird place ooffice has increased sharp
ply over the yyear.
Compaanies havingg Work-Fromm-Home Pro
ogram and/or Third Plaace Office
Yeaar-on-Year Change

TOPIC REPORT
T: New Ways off Working and New Types of O
OfficeAll the contents are aas of the date of this report. Xymax Corpo
oration does not guaarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information hereiin.
Copying, quoting, fo
orwarding, distributing, reprinting or any otherouse of this repo
ort is not allowed witthout prior permission from Xymax Real EEstate Institute Corpo
oration.
Copyright © 2017 Xyymax Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TOPIC REP
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Until recentlyy, typical offiice workers commutec
fro m home to office,owork there and retturn home. The place theyy
work had alw
ways been a particular office.
oThis iss changing in the recent years; ICT ttools and communicationnenvironmentt, combined with the effo
ort to achievve work-life balance,b
are graduallygalloowing compa
anies to havee
and expand work-from-h
home prograams.
At the same time, increasingly more companies hhave third place offices, whichw
are not
ot the home ofo employees
and not the main office of the comppany; we sho
ould pay atteention to thiss trend. The tthird place officesocan beeused efficien
ntly when em
mployees are away from thheir main offfice. This is a new type off office.

Third placee office as one
o of the choices
Telework generally meanns working at
a a place otther than the main office, but peoplle often undderstand it asworking fromm home. Hoowever, if we
e think abouut those who
o live in greeater Tokyo, not many ofo them haveeenough room and apprropriate syste
em at homee. Problems remainr
if companies havve only work
k-from-homeeprograms. Companies may
m need to havehthird pl ace offices inn addition too work-from--home progrrams in ordeer
to provide w
worker-friendly environmeent for emplo
oyees.
Then, what aare the requirements of third place offfices? According to the chartcon the next page, officeoworkers
said the mosst important requirementt is the proxi mity to theirr home, followed by thing
gs that are soomewhat nooteasy to havee at home forr many peop
ple: security, qquietness and office equipment (printter, etc.).

TOPIC REPORT
T: New Ways off Working and New Types of O
OfficeAll the contents are aas of the date of this report. Xymax Corpo
oration does not guaarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information hereiin.
Copying, quoting, fo
orwarding, distributing, reprinting or any otherouse of this repo
ort is not allowed witthout prior permission from Xymax Real EEstate Institute Corpo
oration.
Copyright © 2017 Xyymax Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TOPIC REP
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What arre importan
nt when usinng a third pla
ace office?
("Impoortant" and ""somewhat immportant" coombined)As of now, tthe third pla
ace offices managed
mby serviced offfice operatorrs vary in tyypes: city cennter locationn,outskirts location, for sollo works, for team collabo
orations, offiice with nursery room, ettc.
Different names are giveen to such kinds
kof officces: mobile workw
office, satellitesofficce, serviced office,oshareddoffice, coworking space and more. ThereT
is no soolid definitio
on for these names yet; sservices prov
vided at suchhoffices are different to ea
ach other eve
en if they shaare the samee name.
The importaant point herre is that thiss is not the t raditional offfice under a lease agreem
ment for a certain perioddbut an officce people ca
an use whennever and w
wherever theey need, andd such officees are increa
asingly moreeavailable. Th
his tells us that it is time for real estaate companie
es to add serrvice-provideer-like busine
esses to theirordinary real estate busin
nesses. As the services prrovided at third place offices become clearer, thirdd place offices
may become
e even more accepted byy the public aas one of thee choices for office worke rs.

TOPIC REPORT
T: New Ways off Working and New Types of O
OfficeAll the contents are aas of the date of this report. Xymax Corpo
oration does not guaarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information hereiin.
Copying, quoting, fo
orwarding, distributing, reprinting or any otherouse of this repo
ort is not allowed witthout prior permission from Xymax Real EEstate Institute Corpo
oration.
Copyright © 2017 Xyymax Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TOPIC REP
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Among third place offices,oworkers are iinterested in using th
he officewith severa
al locationss to choosee from.

1

We asked offfice workers which of thee four types oof third placee offices theyy areinterested inn using. Respondents werre given the ffollowing exp
planations.
1. Officee with severa
al location choicesc(solo
o use)
Users can, based onn their person
nal schedule, choose from several officees in major
office areas in greatter Tokyo including offices located near a terminal sta
ation. They
can choose a different location each time.

2

2. Officee with severa
al location choicesc(usee with team members)
Users can, based ono their project schedule ((internal teamm or team consisting ofmofficemembers from two or more companies), choo se from severral offices in major
areas iin greater Tokkyo including offices locateed near a terrminal station. They canchoosee a different loocation each tiime.

3

3. Officee with child--care support
Users can choose a location which can shorteen the commuting time. This type of
office iis equipped with
w facilities eq
quivalent to thhose in their mainmoffice.

4

4. Collab
boration offficeCorpoorate workers anda independent workers oof different ind
dustries and po
ositions use
this offfice. The openn meeting area
a is important;; it is a place wherew
users coommunicate
each oother.

Of the four, "1. Office withw
several location cho
oices (solo use)"u
was most highly
regarded by respondentss. This is prob
bably becausse the telewo
ork is now basically intend
ded for a solo use such as
between app
pointments oro solo work that requirees concentrattion. In thosee works, peo ple may preffer to chooseethe office loccation that su
uits their purrposes.
"2. Office with several location choices (use with team membbers)" ranked
d on the secoond, indicatinng that someeoffice workers are interessted in using third place ooffices when they work withw others tooo.
These resultss show that theretis a neeed for a neww type of officce; the office which allow
ws workers to choose frommseveral locattions depend
ding on their conveniencee.
Are youy interestted in using third place offices?

TOPIC REPORT
T: New Ways off Working and New Types of O
OfficeAll the contents are aas of the date of this report. Xymax Corpo
oration does not guaarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information hereiin.
Copying, quoting, fo
orwarding, distributing, reprinting or any otherouse of this repo
ort is not allowed witthout prior permission from Xymax Real EEstate Institute Corpo
oration.
Copyright © 2017 Xyymax Corporation. All rights reserved.

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TOPIC REP
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By age group, young peeople are moore interested
d in using thhird place offfices regardleess of the offfice type; theeolder the resspondents, thhe smaller th
he ratio of 'yees' and 'som
mewhat yes'. This
T is imporrtant when companies tryy
to hire new e
employees oro try to keepp existing em
mployees.
However, "3.. Office with child-care su
upport" was different; it was favored by respondeents who aree 25-34 years
old. The thirrd place officce with child-care suppo rt should bee more availa
able in the nnear future too solve sociaalissues includ
ding lack of childccare cennters.
Are youyinteressted in usin
ng third pla
ace offices? (By age ggroups)1. Office with several lo
ocation choicees (solo use)

2. Office with several lo
ocation choicees (use with team members))

3. Office with child-carre support

4. Collabo
oration office

TOPIC REPORT
T: New Ways off Working and New Types of O
OfficeAll the contents are aas of the date of this report. Xymax Corpo
oration does not guaarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information hereiin.
Copying, quoting, fo
orwarding, distributing, reprinting or any otherouse of this repo
ort is not allowed witthout prior permission from Xymax Real EEstate Institute Corpo
oration.
Copyright © 2017 Xyymax Corporation. All rights reserved.

100

TOPIC REPORT｜Xymax Real Estate Institute
Conclusion
Traditionally, Japanese companies had been managing employees based on hours worked. Employees worked
at one particular office. Companies saw office as a cost center; the cost effectiveness had been the top priority.
In line with the progress in offering different ways of work, offices are also changing. As mentioned in our
introduction, the working-age population is declining and companies need to develop more attractive andflexible work environment for employees in order to keep existing workers, hire more workers and improvetheir performance. In that context, offices are not only the cost center but an important base of business. Thus,
the office strategy has become one of the core strategies of companies.
This means that companies will need to implement corporate real estate strategies such as the strategic use ofthird place offices and improvements of existing offices in addition to work-from-home programs. Needless to
say but promoting such strategy requires a commitment by top management.
Xymax Real Estate Institute will continue to study and analyze "how to work" and "where to work", which arealso important themes in social issues, and release informative reports on our findings.
Survey Overview
Company Survey

Worker Survey

Name

Metropolitan Areas Office Demand Survey 2016

Telework Survey

Survey period

October 2016

November – December 2016

Companies

Office Workers

Companies leasing the floors of office buildings

Screening Survey:

managed by Xymax Group.
Companies that are clients of Xymax Estate Design
Respondents

Corporation.

40,000 people who are 15-69 years old.
1

Main Survey :33,094 men and women at the age of 15-69 whose

Out of 3,252 companies, 1,124 companies
responded.

main workplace is in the greater Tokyo except for
self-employed people (restaurants, retailers, service
providers) and unemployed people (job seekers,
students, housewives/househusbands)

Area
MethodAcross Japan (Tokyo, Osaka, Aichi, Fukuoka,
Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba and other prefectures)
By sending emails and distributing questionnaire
sheets to respondents

2

Greater Tokyo (Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba)
Online survey

1. Participants were divided into ten groups by gender (male, female) and age (in their 20s or younger, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s). The percentage of each group is
the same as that of people with job in the greater Tokyo based on the employment structure survey conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs andCommunications.
2. The filtering of respondents in this survey is also based on what types of place the person works (office, factory, store, etc.) and occupation.
In more specific, if the person said he mainly works at office, he is included in our respondents regardless of his occupation. If the person said he works at aplace other than office, he is included in our respondents only if his occupation is either of the followings: administrative, personnel, accounting or planningdepartment; administrative assistant or secretary; sales representative, face-to-face services; research and analysis, patent legal; research and development,
design or system engineer; editor, designer or writer; medical or educational professionals; on-site manager or supervisor.
3. Of the 3,094 respondents, the graphs contained in this report are based on those who said they mainly work at office.

Contact for further information on this report

Xymax Real Estate Institutehttps://soken.xymax.co.jp

Phone: +81 3 3596 1477 | FAX: +81 3 3596 1478 | E-MAIL: info-rei@xymax.co.jp

TOPIC REPORT: New Ways of Working and New Types of Office
All the contents are as of the date of this report. Xymax Corporation does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information herein.
Copying, quoting, forwarding, distributing, reprinting or any other use of this report is not allowed without prior permission from Xymax Real Estate Institute Corporation.
Copyright © 2017 Xymax Corporation. All rights reserved.

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