Enriching Valuable "Living" Time Through Telework

One aspect of the workstyle reforms that are currently underway in Japan drawing particular attention--and also gaining more widespread popularity--is that of working from home (what is commonly referred to as "telecommuting" or "telework"). More than anything else, the key reason for this is that telework enables a better balance between "living" time in the home and "working" time in the workplace, and enables workers to feel a greater sense of fulfillment in the former.

Staying with family members who have suddenly become sick, providing various forms of essential care (such as childcare and nursing care for the elderly), completing various administrative procedures at school or local government offices, and the essential need for self-improvement... Working from home is effective in enabling workers to secure the time needed to facilitate all of these things. Another key benefit is that, although traditionally there has been a tendency for the burden of childcare and nursing care to fall mainly on women, men working from home also enables them to reduce this burden.

Since the majority of office administration jobs require only a PC and an Internet connection, the groundwork to enable people to work from home has already been in place for quite some time. The issue was how to handle work management for people working away from the office itself, and this had long been a very difficult problem.

This problem has been solved by the latest social media platforms, particularly by the rapid advancements in group chat technology. By using chat apps, home-based workers can consult with managers and coworkers and ask for instructions in real time. At the same time, managers can ascertain the actual state of workers' work, and compare workers' own reports with their actual work performance. With these advancements, work management for home-based workers is now substantially hardly any different from work management at the actual office.

Another key issue which becomes very important when exchanging information between workers at remote locations and the office itself is that of ensuring the confidentiality of information and data. This problem has also been solved now that it has become possible to make simple and easy use of virtual private network (VPN) technologies. Recent digital technologies are clearly contributing to promoting greater fulfillment and enrichment of our lifestyles and "living" time.

In this way, the physical domain of office administration work is expanding into other locations, such as homes and satellite environments. At the Ricoh Group, it is the Digital Business Group that is responsible for increasing the sophistication of this expansion through digital technologies. We must work not only to increase the efficiency of customers' work, but also to enable them to feel more fulfilled in their "living" time outside of work. This is one of our most important missions as we enter this new year.