‘Telework fatigue’ sees more Japanese workers going back to the office

The proportion of people in Japan who are working fully remotely fell from the rate in April, a survey by the Japan Productivity Center has shown, as a trend of “telework fatigue” appears to be emerging.

More people are finding efficiency to be an issue with telework and satisfaction has also deteriorated even as the government calls for people to work mainly from home under the latest COVID-19 state of emergency, the center said Friday.

According to the survey, which polled 1,100 people on July 5 and 6, the overall proportion of people who worked remotely at least some of the time over a recent week stood at 20.4%, almost unchanged from 19.2%.

Of those teleworkers, the proportion of people working completely remotely during a recent week stood at 11.6%, down from 18.5% in April. The latest figure was the lowest since the survey began in May last year.

The online survey also found that, among people who said they telework, the share of those who worked at an office for three or four days in a recent week stood at 34.4%, up from 28.4% in April. The share of teleworkers going to the office at least five days a week also grew, rising to 23.2% from 20.4%.

The proportion of workers who said that their efficiency improved with remote work slipped from 15.5% to 13.4%, the first fall since the survey began.

Meanwhile, 13.4% of respondents who worked remotely said that their work efficiency deteriorated, up from 8.3%.

The survey also showed that the proportion of remote workers who are satisfied with working from home dropped from 27.1% to 25.4%, while the total who are satisfied or somewhat satisfied fell from 75.7% to 70.2%.

Trust in the government was also low in the most recent survey.

Respondents who said they do not trust the government at all accounted for 32.6%. The total proportion of such respondents and those who have little faith in the government came to 76.9%, hitting a record high.