The satellite office and telecommuting boom seems to be lighting up again. Satellite offices and telecommuting gained popularity for a while in the late 1980s, when central Tokyo suffered from a serious office shortage, but the boom fizzled out in the early 1990s as the bubble economy burst and the nation plunged into recession. Now that information and communication networks have taken shape, however, satellite offices and telecommuting are once again gaining favor as systems that could realize the office worker's dreams of shortening commuting time and working at home.
Satellite offices and telecommuting have been attracting attention for some time as new forms of employment that aim to eliminate long-distance and time-consuming commuting, promote more comfortable lifestyles, and increase productivity. In particular, the economic boom of the late 1980s led to a surge in demand for office space and a resulting serious office shortage and sharp rise in rents, as a result of which an increasing number of companies decided to open satellite offices in the less expensive suburbs. Construction companies and others took the initiative in carrying out trials in model offices. After the turn of the decade, however, the mood changed completely as the economic recession led to a sudden drop in office demand in business districts and the emergence of a borrower's market.
Recently, however, there has been a swing back toward satellite offices and telecommuting as new forms of employment for the multimedia age as information and communication networks, such as the building of optical fiber networks, take shape and equipment becomes less expensive and more advanced. Now there are approximately 20 companies operating satellite offices and about 100 companies introducing telecommuting systems throughout Japan.
Satellite offices take various forms, depending on the company concerned, but most offices have a small staff of less than 20 people. A common feature of these satellite offices is that they are equipped with personal computers linked via communication circuits to the company's main offices and headquarters, so that information and electronic mail can be exchanged. Some satellite offices also have videophones and facilities for teleconferencing.
The development of satellite offices is still at an infant stage, but many companies do stress their merits in, for example, boosting employee morale and raising productivity. It seems likely, therefore, that the number of companies operating satellite offices will further increase in the future.
(The above article, edited by Japan Echo Inc., is based on domestic Japanese news sources. It is offered for reference purposes and does not necessarily represent the policy or views of the Japanese Government.)