Human Resources Department, Japan Business Data Processing Center Co., Ltd.
Makoto Wadazumi

1. Introduction

Japan Business Data Processing Center Co., Ltd. (henceforth referred to as the company) is a company that has been in business for over 50 years (as of 2021) and has been developing its business which is centered on four different enterprises: IT, medical care, public, and AI. These four enterprises are: ①IT Solution business, which revolves around BtoB. ②Medical offices business, which supports hospital operations such as reception, accounting and medical assistance at general hospitals. ③Public welfare business, which supports nursing care authorization and counter services at local government offices. ④AI・Robotics・IoT business, which brings an entirely new service into the world, solving various problems faced by society with full of use of AI robotics. Each of the enterprises is deeply involved in social infrastructure. Since we are primarily an IT business, promoting an environment of home-based work is easy, but on the other hand, medical office work and public welfare work need essential workers (workers who are essential to living) at the site (hospitals or government offices). It is an environment where attendance is mandatory. In such an environment, we would like to introduce an in-house example of working from home for individuals with disabilities.

2.Introduction to Working from Home

Since we had been considering selling on the open market a system that promotes working from home shortly before February 2020, when the Coronavirus began to spread, we were able to bring about, relatively early, the concept of in-house business. The first issue we needed to consider, however, was that of communication between employees (members). Although we made full use of chat tools, there were many issues and differences with face-to-face communication, such as the flow of conversation, physical distance, speed, and mutual understanding of others.

In particular, the difficulty in communicating nuances, responses to questions, and confirming certain items increased, and the burden on both parties (individuals with disabilities and supporters) was considerable when working from home. In addition, there were also situations where we were not accustomed to requesting work and giving instructions to homeworkers when dealing with support, and we could not imagine which work could be done at home, which was a barrier to the introduction of at-home work for individuals with disabilities. Meanwhile, at the management headquarters to which I belong, in a promotion activity to drastically reduce the rate of attendance, the feeling of resistance to chat communication gradually decreases, regardless of having a disability or not, while communicating and carrying out their work from home. Also, it becomes possible to categorize work that can be done at home. By clarifying this type of work, we were able to promote work from home for people with disabilities while reducing the burden on supporters.

3. Relationship with People who Work as Home Workers

(1) About Disabilities

Those who work from home have various disability characteristics such as mental health, developmental, and physical issues. So, after joining the company (or before joining the company), we can have them come to work for a few days in order to more fully understand the disability characteristics and have good communication between supports and the individual with the disability. With this communication, we are able to work from home smoothly.

(2) Content and Role of Work

The contents of the work are ① data entry, ② document creation, ③ recruitment update, ④ new graduate site management, ⑤ HP update, ⑥ HP site construction, ⑦ recruitment of applicants, etc. Each individual is matched with work that suits him/her.  Occasionally, people with disabilities at home prepare for data conversion (PDF conversion) for permitting ① at work, and people with disabilities who are at work support them while providing independence and mutual support. Some people with disabilities at home want to learn various tasks and broaden their skills, and some are good at things dealing with the web and design. After listening, the supporters assign various roles to these individuals according to their areas of expertise and hopes.

(3) How to Proceed with Work and Points to Consider

Especially when requesting a job for the first time, the supporters follow up so that there is no discrepancy in recognition by giving business instructions via chat and telephone confirmation. In addition, I try to provide peace of mind that there is an environment where you can ask anything if you don't understand by creating an atmosphere where you can ask questions at any time by chatting even when performing regular work. Depending on the characteristics of the disability, there are also people who report their work in the form of a "daily report" and share their daily work content, changes in feelings, and questions with the supporters. By using communication methods tailored to each person with a disability, it has become possible to catch up on what they are feeling. I think it is very important for communication to create a work environment that properly understands and tolerates the characteristics of disabilities.

4. Current Status and Issues

Currently, it is possible to cut out the work within the management headquarters, but we do not have the workload to support a large number of home-workers, nor do we have the management system in place to support them. There is also a limit to the number that a staff can support, and with other work commitments, one or two home-workers per staff is all that is possible to handle. In addition, those who are working from home are run out of tasks, for example if their questions are not immediately responded via chat or if they do not have enough regular work to do. Although workers are aware that the supporters may not be able to answer them immediately for various reasons, I think it is definitely an anxiety factor for those who are working from home. Sufficient work extraction and standardization (procedures) are major issues.

5. Future Deployments

First, in order to prevent the situation of too much free time, I think that the highest priority is to create an environment within a company that can smoothly cut out duties that occur inside the company. At present, the management headquarters is the center of this. If we could solve the problems of other business divisions, such as “If somebody could do something like this…”, ”We want to do something, but we can’t do it because we don’t have enough workers…”, “It takes time to create materials.”…We think that we will be able to cut out our work smoothly(naturally) by establishing a system that we can support any work that can be done at home.  As for future development, we hope that a leader of home-workers will accept requests from other business divisions and create an independent team that allows members with disabilities at home to divide roles and contribute to internal duties. In addition, we can expect new roles such as training leaders and juniors, so we believe that it will lead to broadening the range of career advancement and realizing diverse work styles. Although it is still in a transitional period and there are many issues, we will continue to improve it every day so that we can build a psychologically safe work environment.

Voice of the employee

I have an adjustment disorder, but I joined this company with no clerical experience and am working in the human resources department. My main job is recruiting, such as data entry, manual organization/creation, applicant support, recruitment/document creation, and company information sessions for individuals with disabilities.

For work from home, we will report the start of work by chat and proceed with the main work, but basically, the business will be done with instructions and consultation communicated via chat. Since it's a chat, it's often the case that replies do not come right away, but you can look back at it later, so I think it's a useful tool once you get the hang of it. There may be difficulties with working at home, but the number of jobs one can do will increase if one effectively employs his/her own strategies. With this, I feel my own growth and am able to work with pleasure.