NIRA OPINION PAPER
No.47 | June 2020

Telework as a Long-term Solution:
Problems and Contradictions to overcome
Toshihiro Okubo1
Professor, Faculty of Economics, Keio University
Senior Adjunct Fellow, Nippon Institute for Research Advancement (NIRA)

COVID-19 has spread throughout the world since January 2020, and people arebeing requested to stay at home and refrain from going out. Telework has drawn
attention as an effective means of enabling people to keep working and preventing the
spread of infectious diseases. The Japanese government has strongly suggested that all
workers should utilize telework from home from February 2020.
In this opinion paper, we report on the results of a survey conducted by Keio
University and NIRA on telework as it relates to Japanese workers and discussproblems associated with telework and its impact on lifestyle and work styles. According
to the survey, the rate of utilization of telework increased significantly between January
2020 (pre-pandemic) and March 2020 (during the pandemic). However, the rate ofutilization of telework varies across industries, occupations, regions, and company size.
It is difficult to broadly and uniformly encourage telework for all workers.
Telework is clearly not suitable to some industries and occupations. Telework
involves numerous problems and difficulties in relation to company organization, thework environment, and individual workers in many industries and occupations. In
particular, face-to-face services (e.g. food and drink, accommodation) are not suited totelework at all. In spite of this, these industries have been requested to shut down forthe containment of COVID-19. Even if the government has sought telework to be
employed, workers in these industries cannot physically telework. The provision of
government support to these industries is therefore an urgent matter under the current
circumstances.

1

Keio University. okubo@econ.keio.ac.jp
Copyright Ⓒ 2020 Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

1

NIRA OPINION PAPER
No.47 | June 2020

Introduction
COVID-19 has spread throughout the world since January 2020, and people are being
requested to stay at home and refrain from going out. Telework has drawn attention as an effectivemeans of enabling people to keep working and preventing the spread of infectious diseases. The
Japanese government has strongly suggested that all workers should utilize telework from homefrom February 2020.
In this opinion paper, we report on the results of a survey conducted by Keio University and
NIRA on telework as it relates to Japanese workers and discuss problems associated with teleworkand its impact on lifestyle and work styles. According to the survey, the rate of utilization of
telework increased significantly between January 2020 (pre-pandemic) and March 2020 (during
the pandemic). However, the rate of utilization of telework varies across industries, occupations,regions, and company size. It is difficult to broadly and uniformly encourage telework for all
workers.
Telework is clearly not suitable to some industries and occupations. Telework involves
numerous problems and difficulties in relation to company organization, the work environment,
and individual workers in many industries and occupations. In particular, face-to-face services (e.g.
food and drink, accommodation) are not suited to telework at all. In spite of this, these industries
have been requested to shut down for the containment of COVID-19. Even if the government has
sought telework to be employed, workers in these industries cannot physically telework. The
provision of government support to these industries is therefore an urgent matter under thecurrent circumstances.

COVID-19 and Telework in JapanThe COVID-19 virus commenced its worldwide spread in January 2020, and was declareda pandemic in March 2020. Against this background, Japan is an exceptional case. The number of
infections and deaths in Japan has been much lower than in the United States and Europe. Japan
has also not completely closed its national borders or locked down its cities. While the government
has requested citizens to take time off work and to refrain from going out, economic activity has
continued since February 2020. Rather than instituting a complete lockdown or attempting tocontrol the population with penalties, the government’s policy response has been to request people
to refrain from leaving their houses, and to encourage telecommuting and telework, without
penalties and punishment. This is unheard of among the developed nations, with the exception of
Sweden.
At the same time, Japan is known to have the lowest use of telework among the developed
nations. According to Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (2016), 85% offirms and establishments have introduced telework systems in the United States, 38% in the
United Kingdom, and 22% in Germany, but only 11% in Japan. 2 In Japan, despite strong

2

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (2016) “Government Initiatives towards the Promotion of
Telework" https://www.soumu.go.jp/main_content/000433143.pdf
Copyright Ⓒ 2020 Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

2

NIRA OPINION PAPER
No.47 | June 2020
promotion of teleworking by the government and companies in recent years, the utilization rate
has remained low. Japan is therefore an interesting case study for the investigation of how theshock of the COVID-19 pandemic may lead to the promotion of telework.

Telework as a Measure to prevent the Transmission of Infectious Diseases
Telework has recently attracted attention as a means of improving work styles and qualityof life. With the support of various government and private initiatives, telework has gained groundas a viable alternative to traditional work styles in recent years. Although the mechanisms thatwill fully enable telework are not yet in place, it is regarded as a means of increasing laborproductivity and work efficiency by reducing commuting and increasing flexibility in working
hours, giving workers more time for their daily lives.
As opposed to previous efforts to promote telework to enable better working styles, telework
is currently being promoted as a measure against the spread of infectious diseases. The Japanese
government has requested citizens to exercise restraint in leaving their homes, in addition to
calling for services such as restaurants and retail stores to restrict their activities or close entirely.
The government has instead asked all businesses to promote telework. A number of cases can bepointed to in which telework has been introduced at the request of employers. It may also be thecase that even if some occupations and industries are not suited to teleworking, many workers
have been forced to telework. It is clearly extremely difficult to balance economic activities withmeasures against infectious diseases while dealing with institutional and environmental problems.

Overview of Survey Results
In April 2020, Keio University and NIRA conducted a survey on telework entitled"Questionnaire Survey on the Effects of the Spread of COVID-19 on Telework-based Work Styles,
Lifestyle, and Awareness". The sample was 10,516 workers living in Japan. The questionnaire
asked about the employment status, living situation, and awareness of workers as of January andMarch 2020.3
First, telework must be defined. In general, telework refers to a way of working that is notbound by time and space, using information and communications technology (ICT). In our survey,
telework was defined as working at a specific place (at home or in a public facility) for a specificnumber of hours using ICT. Our definition therefore does not include the use of ICT devices at
locations such as stations, airports, transportation facilities, and the premises of business partners.
3

The questionnaire survey and data analysis were conducted by Toshihiro Okubo, Kiwamu Kato, Senior Architect for
Future Corporation, and Atsushi Inoue, Kozue Sekijima, and Hironari Masuhara of NIRA. This is website-base survey
by Nikkei Research, Co..
See also
OKUBO Toshihiro and NIRA (2020), "Report on the Results of a Questionnaire Survey concerning the Impact of the Useof Telework to respond to the Spread of the COVID-19 on Working Styles, Lifestyles, and Awareness"
https://nira.or.jp/outgoing/report/entry/n200430_965.html (in Japanese)
OKUBO Toshihiro and NIRA (2020), "Results of a Questionnaire Survey concerning the Impact of the Use of Telework to
respond to the Spread of the COVID-19 on Working Styles, Lifestyles, and Awareness (Preliminary Report)"
https://nira.or.jp/outgoing/report/entry/n200417_963.html (in Japanese)
Copyright Ⓒ 2020 Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

3

NIRA OPINION PAPER
No.47 | June 2020
Our survey found that the national average telework utilization rate as of March 2020 was
10%, as compared to 6% in January. The utilization rate therefore increased by about 4% in only
two months.
The survey also revealed three main findings regarding telework.
(1) There are more teleworkers in the information services industries and fewer in the face-to-faceservice work and manual labor industries.
With regard to industry type, communications and information services (27%) andinformation services and research (23%) have the highest telework utilization rates, while
restaurants and accommodation (4%) and medical care and welfare (2%) have the lowest rates(Figure 1).
Turning to occupation, management consultants (51%), researchers (28%), and dataprocessing and communication engineers (25%) display high rates of utilization of teleworking,while doctors, dentists, veterinarians, and pharmacists (3%), public health nurses, midwives, andnurses (2%), workers involved in carrying, cleaning, packaging, and related industries (2%),
manufacturing process workers (2%), food and drink / cooking and customer service workers (2%),
and construction and mining workers (0%) display a low rate (Figure 2). This indicates thatindustries and occupations related to information have a comparatively high rate of utilization of
telework, while telework is not suited to face-to-face services and manual labor. In terms of growthin utilization between January and March, the telework utilization rate almost doubled inaccounting, clerical work, and sales and retail. This indicates that the utilization of telework
rapidly spreads across the entire spectrum of office work.

Copyright Ⓒ 2020 Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

4

NIRA OPINION PAPER
No.47 | June 2020
Figure 1: Rate of utilization of telework by industry category
As of January 2020
Communications and information services,

As of March 2020

17

excluding information services and research (n = 400)

14

Information services and research (n = 332)

7

Finance and Insurance (n = 415)94Electricity, Gas, Water and Heat Supply (n = 160)

93Mining and Construction (n = 608)

8

4Other Services (n = 1,681)

7

3

Other (n = 483)739Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry and Fisheries (n = 123)

5

Real Estate Business (n = 294)

23

8

8

Manufacturing (n = 1,742)

27

10

14

0
3

Wholesale and Retail Trade (n = 1,239)

3

4

Education and learning support business (n = 553)

3

3

Transportation (n = 487)

3

2

Public service (n = 468)

3 1Restaurants and accommodations (n = 390)

2 2

Medical Care and Welfare (n = 1,141)

20

(％) 0

10

20

30

Utilization rate as of January 2020
Increase in utilization from February to March

Copyright Ⓒ 2020 Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

5

NIRA OPINION PAPER
No.47 | June 2020
Figure 2: Utilization rate by occupational category
As of March 2020
As of January 2020
39

Management and business consultants (n = 51)
20

Researchers (n = 116)

15

Data processing and communication engineers (n = 386)

10

20

Legal Professionals (n = 44)
Administrative and managerial workers (n = 957)

8

Authors, journalists, editors (n = 39)

13

5

16

2

17

Outdoor service workers (n = 6)

11

3

Other specialist professionals (n = 158)

6

6

General clerical workers (n = 1,708)

6

4

Production-related clerical workers (n = 123)73

Accountancy clerks (n = 317)

5

5

7

3

Manufacturing engineers (n = 414)
Occupational health and hygiene service workers (n = 92)

5 2

Professional social welfare workers (n = 159)

6 1

Agriculture, forestry, and fishery engineers (n = 41)

7 0

Other (n = 954)

5 2

Office appliance operators (n = 34)

3 3Teachers (n = 247)

23

Other service workers (n = 667)

32

Sales workers (n = 797)

23Manager of residential facilities and buildings (n = 86)

22

Agriculture, forestry and fishery workers (n = 49)

40

Transport and post clerical workers (n = 101)

31

Workers in Family Life Support and Care Service (n = 155)

21

Transport and machine operation workers (n = 130)21

Medical Technology and Healthcare Professionals (n = 211)30

Doctors, dentists, veterinarians, and pharmacists (n = 142)

21

Public health nurses, midwives, and nurses (n = 195)

20

0
4

10

Architects, civil engineers and surveyors (n = 278)

25

10

Artists, designers, photographers, film operators (n = 119)Management, finance and insurance professionals (n = 72)

51

28

2

13
8

Sales clerks (n = 465)

12
9Carrying, cleaning, packaging, and related workers (n = 249) 11
Manufacturing process workers (n = 395) 11
Food and drink cooking, staff serving customers (n = 407) 11
Security workers (n = 97) 10
Workers in religion (n = 4) 0
Construction and mining workers (n = 51) 0(%)

Utilization rate as of January 2020

0

20

40

Increase in utilization from February to March

Copyright Ⓒ 2020 Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

60

6

NIRA OPINION PAPER
No.47 | June 2020
(2) There are more teleworkers in urban areas and fewer in rural areas.
The rate of utilization of telework differs depending on region. Figure 3 shows the telework
utilization rate by prefecture. Tokyo has the highest rate at 21%, followed by Kanagawa (16%),
Chiba (14%) and Saitama (13%). The rate of utilization of teleworking displayed the greatest
increase between January and March 2020 in Tokyo. This may be related to strong government
recommendations to utilize telework in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area and Osaka.
On the other hand, utilization rates are generally low in rural areas, largely due toindustrial structure. In prefectures that rely mainly on agriculture, forestry and fisheries, it is lesslikely that telework will be used. By contrast, the Tokyo metropolitan area features a concentrationof large numbers of white-collar workers in corporate headquarters and service industries, andthese are well suited to telework.

Copyright Ⓒ 2020 Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

7

NIRA OPINION PAPER
No.47 | June 2020
Figure 3: Telework utilization rate by prefecture (Residential basis)
As of January 2020

As of March 2020

Hokkaido (n = 509)
Aomori (n = 77)
Iwate (n = 75)
Miyagi (n = 219)
Akita (n = 74)
Yamagata (n = 71)
Fukushima (n = 105)
Ibaraki (n = 180)
Tochigi (n = 98)
Gunma (n = 105)
Saitama (n = 607)
Chiba (n = 491)
Tokyo (n = 1,541)
Kanagawa (n = 824)
Niigata (n = 136)
Toyama (n = 77)
Ishikawa (n = 73)
Fukui (n = 33)
Yamanashi (n = 42)
Nagano (n = 122)
Gifu (n = 122)
Shizuoka (n = 240)
Aichi (n = 682)
Mie (n = 130)
Shiga (n = 90)
Kyoto (n = 238)
Osaka (n = 883)
Hyogo (n = 477)
Nara (n = 126)
Wakayama (n = 54)
Tottori (n = 36)
Shimane (n = 45)
Okayama (n = 168)
Hiroshima (n = 233)
Yamaguchi (n = 96)
Tokushima (n = 54)
Kagawa (n = 83)
Ehime (n = 124)
Kochi (n = 40)
Fukuoka (n = 555)
Saga (n = 57)
Nagasaki (n = 109)
Kumamoto (n = 117)
Oita (n = 65)
Miyazaki (n = 50)
Kagoshima (n = 84)
Okinawa (n = 98)(%)

National average telework utilization
rate as of March 2020: 10%

National average telework utilization
rate as of January 2020: 6%
13
14

21

16

0

5

10

15

20

25

Utilization rate as of January 2020
Increase in utilization from February to March

Copyright Ⓒ 2020 Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

8

NIRA OPINION PAPER
No.47 | June 2020
(3) There are fewer teleworkers in small and medium-sized enterprises.
In terms of job status, corporate executives have the highest telework rate (20%) and nonregular employees the lowest (4%). Corporate executives frequently use ICT for such purposes ascoordination of departments and teleconferencing. Telework appears to be useful in facilitatingcompany management. By contrast, the tasks performed by non-regular employees might not besuited to telework, or their companies might not provide adequate environments for teleworking.
With regard to company size, the rate of utilization of telework increases as the number of
employees increases, reaching 16% in firms with 500 or more employees (Figure 4). The rate ofutilization in the public sector is the lowest at 4%.
The larger the company, the greater the number of employees that commenced teleworking
between January and March 2020. This is because large companies have tended to review theiremployees’ working styles in Japan’s current movement towards work reform. On the other hand,the utilization of telework among SMEs remains the same, because SMEs cannot afford
investment in ICT. It will be important not only to promote investment in ICT (the “hard” aspect),but also to improve “soft” aspects such as the employment environment. Task coordination at theteam level within a company will facilitate the use of telework.

Figure 4: Telework utilization rate by enterprise size
As of January 2020

1 ~ 4 (n = 1,580)

8

1

5 ~ 29 (n = 1,891)

4230 ~ 99 (n = 1,761)

4

2100 ~ 499 (n = 1,956)

5

4More than 500 (n = 2,907)

9

Government offices (n = 422)(%)

As of March 2020

3

0

7

1

5

10

15

20

Utilization rate as of January 2020
Increase in utilization from February to March

Copyright Ⓒ 2020 Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

9

NIRA OPINION PAPER
No.47 | June 2020Three Types of Impediment to Telework
We will now consider how workers experience problems and impediments in relation to
teleworking during the COVID-19 pandemic (Table 1). Questions regarding problems and
impediments were classified into three categories.
The first category included a set of questions regarding problems related to company
organization. The impediments involved lack of file sharing, and problems with electronic
payments, digitization of data and documents, and information security. Questions in the second
category asked about the working environment. The questions addressed whether computers andperipheral devices were available at home, whether the workers’ children disturbed theirteleworking, whether their colleagues and business partners were able to see the progress andoutcomes of their work, and whether they were able to receive proper evaluation of their own
outcomes. The third category involved a set of questions on lack of ability of the individuals
involved, for example a low level of ICT knowledge or feelings of anxiety.
As shown in Table 1, many problems and impediments which workers experience do notalways correspond with the suitability or unsuitability for telework of their occupation or industry.
Table 1 shows the percentage of people for whom their job is suitable or unsuitable for telework(the first column), with the percentage of people experiencing impediments or problems within thethree categories shown in the second to fourth columns. For each question, grey cells indicate
occupational categories with higher rates of problems facing the use of telework, and blue cells
indicate occupational categories with lower rates.
First, many workers in the electricity, gas and water provision industries see many problems
in all three impediment categories. A high percentage of workers in financial and insurance
businesses also experience serious problems in relation to telework. Nevertheless, these industries
saw a high rate of utilization of telework as of March 2020, as Figure 1 shows. Despite this highrate of utilization of telework, workers in these industries feel that their jobs are unsuitable totelework (the first column of Table 1), in addition to experiencing the three types of impediments.
Because government regulations in these industries are relatively stringent, rigorous information
security and administrative procedures are likely to represent impediments to teleworking.
Next, many workers in service industries such as the food and drink, accommodation,
education, and medical industries feel that their tasks are unsuitable for telework (the first columnof Table 1).In accord with this, the telework utilization rate is extremely low in these industries(Figure1). However, these industries see few impediments in the three categories. In other words,
it would be difficult for individuals in these industries to telework in the current circumstances,
but some telework would be possible in the areas of management and human resources.
Furthermore, technological progress could solve the problems being encountered. For example, inthe field of medicine, new services involving remote surgery and online diagnosis using robots or
virtual reality (VR) will promote telework in the near future. Similarly, on-line education andautomated delivery services will increase the utilization of telework.

Copyright Ⓒ 2020 Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

10

NIRA OPINION PAPER
No.47 | June 2020
While a comparatively high percentage of workers in the real estate, mining andconstruction industries believe that their jobs are suited to telework, the actual rate of use of
telework is not high in these industries (Figure 1). In spite of few impediments in terms of company
organization, a considerable number of workers see certain problems and impediments in relation
to their own ICT knowledge. It might therefore be necessary to implement reforms in theseindustries, such as upgrading the skills of the workers themselves.

Table 1: Problems and Impediments in relation to Telework by Industry
Related to the working environment

Related to individual
ability or awarenessInsufficient knowledge of ICT (information andcommunication technology)

Anxiety and discomfort about not being able totalk with colleagues

Holding of Web-based meetings

Inadequate Internet and communications

environment at homePCs, printers, desks, etc., are not available forwork from home

Necessity to take care of children and family

when at home

Difficulty grasping the progress of work by other

employees, customers, and business partners

Difficulty in evaluating results from companies,

customers, business partners, etc.

Concerns about information security andinformation management

Being burdened with one's own

communications costs

Materials and documents are not or cannot be

digitized

The environment for electronic approval for

documents, document processing and

There is no environment for sharing files

17%

12%

12%

11%

9%

13%

7%

11%

6%

12%

8%

8%

10%

8%

15%

16%

11%

12%

12%

11%

15%

10%

12%

11%

14%

9%

9%

12%

11%

Mining and construction (n = 608)

18%

13%

13%

11%

12%

10%

13%

9%

11%

9%

16%

9%

8%

13%

11%

Real estate business (n = 294)

18%

9%

12%

12%

11%

11%

12%

9%

10%

9%

15%

9%

6%

9%

13%

Transportation (n = 487)

19%

12%

10%

9%

11%

9%

10%

4%

8%

7%

10%

6%

5%

7%

9%

Other services (n = 1,681)

19%

10%

10%

10%

10%

7%

10%

6%

9%

6%

9%

6%

5%

8%

8%

Agriculture, forestry and fisheries (n = 123)

19%

10%

15%

15%

13%

12%

13%

11%

9%

12%

8%

11%

9%

11%

12%

Other (n = 483)

20%

9%

10%

12%

10%

7%

12%

8%

7%

6%

9%

5%

4%

10%

8%

Wholesale and retail trade (n = 1,239)

21%

11%

11%

12%

12%

8%

11%

8%

8%

7%

11%

5%

5%

8%

9%

Manufacturing (n = 1,742)

24%

14%

13%

15%

13%

8%

13%

10%

13%

9%

15%

8%

8%

13%

11%

Public service (n = 468)

25%

21%

17%

16%

17%

8%

18%

9%

10%

7%

14%

7%

5%

10%

8%

Electricity, gas, water, heating (n = 160)

26%

22%

19%

21%

18%

15%

20%

12%

13%

15%

20%

12%

10%

13%

16%

Restaurant and lodging business (n = 390)

26%

7%

7%

7%

8%

10%

8%

5%

5%

7%

9%

5%

3%

8%

8%

Finance and insurance (n = 415)

27%

18%

15%

14%

16%

10%

20%

12%

15%

10%

17%

9%

10%

14%

11%

28%

13%

13%

13%

10%

9%

14%

6%

8%

8%

10%

7%

6%

10%

10%

28%

10%

11%

11%

10%

8%

11%

6%

7%

9%

8%

5%

4%

10%

9%

Information services and research (n = 332)

accounting is not in place

No external access to company or office servers

14%

Industryor systems

Telework does not suit one's profession or occupation

Relaed to company and organizational systems

Communications and information business,
excluding information services and research(n = 400)

Education and learning support business(n = 553)
Medical care and welfare (n = 1,141)

The Pandemic Shock is greatest in Industries unsuited to Telework
The rate of use of teleworking varies across industries and occupations. Various problems
arise in regard to company organization, working environments, and individual abilities. At thesame time, specific industries saw a significant decline in income, working hours, and happinessamong workers. We found that occupations less suited to telework and with fewer teleworkers
tended to be more negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic shock. Figure 5 shows the rateof change in income between January and March by occupational category. Figure 6 shows changes
in working hours, and Figure 7 shows changes in the happiness of workers in their daily lives. We
found that about half of workers in the food and drink and accommodation industries saw a

Copyright Ⓒ 2020 Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

11

NIRA OPINION PAPER
No.47 | June 2020
significant decline in income, working hours, and happiness. Furthermore, workers in the fieldsof education, medical and welfare services experienced a conspicuous decrease in happiness. By
contrast, workers in the fields of information and communications, research and public service did
not experience significant declines in income, working hours, and happiness. We can therefore saythat the negative impact of the COVID-19 shock was already generally apparent in March, but
certain specific occupations experienced a more serious negative impact. Importantly, theoccupations that experienced the most significant negative impact were those with the lowest rateof utilization of telework (Figure 1), in addition to those most unsuited to telework (Table 1).
The main measure for the prevention of infection during the current pandemic is the
avoidance of person-to-person contact, and the utilization of telework has therefore been
recommended. Face-to-face services, in which person-to-person contact is fundamental, have been
a central focus of government requests for businesses to suspend their activities, but tasks in theseindustries are also the least suited to telework. These industries have already suffered significant
negative economic impacts, and it would be unreasonable to call on such industries to promotetelework. This would only exacerbate a potential recession by increasing unemployment andbusiness closures. Simply put, it is important to uniformly control socioeconomic activities as acountermeasure against infectious diseases, but at the same time, it is extremely difficult touniformly promote telework and maintain economic activity. We can say that this is a typicalcontradiction between measures against infectious diseases and economic policy. More generous
economic assistance will be an urgent requirement in order to prevent bankruptcies andunemployment in industries and occupations unsuitable to telework.

Copyright Ⓒ 2020 Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

12

NIRA OPINION PAPER
No.47 | June 2020
Figure 5: Changes in income (By industry)

Overall average（n=10,516）

7

Restaurants and accommodations (n = 390)

17

62

69

24

26

31

46

Other (n = 483)

11

19

67

20

Education and learning support business (n = 553)

8

21

67

21

Other Services (n = 1,681)

10

18

68

21

Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry and Fisheries (n = 123)

8

19

68

42

Transportation (n = 487)

7

17

71

41

Wholesale and Retail Trade (n = 1,239)

5

17

74

31

Manufacturing (n = 1,742)

6

16

75

31

Electricity, Gas, Water and Heat Supply (n = 160)

4

18

69

8 1

6

14

73

52

Finance and Insurance (n = 415)

4

14

77

31

Mining and Construction (n = 608)

4

13

78

31

Medical Care and Welfare (n = 1,141)

4

14

79

31

Information services and research (n = 332)

3 12

80

31

Real Estate Business (n = 294)

5 11

82

21

Communications and information services,
excluding information services and research (n = 400)

Public service (n = 468)(%)

greatly reduced

reduced

2 70unchanged

Copyright Ⓒ 2020 Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

41

86

20

40

increased

60

80

100

greatly increased

13

NIRA OPINION PAPER
No.47 | June 2020
Figure 6: Changes in working hours (By industry)

Overall Average（n=10,516）

7

17

Restaurants and accommodations (n = 390)

69

18

6 2

28

49

32

Education and learning support business (n = 553)

12

Other (n = 483)

12

16

67

41

Other Services (n = 1,681)

10

17

67

41

Manufacturing (n = 1,742)

5

20

68

52

Finance and Insurance (n = 415)

5

19

66

7 3

Electricity, Gas, Water and Heat Supply (n = 160)

6

17

64

11 3

Wholesale and Retail Trade (n = 1,239)

5

19

70

52

10

12

70

7 1

6

14

69

8 3

Transportation (n = 487)

4

16

71

6 3

Mining and Construction (n = 608)

4

13

75

52

Real Estate Business (n = 294)

4

13

75

6 2

Information services and research (n = 332)

2

12

76

8 2

3 10

80

6 1

Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry and Fisheries (n = 123)
Communications and information services,
excluding information services and research (n = 400)

Medical Care and Welfare (n = 1,141)
Public service (n = 468)

27

3 6

(%) 0

greatly reduced

reduced52

unchanged

Copyright Ⓒ 2020 Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

7 3

80
20

40

increased

8 3
60

80

100

greatly increased

14

NIRA OPINION PAPER
No.47 | June 2020
Figure 7: Change in level of happiness (By industry)

Overall Average（n=10,516）

9

Restaurants and accommodations (n = 390)

26

18

31

60

33

41

44
52

32

30

56

41

10

27

60

30

Other Services (n = 1,681)

10

27

60

31

Education and learning support business (n = 553)

9

28

58

33

Real Estate Business (n = 294)

9

26

63

21

Wholesale and Retail Trade (n = 1,239)

8

27

60

41

Manufacturing (n = 1,742)

8

26

62

31

8

26

60

52

Electricity, Gas, Water and Heat Supply (n = 160)

6

28

60

51

Information services and research (n = 332)

8

25

64

31

Mining and Construction (n = 608)

6

26

63

41

Transportation (n = 487)

10

22

62

42

Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry and Fisheries (n = 123)

12

18

64

32

71

51

Other (n = 483)

12

Finance and Insurance (n = 415)

8

Medical Care and Welfare (n = 1,141)

Communications and information services,
excluding information services and research (n = 400)

Public service (n = 468)(%)

greatly reduced

reduced60unchanged

Copyright Ⓒ 2020 Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

31

18

20

40

increased

60

80

100

greatly increased

15

NIRA OPINION PAPER
No.47 | June 2020

There is a Need to reform the Traditional Japanese Work Culture
Many Japanese companies have maintained traditional business practices that promote
face-to-face communication and close human relationships. The exchange of business cards,
numerous face-to-face meetings, and drinks with the boss and colleagues are good examples.
However, in the face of COVID-19, Japanese firms have to rethink their traditional labor
practices and the customs of Japanese business culture. The use of paper documents, the holdingof lengthy formal meetings, and numerous other outdated practices such as the use of seals(“inkan”) and business cards need to change. It will be necessary to focus on the creation of a new
employment environment that facilitates telework (for example, the establishment of flextime
systems and evaluation-based systems for job advancement).
With regard to issues related to the working environment and the abilities of workers, it will
be necessary to improve the ICT environment and provide ICT training. At the same time, however,protecting information, guaranteeing privacy, and ensuring security are expected to become moredifficult when workers are teleworking from home.

Long-term Perspectives: How will Telework change the World?
Telework will certainly change work styles in addition to workers’ values. First, face-to-facecommunication and relationships will become even more important. New ideas that generateinnovation arise from casual chats and everyday conversations. There are subtle nuances thatcannot be conveyed through teleconferencing, and unique problems that cannot be solved via
telework. The transmission of tacit knowledge is also problematic when using telework. We must
remember that telework is not a perfect solution, but rather merely a supplement to regular work,and thus we need to consider how to combine the two.
Second, service industries and office work, which have previously been protected from global
competition, will now be exposed to such competition. As a result, people will work on a "job basis"
rather than an "organization basis". Telework will result in rigorous evaluations of individual work
performance. Workers will no longer be evaluated merely on the basis of being seen to make aneffort; generating work outcomes will be the goal.
At the same time, because of the establishment of performance-based systems, competition
between companies and between employees will increase in ferocity, and some underperforming
employees will be culled. Telework as described above is just the beginning. In the near future,
new technologies that affect our working lives and new industries using a variety of innovative
tools such as virtual reality (VR) and white-collar robots will appear. The meaning of work and the
direction of society will change even further.
In addition, further advances in ICT could transform the relationship between rural andurban areas. The utilization of telework between head offices in the Tokyo metropolitan area andlocal factories and worksites may be promoted, and its use in the areas of agriculture, forestry andfisheries, in service industries, and in office work may significantly increase. This could diversify

Copyright Ⓒ 2020 Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

16

NIRA OPINION PAPER
No.47 | June 2020
the way that people work, and increase the number of people who work in Tokyo via telework
while living in rural areas. Peoples’ living arrangements will change from being based on thelocation of their companies to being based on considerations of lifestyle. They will be able to live
without being tied to their workplace, escape from the need to commute, choose a place of residence
that suits their lifestyle, and work through telework. It would be possible, for example, to work for
a company in the Tokyo metropolitan area by telework while enjoying the benefits of nature in the
countryside. In recent years, rural areas in Japan have increasingly become depopulated, and theremaining population is aging; the problem of empty houses and the hollowing out of shopping
districts has become increasingly serious. The creation of teleworking hubs and living facilities inthese areas would solve numerous problems and serve as a significant catalyst for regional
revitalization. At the same time, this may also help to correct the concentration of Japan’s
population in Tokyo, and help to ease the vulnerability of densely populated cities, which has been
revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Toshihiro Okubo
Professor, Faculty of Economics, Keio University. Senior Adjunct Fellow, NIRA. Completed amaster's degree program at the University of Michigan and doctoral programs at the Universityof Geneva and the Institute for Advanced International Development (Ph.D. in International
Relations and Economics). He specializes in international economics and spatial economics.

Copyright Ⓒ 2020 Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

17