[Jjinbit] How Does Apartment Remote Work Differ from House Remote Work? [Office Shift] (17)

Reasons for Different Adoption Rates of Remote Work by Country Experienced Simultaneously
Various Causes Including Quarantine Policies, House Size, and Preference for Face-to-Face Culture

Editor's Note[Jjinbit] is a shortened form of 'Jung Hyunjin's Business Trend' and 'Real Business Trend,' a segment that showcases trends in the changing nature of work. The segment within Jjinbit called 'Office Shift' closely examines changes in offices triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and aims to lay the groundwork for exploring answers to new work styles through experiments we have experienced together. It will be delivered to you every Saturday and Sunday morning. After 40 installments, it will also be available as a book.

Current office occupancy compared to pre-COVID-19: USA 40?60%, Europe 70?90%, Asia 80?110%

Now that the three-year COVID-19 crisis has settled, office workers flood the streets of major Asian cities such as Seoul and Tokyo. The remote work experienced at the early stage of the pandemic has long ended. Most Asian workers commute to the office. In contrast, about 8 out of 10 workers in Germany or France leave their homes to go to the office. In the United States, half work from home and half work from the office. On tiring and exhausting commuting days, we sometimes wonder if we could become like the U.S., the 'holy land of remote work.'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to a report last February by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing office occupancy data by country and region from real estate services firm JLL, the current global situation is as follows: In the U.S., the proportion of employees in offices has halved compared to pre-pandemic levels, whereas in Asia, more people are in offices than before COVID-19. Major Asian cities such as Seoul, Tokyo, and Singapore reportedly surpassed a 75% office return rate in 2021 and 2022.

The entire world experienced remote work simultaneously due to COVID-19. However, how various work arrangements are accepted and maintained inevitably differs by country and region. Based on recent studies and surveys, we examined what influences the decision-making process regarding remote work, hybrid work, and office attendance in different countries.

① It Started with COVID-19... Impact of Lockdowns on Work Arrangements

During the spread of COVID-19, governments worldwide implemented varying containment measures. Some countries imposed complete lockdowns so strict that stepping outside the front door was nearly impossible, while others did not mandate mask-wearing. It was natural that work methods were influenced by government policies.

Sheba Girey Aksoy, Senior Research Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and professor at King's College London, along with multinational researchers, analyzed in their 'Global Remote Work' report released in September last year that countries and regions with longer and stricter government restrictions tended to adopt remote work more extensively during the COVID-19 period. The explanation is that facing immediate difficulties forced easier acceptance of new work arrangements.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

A representative example is the United Kingdom. In March 2020, to curb the spread of COVID-19, the UK implemented lockdown policies, legally mandating remote work except in unavoidable cases. The lockdowns were lifted and reimposed multiple times, extending the duration. Looking at new job postings in April 2020 in five countries including the UK and the U.S., the number of postings mentioning remote work conditions increased by 200% compared to February. Among the surveyed countries, this phenomenon was most pronounced in the UK.

So, as we enter the endemic phase, is a natural return to the office underway in these countries? Apparently not. As the duration of remote work experience lengthened, various factors intervened, influencing the adoption of new work arrangements differently by country.

According to a 2021 survey by global consulting firm KPMG, in the Asia-Pacific region, the top reason for adopting remote work was 'due to COVID-19 restrictions' (36%), whereas in the Americas and Europe, Middle East, and Africa regions, the highest response was 'because employees wanted it,' at 29% and 25%, respectively. During recent reporting, a Korean office worker in their 30s who recently started commuting back to the office due to reduced remote work said, "It's true that with the easing of COVID-19 measures, the justification for continuing remote work disappeared." It is expected that in Asia, companies are more likely to require employees to return to the office citing the endemic status compared to the Americas or Europe.

② Remote Work Means Home Is the Office?Is the Space Adequate?

With the COVID-19 crisis effectively over and no longer forced to be confined at home for work, workers now evaluate whether remote work is feasible. The decision-making process on how companies work inevitably reflects the work environment, culture, and employee circumstances in each country. Especially given that home is the office in remote work, whether the home is spacious and comfortable for work influences employees' preferences for work arrangements. This explains why analyses suggest that the living environment significantly influences why Americans work from home more than Asians or Europeans.

Nick Bloom, professor at Stanford University, said in a November interview with Asia Economy, "In Asian countries, apartments tend to be relatively smaller, so when working remotely, a separate office space rather than a bedroom is needed, but it is difficult to find such space. At least three rooms are needed at home, but most apartments are not that large," he analyzed.

In the U.S., 8 out of 10 people live in houses. In Korea, 8 out of 10 live in apartments. Houses are larger and have more rooms than apartments, allowing a dedicated workspace at home. According to the OECD's Better Life Index, the average number of rooms per person is 2.4 in the U.S., compared to 1.9 in Japan, 1.8 in Germany and France, 1.7 OECD average, and 1.5 in Korea. This means that the environment enabling a so-called 'commute' from bedroom to office room can vary by country.

In fact, an executive at a foreign company in Korea said, "Employees in their 20s and 30s want to come to shared offices even if they work fully remotely." He added, "Many live alone in studio apartments, and they say the space is cramped and uncomfortable, working next to the bed reduces concentration, and it's inconvenient to prepare lunch, so they come out."

③ Is It Due to Industry Structure or Leadership Will?

It is also important to consider whether the industry environment supports remote work if the social atmosphere is accepting. Analyses suggest that national industry structures influence work styles. Remote work is generally accepted in jobs with high computer usage frequency, income, and education levels. If an industry has a large proportion of manufacturing plants using specialized equipment or requires face-to-face customer service, remote work adoption is limited. Industries like IT, mathematics, architecture, and engineering saw significant increases in remote work before and after COVID-19, whereas fields like healthcare and education, which require in-person work, did not increase much.

However, it is pointed out that classification by industry alone is insufficient. Even within the same industry, the degree of adopting new work arrangements can vary depending on company policies. A paper analyzing job postings by Professor Hansen et al. showed that Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and SpaceX, all in the aerospace sector, differed. Boeing and Lockheed Martin's job postings mentioning remote or hybrid work were in single digits in 2019 but exceeded 50% in 2022. In contrast, SpaceX had almost no such postings, though slightly more than pre-COVID-19. This likely reflects the will of Elon Musk, SpaceX's CEO, who strongly opposes flexible work.

④ "We Need Face-to-Face Interaction"?Why Japan and Italy Resist New Work Arrangements

Even if conditions for remote or hybrid work are met, some cultures that prefer face-to-face interaction hesitate to adopt flexible work. According to a Gartner survey conducted in January targeting knowledge workers, by 2026, the proportion of remote and hybrid work in Italy and Japan is expected to be less than 40%. This is more than 10 percentage points lower than the global average and even less than in China, India, or Brazil. Although the figure has increased significantly from around 10% in 2019 before COVID-19, Japan and Italy are seen to have faster office return rates than other countries.

Ranjit Atwal, Senior Analyst at Gartner, explained that both Italy and Japan have cultures that prefer working face-to-face in offices. Japan is inflexible in accepting new cultures and is returning to pre-COVID-19 norms. He mentioned France, saying, "Before COVID-19, France also had a culture that liked face-to-face interaction like Italy and Japan, but after experiencing the pandemic, it changed and adopted hybrid work more extensively."