Online productivity and types of assignments in a Japanese workplace

With the advance of the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies in the world have embraced telework. Despite the large volume of related studies, telework has not been well documented in relation to work formats and assignments. We pose an open question of how productivity in an online or telework environment (i.e., online productivity) depends on work formats (individual vs. group) and types of assignments (routine vs. creative), hypothesizing that online productivity is low as compared to face-to-face productivity for creative tasks in a group format. We conducted the stratified questionnaire survey with 500 Japanese employees, collecting the data of their perceived online productivity for carrying out simple and creative tasks in individual and group formats as compared to face-to-face productivity. The three main findings are obtained. First, online productivity tends to be low for a group format as compared to an individual format. Second, in a group format, online productivity is higher for routine than for creative tasks. Third, online productivity is unconditionally exacerbated in organizations with a seniority-based wage system as compared to those with a performancebased one. Overall, our findings highlight a “telework dilemma†whereby online productivity is perceived to be low as compared to face-to-face one in a group format irrespective of the types of assignments, while a majority of people are willing to continue telework. To resolve it, some new measures or approaches shall be necessary to digitally enhance group operations in an online environment.