Challenge

What happens if I'm working from home and I have a question for my manager?

"I'm working from home and want to ask my manager a question, but I feel bad calling her/him. If I was in the office, I could have easily asked it."

Solution

Use a chat app for quick conversations.

When calling is unnecessary but waiting on an email reply will take too long, using a chat app is useful. You can chat with one person or in a group. Using a chat app to communicate reduces stress around quicker, smaller correspondence. Managers can teach team members to use the tool effectively.

Data
chart

After using technology to work from home, the number of employees who thought it would be more difficult to communicate with colleagues and managers remotely went down from 44.1% to 20.3%.

For more information, refer to the Future Work Style Trial 2016 #01 Work Anywhere: Work From Home Trial Questionnaire (Japanese only PDF).

Detailed data

Advice

Check the person's availability before sending a message via a chat app.

Check if the person is available before sending them a message via a chat app. Update your status to 'busy' if you don't want people to contact you.

Some team members may feel the tool is too casual to use when talking with their managers. Managers can inform team members they're happy to talk through a chat app when their status is set to available.

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