Telecommuters' productivity and psychological effects : From the perspective of Japanese work culture

Interviewing local government officers in Japan, we investigated the productivity and negative psychological effects of telecommuting. Because individual work is not clearly defined in Japan, the productivity of collaborative work was diminished at home. Classifying the tasks to be accomplished at home and in the workplace is necessary to improve productivity. Notably, employees expressed career anxiety and guilt about working at home. Japanese bottom-up decision-making processes increased employees' sense of anxiety regarding their career due to the lack of available information in the workplace and the inability to develop skills.