This week again, Professor Akie Iriyama of Waseda University Business School will discuss issues based on management theory. I refer to his book “World Standard Management Theory”. However, this series can be easily read without this book.
Meta, Amazon, and even Zoom, which has grown rapidly due to the “corona special demand,” have announced policies that require employees to come to work. It seems that forcing employees to come to the office will make it difficult to secure talented people, but why are American tech companies rushing to make it mandatory for them to come to the office? Professor Iriyama points out that the “circumstances are completely different” in Japan and the United States.
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Even Zoom requires attendance at the office.
Hello, this is Akio Iriyama.
American tech companies, which had previously encouraged remote work as a countermeasure against the coronavirus, are now requiring people to come to work one after another.
For a while there were even whispers that offices were no longer needed, but why is there such a reversal?
BIJ Editorial Department Tokiwa
Recently, the US edition of Business Insider has been frequently covering the news of “mandatory attendance at work”.especiallyMetaorAmazonMajor tech companies, such as , now require employees to come to work on a condition that they work at least ◯ days a week.A familiar online meeting toolZoomEven so, we have issued a directive requiring employees to come to the office at least two days a week.
Thanks to Zoom, remote work is now possible all over the world, so it seems a bit contradictory for a company to require its employees to come to work (lol).
BIJ Editorial Department Tokiwa
The more talented people are, the more they prefer companies that allow flexible working styles, so if you tell them to come to work, they may run away. Still, why are companies shifting toward requiring employees to come to work?
By the way, what do you think of Mr. Arahata from the BIJ editorial department? This interview is being conducted online, and both Arahata-san and Tokiwa-san are currently working from their homes.
BIJ Editorial Department/Arahata
Yes, it’s my home. When I first joined the company, I thought it would be good to be able to communicate with other employees, so I basically came to work every day, even though it wasn’t mandatory. But lately I’ve gotten used to it and work from home a lot.
BIJ Editorial Department Tokiwa
I also spend a lot of time at home. When I feel lonely, I go to see my colleagues.
Business Insider Japan is free and nice.
Now, why is there such a noticeable movement in America, especially among tech companies, to make it compulsory to come to work?
As I understand it, if you compare the situation in Asia, America, and Europe since the end of the coronavirus pandemic, the United States should still be the one where telecommuting is still the most prevalent. In Japan and Europe, the traditional idea that “you go to work” remains.
According to a survey conducted in July by the Japan Productivity Center,Only 15.5% of companies in Japan implement remote workThat’s right. This is why people in Japan are being encouraged to return to the office.
In Europe, it’s different depending on the country, but I’ve heard that in France people are told to “come to work.”
In that regard, the United States has the most people left working from home on average. In my opinion, this is largely due to the fact that people are inherently individualistic, and the heavy traffic jams in American cities make it difficult to commute by car.
When people come together in one place, a “peer effect” is created.
So why are Amazon and Zoom telling people to come to work in America, where remote work is still required? In my opinion, the biggest point here is that these companies are what we call “tech companies.”
BIJ Editorial Department Tokiwa
What do you mean?
There are several reasons. First of all, tech companies probably have a lot of programmers or engineers.As an engineer, it’s difficult to work from home.Or rather, the company can’t manage it well.. I’m not an engineer, but I occasionally write programming, so let me tell you, it requires a lot of concentration. I wonder if I can maintain that concentration at home. At home, I tend to slack off.
But when you gather them together in one place, they’re all in the same space, and you think, “They’re doing their best, so I’ll do my best, too.”A “peer effect” that creates a state of friendly competition works.Yes. This may be important not only for engineers but for any profession, but it is especially important for engineers. Therefore, from the company’s point of view, they would rather have their employees come to work than stay at home.
The second point is from the company’s perspective.remote work makes labor management troublesomeIt’s from. Engineers in particular work irregularly at their own pace, day and night. When working from home, many engineers are more productive at night, so they sleep during the day. But this is about things like late-night pay and overtime. I don’t even know how many hours I actually work.
Considering this, it would be much easier for companies to manage labor if engineers, in particular, were gathered in a certain location and had them arrive in the morning and leave in the evening.Furthermore, thereIt would be better to do team building and have the team work together to produce results.. However, it would be unfair for tech companies to require only engineers to come to work, so perhaps all employees should come to work.
Silicon Valley tech companies are also hyper-growing startups. Well, Amazon may no longer be called a startup, but it’s still growth-oriented. In a company like this, employee engagement, top management’s vision, and enthusiasm are important. We can’t win by simply saying, “Let’s each work from home.”
BIJ Editorial Department Tokiwa
But if you do that, won’t talented people who don’t like being constrained run away?
Not really.
Actually, the economy in the US is currently unstable, so there aren’t many opportunities to change jobs.. This may also be one of the major reasons.
The market was particularly bad at the beginning of this year, as the US has been raising interest rates since 2022 in order to adjust for the excessive rise in prices. That’s why there are so many startups and venture capital firms in America right now. Because of this, I can’t change jobs easily.
Not so long ago, when the economy was good, you could say, “I’ll quit any company that asks you to work!” and change jobs, but now even the best people can’t do that easily. It can be said that the company anticipates this and requires employees to come to work.
For the reasons mentioned above, I think there is a noticeable movement toward making it compulsory for employees to come to work.
Japanese companies “somehow” returning to work
BIJ Editorial Department Tokiwa
Japanese companies have also seen an increase in the number of employees coming to work recently, but the situation seems to be different from that in Silicon Valley.
I think it’s completely different. My impression is that in the US, it is better to strategically send people to work from the perspective of market dynamism, how to retain people, and how to improve team performance. On the other hand, Japanese companies probably don’t think about it that much. Isn’t it just that they do it “somehow”?
BIJ Editorial Department Tokiwa
“Because that’s the way the world is”.
BIJ Editorial Department/Arahata
It seems possible (lol). Some of my friends started working at the company right at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, thinking it would be a company that would allow them to work remotely, but as soon as they joined, several of them ended up having to come to work every day.
BIJ Editorial Department Tokiwa
I think it’s important to be strategic and use remote work and coming to the office flexibly.
At Waseda University’s Business School, where I teach, we were quick to adapt to online classes, but now we are recommending face-to-face classes. This is based on the idea that “there are things that can be gained by having teachers and students in the same space.” But on the other hand, almost all faculty meetings are online.
BIJ Editorial Department Tokiwa
Since we already know each other, online is enough.
I agree. And actually, we’re going to have a meeting to think about big strategies, but we’re intentionally going to do it face-to-face.
BIJ Editorial Department Tokiwa
You’re using them well. It would be better for Japanese companies to take advantage of the benefits of remote work that they have experienced and decide whether to work from home or work from home based on a strategy, rather than just “just doing it”.
Akie Iriyama:Professor at Waseda University Graduate School of Business Administration (Business School). He graduated from the Keio University Faculty of Economics and completed the master’s program at the same Graduate School of Economics. After working at Mitsubishi Research Institute, he received a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Business in 2008. From the same year, he became an assistant professor at the Business School at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Since 2013, he has been an associate professor at Waseda University Graduate School of Business Administration (Business School). He has been in his current position since 2019. His books include “What are management scholars around the world thinking now?” “The world’s most advanced management studies that you can’t learn in business schools” and “World-standard management theory.”
(Composition: Kiyoko Nagayama, serial logo design: Mio Hoshino)
Source: BusinessInsider
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