How did people's work styles change under the state of emergency?　 National Employment Status Panel Survey 2020: A Temporary Follow-up Survey

The Recruit Works Institute, Recruit's research institute for people and organizations, has conducted a temporary follow-up survey of respondents to its annual "National Employment Status Panel Survey" conducted in January (those employed as of December 2019). The original survey was distributed across Japan to help us understand how people worked under the declared state of emergency from April 16, 2020, when the state of emergency was extended nationwide, to May 14, 2020, when the state of emergency was lifted in some areas (excluding Golden Week, a special holiday in Japan which usually is from the end of April to early May).

The follow-up survey is meant to showcase how people work under a declared state of emergency, and to understand the background of work styles that may change in the future. To prevent the spread of the COVID-19, the working conditions under the state of emergency, which forced changes such as required telework, staggered commuting, and leave of absence, were tabulated by the type of work, industry, and location.

15.7% of workers were recommended to telework by their workplaces. In the seven prefectures where the period of the state of emergency was extended, 21.7% of workers were recommended to telework.

[What has changed in terms of work due to COVID-19?]

Of those employed as of December 2019, 1.2% were laid off, 1.5% left their jobs for personal reasons, and 0.2% closed their businesses due to COVID-19.

15.7% of respondents were recommended to telework, 10.8% were recommended to stagger their work hours, 8.2% were asked to not come to work, and 11.6% were asked to reduce the number of working days and hours due to the impact of COVID-19.

In the seven prefectures with the longest state of emergency, 21.7% of respondents were recommended to telework, and 15.6% were recommended to stagger their work hours. In the other prefectures, 10.5% and 6.6% of workers were recommended to telework and stagger their work hours, respectively.

17.2% of respondents were asked to take time off and did so, of which 62.4% received the leave of absence allowance.

[Leave of absence allowance]

Of those who were employed, 17.2% were "requested to take a leave of absence and did so," 1.3% were "requested but did not take a leave of absence," and 78.9% were "not requested to take a leave of absence" due to COVID-19.

Of those who "took leave at the request of the employer," 62.4% "received" the leave of absence allowance.

74.5% of respondents saw an increase or decrease of 10% or less in income in May 2020 compared to December 2019, and 20% saw a decrease of 11% or more.

[Income increase/decrease]

74.5% of the respondents saw an increase or decrease of 10% or less when comparing income in May 2020 to December 2019, while 6.2% cited an 11–20% decrease. 5.9% of respondents reported that their income decreased by 21–40%, 7.9% answered that their income decreased by 41% or more, 2.1% answered that their income increased by 11% or more, and 1.0% said that no salary was paid.

Compared to December 2019, in-person working hours decreased under the state of emergency, while telework hours increased.

[Change in working hours]

The average in-person working hours of employees under the state of emergency decreased from 39.1 hours in December 2019 to 35 hours in May 2020.

[Change in telework hours]

The percentage of "0 hours" of telework time under the state of emergency decreased from 91.8% in December 2019 to 73.5% in May 2020.

Survey Summary

[National Employment Status Panel Survey: Temporary Follow-up Survey]

• Objective: To observe the changes in work styles under the state of emergency.

• Survey targets: Randomly selected approximately 10,000 respondents of the "National Employment Status Panel Survey of 2020," aged 20–60, who were employed as of December 2019.

• Number of valid responses: 10,317 respondents

• Survey period: June 29, 2020 - July 1, 2020

• Location: Japan

Click here to read the original press release.