コロナ禍と人口減で柔軟なワークスタイルが普及

専門分野を教えてください。

メディア論、ソーシャルデザイン、コミュニケーションデザインです。近年はリモートワークやワーケーション、デジタルノマドなどのワークスタイル、またコワーキングスペースやクリエイティブオフィスなどのワークプレイスを対象に研究しています。

近年の働き方や働く場所の特徴はどんな点ですか。

私は地方での働き方に関心があります。例えば、普段は渋谷にあるオフィスで働き、夏の間は軽井沢で2週間働くなどのワーケーションや、逆に、軽井沢の自宅やコワーキングスペースからリモートワークをして、必要がある時に渋谷のオフィスに出向くというワークスタイルなど。このような働き方が少しずつ増えてきています。
　ヤフージャパンやメルカリなどのIT関連企業では、居住地・通勤手段の制限を撤廃したため、オフィスは都心にあるが、住居は地方に構えるという社員も多くなってきています。

そのような背景として考えられるものは何でしょうか。

オンラインでできる仕事が増えたことがまず1つ目。2つ目は、コロナ禍でオフィスに出勤できない中、自宅などからのリモートでも意外に仕事ができたという経験。3つ目は人口減による人手不足。育児や介護で毎日出社したり、定時勤務が困難な人や、のどかなところで子育てしたり、自身の趣味を楽しみたい人など、自分に合った働き方ができる職場を選ぶ人は増えつつあります。時間や場所に関して柔軟な勤務体制を用意できない会社には、人材獲得競争は厳しいものになってきています。

The pandemic and shrinking population have led to the spread of more flexible workstyles

What areas do you specialize in?

My specialties are media theory, social design and communication design. In recent years, I have studied new workstyles, such as remote working, workations and digital nomads, and also new workplaces, such as co-working spaces and creative offices.

What are the distinctive characteristics of recent ways of working and work locations?

One area that interests me is the way of working in regional areas. For example, this workstyle might be someone who usually works in an office in Shibuya, but works in Karuizawa for two weeks during the summer as a workation. Also, in the opposite pattern, it might be someone who normally works remotely from their home or a co-working space in Karuizawa, and just goes into an office in Shibuya when it is necessary. These ways of working have been gradually increasing.
　Some IT-related companies such as Yahoo! Japan and Mercari have removed their restrictions on where employees live and how they commute to work. This has led to an increase in the number of employees who have an office in central Tokyo, but have their residence in a regional area.

What do you think are the reasons behind this shift?

The first reason is that there are now more jobs that can be done online. The second came from the experiences people had when they couldn’t go to their offices due to the pandemic. They discovered that they were actually able to perform their work quite successfully from a remote location such as their homes. The third is the shortage of labor that results from a shrinking population. More and more people are choosing a workplace where they can work in a way that suits them personally. For example, for people who are providing childcare or nursing care, going into a workplace every day and working regular office hours can be difficult. There are also some people who want to raise their children in a more tranquil location, and some people who want to be able to enjoy their own hobbies. Companies are finding it increasing difficult to secure talented human resources if they are unable to offer working arrangements that are flexible in terms of time and location.

ワークスタイルの再構築が人材確保・育成の鍵

働く人が求めるワークスタイルが多様になってきているのですね。

フルリモート希望の人もいれば、毎日出社したいという人もいます。極端に言えば、オフィスに行きたい時は行く、行きたくない時は行かない。選べるのであれば、多分それが一番心地よい。オンラインとオフライン、どちらが良いかの二項対立ではなく、どう組み合わせるのか、その設計やデザインが重要だと思います。
　今後は雇用する側が「当社はフルリモートです」や「ハイブリッドです」、「週5回出社したい人に来てほしい」というように、ワークスタイルを開示しないと、ミスマッチが生じるようになるでしょう。ワークスタイルへの満足度が離職率を下げ、定着率を上げるポイントになってくると思います。求職者側は業界研究、職種研究に加えて、ワークスタイルを吟味しないといけない。ワークスタイルはライフステージによっても変わります。若い頃は毎日オフィスに出社できるかもしれませんが、育児や介護問題が出てくる年齢になるとそれが難しくなることもあるでしょう。雇用する側は、終身雇用でずっと同じワークスタイルを継続させるよりは、ライフステージによってワークスタイルを選べる柔軟性を提供することが重要になってくると思います。
　大学から企業等に就職する節目においても、大学側は単なる就職活動支援にとどまらず、学生一人一人が大学卒業後の人生の中で、自分に合ったワークスタイルを見つけられるようなキャリア教育を実践していくことが必要だと思います。

ワーケーションやリモートワークで効率や生産性は上がるのでしょうか。

よくその質問を受けるのですが、個人的には下がらなければ良いと思っています。リモートワークで生産性を上げなければいけないのは一種の「呪い」になります。生産性が上がるかどうかは、人や仕事の種類によってケースバイケース。それより、下がらないようにして、ウェルビーイングを高める道を模索するほうがそれこそ生産的な議論になるでしょう。
　私はワーケーションやデジタルノマドを研究しているからといって、日本人全員にワーケーションしましょう、デジタルノマドになろうと呼びかけているわけでありません。大多数ではないにせよ、やってみたい人が増えているのだから、職場環境を整えて、できるようにしておこうということです。これは、社会や組織でマイノリティを認めることにも通じる。大きな意味では、ダイバーシティやインクルージョンの研究にも関わってくると思います。

The restructuring of workstyles is the key to securing and developing human resources

It seems that there is increasing diversity in the workstyles that working people seek.

Some people want fully remote work and others want to go into an office every day. In an extreme example, some people want to go to the office when they feel like it, but not go in when they do not want to go. If we are able to choose freely, then this is probably the most comfortable arrangement. This is not a dichotomy about whether online or offline is better. What I believe is important is how we design styles that combine these options.
　We are going to see mismatches occurring between employers and employees if the employers do not disclose the workstyle in advance. For example, they might state that, "Our company operates fully remotely," that "This will be hybrid work," or that "We seek staff who want to come in five times a week." I think that from now on, achieving a sense of satisfaction with the workstyle will be the key to reducing turnover and increasing retention. For the people seeking employment, in addition to investigating the industry and the job type, it will also be important to consider the workstyle. The ideal workstyle for a person will change through the various stages of life. You might feel perfectly fine going into the office every day when you are young, but it could well become difficult when you reach an age where you face issues of childcare and nursing care. For the employers, rather than the conventional approach of employing people for life and having them continue the same workstyle up to retirement, I think that it will become increasingly important to offer the flexibility for employees to choose their workstyles to fit their life stages.
　This is also something that universities need to consider when supporting students in their transition from study to employment. I believe they need to go beyond simply providing support for job-seeking activities and to also implement career education that helps each student discover the workstyle that will suit them in their post-university life.

Can workations and remote working raise efficiency and productivity?

I get that question a lot. Personally, I think we should just be satisfied if these do not decline. The requirement for remote working to be associated with an increase in productivity is a bit of a curse. Whether or not the productivity will increase will depend on the person and on the type of work. Rather than discussing productivity increases, I think it is far more productive to just ensure that productivity does not decline and to instead look for ways to increase wellbeing.
　Although I am studying workations and digital nomads, this does not mean that I am calling for all Japanese people to take workations, or to become digital nomads. I am not talking about something for the majority of people. All I am saying is that there are more and more people who want to give it a try, so we should prepare a work environment to provide them with the option. This has something in common with the acceptance of the minorities in society and in organizations. In the broad sense, I think it is connected to the study of diversity and inclusion.

デジタルノマドを積極的に受け入れている、ポルトガル・マデイラ島のポンタ・ド・ソルにあるコワーキングスペース
Coworking space in Ponta do Sol, Madeira Island, Portugal. The city actively accepts digital nomads.

広がるワーケーション、受け入れる地方の反応は

企業も働く人もそれぞれに合った働き方を探す今、地方はどんな反応をしていますか。

近年、国内外でデジタルノマド誘致が叫ばれるようになりました。海外のデジタルノマドは受け入れ先の住民との交流はあまり考えていません。一方で日本の場合は、積極的に交流してほしいという要望が受け入れ側にあるのが大きな違いですね。その先には、地方が抱える社会課題解決のためにゆくゆくは移住してもらいたい、企業に移転してもらいたいという本音もあるでしょう。ただ、ワーケーターはそういう思惑を感じると敬遠してしまう人もいるので、受け入れ側はその距離感を探っていますね。
　海外の話になりますが、ワーケーションの鉄板コンテンツの一つにサーフィンがあります。サーフィンは良い波が来るまで待つことが当たり前だから、必ず滞在が長くなる。限られた短期間の観光には向かないかもしれないですが、長期間滞在するワーケーションなら今日は雨だから諦めて仕事しようとなる。
　実際にさまざまな土地に赴いてみると、その土地その土地でワーケーション資源が眠っていることに気づきました。名所や名産、名物料理などを観光資源と思っている方が多いですが、とらえ方を変えてみると、その地域の何気ない場所やものが、やってきた人には魅力になったりします。
　長期滞在をすると、自炊のために地元の商店で買い物したり、クリーニングを利用したりと、いわゆる観光以外のいろいろなところでお金を使います。そういった意味でも、地方はワーケーションの特長や効果をうまく使ってほしいなと思います。

ワーケーション含め、日本は働く人が働きたいように働ける社会になるのでしょうか。

ICTやAIの進化によって、人間に何ができるかが問われるようになってきました。創造性やイノベーションが求められる時に、自分にとって無理のあるワークスタイルで創造力を発揮できるかといえば、なかなか難しい。イノベーションにつなげる発想の転換、新しい刺激を得るために、ワーケーションのように異質なものに出会うことを認める、促進する環境を整えている企業が、それに向く人材を採用できるでしょう。どういう人材を採りたいのか、AI、オートメーション化、DXが進んでいく中で、人は何をするか、今の働き方でクリエイティビティの高い人を育成できるのかが問われてくる。いずれにせよ、良い人材は働きたいように働ける環境を作る企業に集まります。

The spread of workations - the reaction in the destination areas

Both companies and workers are now searching for new ways of working that suit them. What has been the reaction to this from the regional areas?

In recent years, there have been increasing attempts to attract digital nomads, both in Japan and overseas. Overseas, there is not really much consideration given to the interaction between the digital nomads and the residents of the regions they visit. On the other hand, the big difference in the case of Japan is that the areas receiving the nomads have a desire for active interaction. They are thinking beyond the initial visits and have a genuine desire to have people move to live there, or to have companies relocate there, as this is seen as a way to solve the social problems the regional areas are experiencing. However, some people going on workations will shy away from an area if they sense such intentions, so the regions receiving them are currently trying to find the ideal sense of distance.
　If we look overseas, one of the standard types of workation is for surfing. Surfing involves a lot of waiting around for the good waves to arrive, so stays tend to be longer. It might not be something that can help attract people for a limited, short-term tourist visit, but it works well for a long-term stay such as a workation. If it rains, the person can simply give up on surfing that day and get on with their work.
　As I have visited various different places, I have noticed that each place had its own untapped resources for workations. When we think about resources for tourism, most people will think of famous places of interest, specialty products, and specialty cuisine. However, from a different perspective, locations and items that seem unremarkable to the people who live in a region can make it very attractive to somebody who has come from elsewhere.
　When you stay somewhere for a long time, you might shop at local stores to be able to cook for yourself, or use the local dry cleaning services. You will spend money in a variety of places that are not part of regular tourism. This is another reason why I hope that the regions can make good use of the features and effects of workations.

Do you think that Japan will become a society where workers can work the way they want, including regarding workations?

The advances in ICT and AI have led us to question what will be left for humans to do. If we are required to be creative and innovative, then it is not good to be forced into a workstyle that we find unreasonable and a burden. Such an environment is not conducive to creativity. Experiencing something out of the ordinary like a workation can provide the opportunity for new stimuli and new perspectives that will lead to innovation. A company that recognizes this and develops an environment that promotes it will be able to attract the personnel for whom it can be effective. The questions companies must address are what kind of people they want to hire, what will the people do when AI, automation, and DX have advanced, and whether they will be able to develop highly creative staff with the current way of working. Whatever the answers, the best human resources will be drawn to the companies that create an environment where workers can have a choice in the way they work.