As the pandemic progresses and the world works on building a balance between employee safety and business revival, companies are planning on initiatives that make them ready for the “new normal.†Some organizations are using technology and tools to assess and assure employee safety, while others are defining shift-based work schedules. Some are focusing on phased return-to-work while several others have decided to enable remote workingOpens a new window as a permanent feature.
FujitsuOpens a new window has announced a new campaign to prepare its workforce for a digital transformation as well as change the predominant working styles in its Japan offices. Under the “Work Life Shift†campaign, 80,000 employees of the Fujitsu Group will now be primarily working remotely. The campaign requires a paradigm shift since traditionally, Japan functions on a strong office-based work culture. The new method of work is designed to promote higher levels of empowerment, productivity, and creativity within the employees. In addition, the goal is to also reduce the office footprint in Japan to 50% of current levels by FY2022.
TwitterOpens a new window announced a similar approach in May, allowing its employees to choose to work from home forever. But there’s a difference in the philosophy and implications of these remote work campaigns in the two geographies.
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Three Principles of Fujitsu’s New World Order
The use of digital technologies to drive employee productivity, optimize cost, and maximize efficiency has been limited in Japan. Conventionally, the emphasis has been on being in the workplace physically under a high degree of monitoring. With a campaign like this, Fujitsu is setting the pace for change regarding employee productivity when they are empowered and trusted. It also demonstrates how investment in technology lies at the heart of such a significant change.
The first principle of the campaign is the emphasis is on accepting that different working styles can work equally well. Employees will be given the flexibility to use their time based on the roles they perform and their personal situation. TelecommutingOpens a new window will become an integral part of this process. The aim is also to support those employees who need to work from other locations due to personal reasons.
The second principle is to allow employees to define if their place of work will be the home, hub, or satellite offices. Fujitsu aims to set up hub offices and expand the space within its satellite offices. It has additionally assessed processes that can be digitized against those that need a physical presence in the office. The aim is to transform how employees perceive and visualize office space. This requires tools that can enable employees to adapt to this change.
Finally, the most prominent principle is aimed to make a transformational shift in cultureOpens a new window . Managers and leaders have to work toward empowering their employeesOpens a new window and giving them more freedom. Manager-employee trustOpens a new window will be crucial for the success of this campaign. The organization is now using the
“Workplace Innovation Zinrai for 365 Dashboard†to visualize work content using artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The chances of one-to-one bonding reducing are high when employees work remotely. Hence, all employees will be trained so that the interactions between managers and their team members remain seamless.
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Japan’s Workplace Culture Continues to Evolve
Flexible working options are not typical or prevalent in Japan and many other Asian countries. The emphasis has been on ensuring that employees follow the 9–5 workday pattern in offices. But changes are slowly seeping into the workplace. In 2019, Microsoft experimentedOpens a new window with the four-day workweek in its Japan offices and found a significant increase in productivity. Earlier in the same year, the Japanese government introduced reformsOpens a new window to limit employees’ work hours and ensure they took the leave they were entitled to. In 2020, driven by the pandemic, Fujitsu has taken another move to make work more flexible in the country. By the end of 2022, Fujitsu will also introduce a hot desk system where employees are not assigned to a fixed desk. This is relatively easier for the company since it has been promoting remote working practices since 2017.
Cultural changes like these that are deeply connected to technological innovation and rapid digitization of the workplace may take time to be accepted and adopted by other companies in the region, and the impact of such moves on other organizations is yet to be seen.