| His Ideas 29 ~ Remote Work |
April 15, 2021
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| This was a good chance to learn about remote work, he thought. On the TV, the president of a company started to explain about a questionnaire that was given to their workers about their remote working experience. He was a freelance worker and mainly worked from home. He lived in a local city, where a strict lockdown had never taken place. So, he only knew about remote working from newspapers and other sources. He had been wondering whether remote working really worked, or was it just a temporary solution done only in a crisis time. The company has over a hundred workers. Their business has two categories, they run a business channel on Cable TV, and are running an online business school. Since the first lockdown started in their area in Tokyo, they have been implementing remote working. They have two offices, and their workers' remote working rate is about 80%, meaning a person went to the office once in 5 business days. The questionnaire's result was this: Q1: Compare to 'Office Working', how is the productivity and the business efficiency of your remote working? Better: 69%, Depending on the circumstances: 22%, No difference: 4%, Other: 5% Q2: About communication during remote working: What do you think about it - section, team, etc. in quantity and quality? Enough / Appropriate: 68%, Depending on the circumstances: 24%, Not enough / Inappropriate: 8%, Other: 0% Q3: In the continuous remote working situation, how was your stress level compared with before? Lower: 84%, Same as before: 7%, Higher: 2%, Other: 7% Q4: Do you want remote working to continue in the future? Yes: 88%, Depending on the circumstances: 7%, No: 1%, Other: 4% The president laughed bitterly and said, "The revenues in this term of our company  has increased, so maybe we have to respect their wish after the pandemic ceases." He understood the 'bitterly' part. Maybe for managers, they feel relieved when they can see their workers working earnestly in front of them. Q3's 'lower stress' can be meant that they are just relaxed at home. The president added, "Building rent and maintenance costs are not low. So some companies have started to reduce their offices or change their offices to a cheaper place with better surroundings." His Idea #29 : Remote Work To come to think of it, all the workers don't necessarily love their offices, colleagues, bosses, etc. Your boss might say, "Hey, John. Could you copy this? It's urgent," when you are concentrating on your job. Or, "Has the job been proceeding well?" every time. In remote work, bosses need to give jobs beforehand with detailed conditions because bosses can't check every time about their worker's process of working. For workers, if the job is given earlier, they can plan their working pace suitably. Maybe the high efficiency rate that was stated from Q1 came from this. Recently he talked to a new person through Zoom. It was the first time to use Zoom to talk with a new person, and it wasn't bad at all. He learned that you don't need to meet in person, even for a stranger. Remote work might change our job style for the better ~ more efficient, lower in cost, freer, and more comfortable, he thought. |
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No.429
*take place: 実施する
*temporary: 一時的
*implement: 実行する
*productivity: 生産性
*efficiency: 効率
*revenue: 歳入
*cease: 終息する
*surroundings: 周辺環境
*not necessarily: 〜とはかぎらない
*beforehand: 前もって
*in person: 会って