A STUDY ON WORKSPACES ENVIRONMENT DURING TELEWORKING FROM HOME

−Report from Questionnaire Survey under COVID-19 State-of-Emergency Declaration−

Abstract

COVID-19 state-of-emergency declaration issued on 7 April 2021 promoted employees' teleworking from home in Japan. In recent years many companies in the metropolitan area have been constructing the ICT infrastructure to adopt telecommuting during the Olympics and Paralympics to help ease traffic congestion; however, employees' workspace hasn't been discussed. What kind of issues with telecommuting employees who work remotely at dwelling house planned as a place where the family takes a rest and gets together? In this paper, the subjects of the questionnaire investigation were based on the employees working remotely from home under the state-of-emergency declaration from 7 April until 25 May. The purpose of this research is to represent the actual conditions and issues related to workspace at home. The survey was conducted by the web questionnaire, collected 209 valid answers, and 82 respondents submitted both floor plans and the photo, which showed the workspace. The attributes of respondents included 49 single-person households, 42 Households of couple only, 96 Households of a couple with unmarried children, 15 Households of a parent with unmarried adult or couple, four three-generation-family households, and three other households.

The questionnaire survey asked the room's name, which is used as a workspace if the rooms were independent of other living spaces found following aspects of teleworking. Ninety-three households have their workspace in their living room or dining room, accounting for about half of all respondents, while 47 families have a workspace in their study or their private room. Some respondents used multiple rooms as a workspace depending on the situation of other family members at home, the weather, and the mood. 35 cases out of 42 in a single-person household and 35 points out of 49 in couple only household answered that workspace is not independent of the living space. On the other hand, 47 families consist of a couple with unmarried children, out of 94 couples answered it which accounts for only about half.

On the other hand, the answer "independent of other living spaces" includes the living room or dining room. There are cases where secure a workspace in the corner of a living room or dining room, so it seems not to secure a space dedicated to work. The analysis of 82 cases in which respondents submitted both a floor plan and photograph showing the workspace in their house found the aspect below. Some single-person households have ingenuities, such as changing the low-table into a work desk and arranging the desk in front of the wall to protect privacy. In the case of a couple-only household working from home, they sit face to face and work at the dining table together and use the bedroom as an extra workspace to avoid noise. Under the state of emergency in April, educational institutions were closed, so households of a couple with unmarried children were required to balance childcare and work. Therefore, some cases in households of a couple with unmarried children intentionally secured workspaces in the living room and dining room to child-caring, even if there was room in the floor plan. When working from home, there is an issue of the house's size, but the impact of the life stage is even significant.