Tokyo companies may allow telework for Olympics

As many as 44 percent of companies located in Tokyo are considering implementing telecommuting to deal with expected congestion during the Summer Olympics, according to the results of a survey by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. This latest finding comes after a years-long campaign by the Japanese government to shift the country’s corporate culture, which lauds long hours spent in the office and looks askance on remote work.

Previous statistics on remote work in Japan have not been encouraging. One survey by the internal affairs ministry, for example, found that less than 20 percent of businesses offered a telecommuting system, and only 8.5 percent of workers actually used the feature where it had been introduced. Those companies that embrace remote work are typically much larger, with international operations: a 2019 Nikkei survey of listed and large privately held companies found that 53 percent have introduced telecommuting.

However, with between eight and 10 million Olympics spectators expected to crowd the city in July and August, teleworking may be the most practical way of taking the stress off the transport system. Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike cited the widespread use of telecommuting during the 2012 London Olympics when approximately 80 percent of businesses located in London turned to telecommuting to keep employees from being caught up in the congestion.

However, Koike also said that it would be difficult for Tokyo to achieve the same figure. “We hope that the proportion of companies actually introducing telework during the games will reach at least 44 percent,” she said at a recent meeting of the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

In preparation for the Olympics, the Japanese government trialed a telework scheme last year which drew approximately 600,000 participants. Large companies such as Fujitsu, NEC, Ricoh, and Honda have also rolled out their own telecommuting initiatives, some even going as far as to set up temporary satellite workspaces outside the areas expected to be most crowded.