News Companies start paying workers to come to office

thomas · 30 Nov 2023

Post-COVID reality in Japan: since telecommuting became widespread due to the pandemic, workers have embraced flexibility, even as many have fallen into loneliness and stress or begun to feel their creative input wane. More recently, a couple of Japanese startups have started writing a new prescription for these ills -- bonuses for coming to the office for a certain number of days.

Osaka-based Agileware, which handles project management systems, in September began paying 2,000 JPY (about USD 13) for every day employees show up in the office. In addition, employees who go out for lunch together each earn an extra 500 JPY. The only caveats are workers have to work in the office for more than four hours a day and can only collect the bonuses for 10 days per month. The allowances will soon be written into the company's official work rules, becoming part of the permanent wage system. The startup actually introduced remote work before the pandemic, allowing employees to put in their hours from anywhere convenient to them. That freedom is part of the company's corporate culture and something Agileware did not want to contradict in coming up with a remedy for the maladies born of lack of real-world interaction. Increased mental health care costs for its increasingly lonely engineers were a major factor behind the company's newfound value in office attendance.

[Companies] have also reviewed the commuting allowances they pay. The conventional commuting allowance assumes employees come to the office daily and is not in line with today's hybrid schedules. Now both companies reimburse actual commuting expenses.

Paywall alert:

Japan's post-COVID reality: Paying workers to come to the office

Bonuses help balance the benefits of telecommuting and real-world camaraderie

asia.nikkei.com

paulinbruant · 1 Dec 2023

Wow, that's interesting. But I can understand why companies do it. I also faced a lot of stress when I started working remotely, but I returned to the office as soon as it became possible. But some of my coworkers still prefer remote work, and half of the office is empty

Majestic · 2 Dec 2023

I think its an interesting initiative, too. While part of me shakes my head in disbelief at having to bribe employees to come into the office, another part of me knows its a new world now, and $13/day feels like a good compromise, although I wonder if this doesn't incentivize the slackers to come in just to get the cash. (Well, in an ideal office you wouldn't have any slackers, but I reckon every office has some "problem" employees).

Still, the young Majestic, working in a Japanese office back in the early Heisei days, couldn't have imagined the freedom and flexibility of today's workers.

News Companies start paying workers to come to office

thomas

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Japan's post-COVID reality: Paying workers to come to the office

paulinbruant

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Majestic

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