[Special Feature: Working in the Post-Office Era] The Potential of Regional Cities Brought by Promoting Telework During the Child-Rearing Period

I operate telework and coworking bases in Takasaki City and Minakami Town in Gunma Prefecture, and Saku City in Nagano Prefecture. I am also involved in businesses that have many points of contact with women in the child-rearing period, primarily those with preschool children.

In this article, I would like to discuss the potential of regional cities brought about by the promotion of telework during the child-rearing period.

The M-shaped curve for women is being resolved (Figure 1).

The percentage of non-regular employees in the child-rearing period (ages 25–34 and 35–44) is higher for women than for men (Figure 2).

The Kotohaba General Incorporated Association, which I operate, has conducted parent-child events as an isolation prevention activity during the child-rearing period. From 2014 to 2018, a total of 29 events were held in Takasaki City on vacant land at Yamana Hachiman-gu Shrine, gathering a total of 3,905 people. Additionally, we provided child-friendly co-workations to 20 households over seven sessions in Minakami Town, and in Saku City, we have provided telework support courses for women in the child-rearing period for three years starting from 2019. Furthermore, in fiscal 2020, we added an after-school care facility to Telework Center MINAKAMI in Minakami Town, Gunma Prefecture, to promote side jobs during the child-rearing period. Even if the M-shaped curve for women is resolved, I never stop meeting women who struggle to balance child-rearing and work.

As for promoting telework during the child-rearing period, we formed an alliance between an accommodation business owner in Minakami Town and teleworkers in the child-rearing period, and together with partners, achieved a 125% increase in sales over a period of one year and three months. The accommodation industry is the sector where telework implementation has progressed the least. A common challenge in the industry is to transition from OTAs (Online Travel Agents) to payments via the company's own website to reduce OTA commission costs. Therefore, we introduced digital marketing and supported the implementation of a PDCA cycle for efforts by on-site staff to increase bookings on the company's own site. First, we organized each process using a Business Model Canvas and Customer Journey so that the internal team and teleworkers could have a common understanding of the goals for each initiative. It took nearly six months to foster a culture where on-site staff and teleworkers collaborate through monthly online meetings. I understand that this was the result of the owner's unwavering desire to introduce telework and create a comfortable working environment for employees, the on-site staff's will to learn and grow in the unfamiliar digital field, and the hard work of the teleworkers in the child-rearing period.

In Saku City as well, we are conducting telework implementation consulting with local teleworkers who are raising children in a way that leads to securing human resources for local construction companies, and I feel a positive response. We have confirmed that by introducing telework to regional cities, benefits can be realized for regional businesses, local women in the child-rearing period, and the region as a whole.

Most of the working population in regional cities is supported by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are often not comfortable working environments for women in the child-rearing period. Also, in the Tokyo metropolitan area or government-designated cities, job openings that are useful for returning to work—such as once a week for three hours a day—are provided, but such job openings are scarce in regional cities.

If we classify the cases of women from pregnancy to the lower grades of elementary school who are interested in working (excluding full-time housewives):

Pattern 1: People seeking employment within a range compatible with child-rearing after leaving work due to childbirth

Pattern 2: People seeking a point of connection with society within a range compatible with child-rearing after leaving work due to childbirth

Pattern 3: People who want to start a private business within a range compatible with child-rearing after leaving work due to childbirth

Pattern 4: People on childcare leave seeking a connection with the local community

I believe they can be classified as such.

Many people in Pattern 1, who seek employment within a range compatible with child-rearing after leaving work due to childbirth, prioritize location (home, nursery school, kindergarten, etc.) and working hours within the range of dependents so they do not have to file a tax return. Even if the projects seem to have low utility when returning to work, many insist on employment rather than going into self-employment. The main support entities are likely the Hello Work offices under prefectural jurisdiction.

People in Pattern 2, who seek a point of connection with society within a range compatible with child-rearing after leaving work due to childbirth, often seem to be looking for human relationships where they can have casual conversations in the community rather than earning money. Seeking connections in an area where they have no acquaintances, they organize events or engage in craftsmanship that utilizes their hobbies. They are mainly supported by community activities in the world of self-help and mutual aid.

People in Pattern 3, who want to start a private business within a range compatible with child-rearing after leaving work due to childbirth, are often those who intended to work even during child-rearing before giving birth, who like themselves when they are working, and who work by utilizing the business skills they possess. Alternatively, they may be forced to choose the style of a private business due to the child's personality or their own health. They are mainly supported by regional telework/coworking bases and crowdsourcing.

Many people in Pattern 4, who are on childcare leave and seeking a connection with the local community, seem to explore the possibility of side jobs after returning to work or seek encounters with people different from those at their company or nursery school, starting around the time the child can hold their head up. They are mainly supported by child-rearing related events of basic local governments and the welfare benefits of the companies where they are employed.

In the era of telework and the lifting of bans on side jobs, I feel it is important to support and increase the number of Pattern 3 people in the region, and to transition from Pattern 2 to Pattern 3. This involves the regional implementation of telework as a way of working that can be sustained at about 5,000 to 30,000 yen per month, about 1 to 3 days a week, and can accommodate circumstances such as a child's sudden illness.

I have the impression that people in Pattern 1, which is likely the most common case, often have limited options for returning to work when child-rearing has settled down. Conversely, people in Pattern 3 have diverse options for returning to work when child-rearing has settled down. I have continued to collaborate with a self-employed telework team of people with preschool children for five years. From that experience, I am convinced that mastering the telework style of working leads to enriching women's careers.

During the period of raising preschool children, one's movements for the day are often forced to change depending on the child's physical condition in the morning. Working time is squeezed out by mobilizing the daytime during childcare, early morning before the child wakes up, and time after the child goes to sleep.

I specialize in supporting Pattern 3 self-employed telework rather than employment-based telework. I believe that balancing child-rearing and work is possible when job requirements and specifications are clear, the ordering party has mastered the cloud tools to be used, the compensation system and outsourcing contracts are appropriate, and a backup system is in place.

In crowdsourcing projects, patterns are seen where job requirements and specifications are ambiguous, and there is no consideration for the compensation system or outsourcing contracts. I often witness cases where telework is not done only at home, but where slight anxieties are resolved among the parties involved through casual conversation at regional coworking bases. Also, by meeting partners who can complement each other's skills and personalities, they become able to increase their unit price for orders.

During periods when a child's physical or mental condition is unstable, periods when support from parents cannot be received, or periods when a husband has no understanding of working, some people work one day a week for 5,000 yen a month, and then work three days a week for 30,000 yen a month when the situation is ready. Accumulating this small effort during the child-rearing period leads to increasing options at the time of a full-scale return to work. Some may continue as sole proprietors, some may return as full-time employees, some as non-regular employees, and some may work by combining various regional side jobs. By being able to feel that they can return to work with peace of mind while raising children, more people will desire a second child. The realization of a gentle, broad-based, and gradated way of working will also contribute to improving the birth rate in regional cities.

In order to deliver work that provides value to clients even in highly uncertain situations like child-rearing, the ordering skills of the ordering party are actually important. While SMEs naturally account for nearly 90% of regional employment, I feel that many companies perform work that is person-dependent and based on the premise of meeting in person.

Now that the web has become infrastructure, there is still room for growth in regional companies for increasing sales, reducing costs, and securing human resources by utilizing websites. However, because the human resources who can handle this live in urban areas, the current situation is that the speed of promotion is slow.

Securing human resources is an urgent issue for regional businesses, and as a solution, I think it is good to start by introducing telework and making it possible to hold online meetings once a month and order work for about 30,000 yen a month. If the requirements and specifications for the work to be ordered from teleworkers are identified, the internal team utilizes cloud tools, and the compensation system and outsourcing contracts are prepared, it can be started immediately.

Through the COVID-19 pandemic, regional companies have also gained a sense that they might actually be able to do telework if they try, so it is reaching the stage of utilizing it as an organizational culture. In fact, at Telework Center MINAKAMI, the number of one-time users during the pandemic (April to October 2020) was about three times that of fiscal 2019, and Work Terrace Saku, which opened in April 2020, has surpassed 30 members. Among them, some people have appeared who have moved their base of life to regional cities and commute to Tokyo about once a week.

Companies that can provide side job projects in rural areas are offered encounters with teleworkers from urban areas, coupled with the trend of moving to regional cities due to COVID-19. As a result, they can utilize human resources with business skills not found in the region, and if they are compatible, they can be hired as side-job employees. I believe that as a result of these efforts, an internal system will be prepared that can prevent life-event resignations during periods such as child-rearing, caregiving, and recovery from illnesses like cancer. By realizing the recruitment of new human resources and the prevention of current employees leaving, it leads to securing human resources for regional companies.

Policies for promoting women's participation are mostly handled by prefectures, but in order to take regional characteristics into account, I think it is good to also work on them as policies of basic local governments. They should be handled not by the Child and Child-rearing Division, but by the Commerce and Industry Promotion Division or the division in charge of regional revitalization. By enabling regional companies to create a certain amount of telework projects, it is possible to attract related populations to the region through the lifting of side job and telework bans in urban areas, increase the number of migrants, and further expect the expansion of satellite offices of urban companies. We can also expect an increase in second child births and the migration of the child-rearing generation due to the region becoming a place where people can return to work with peace of mind.

Specifically, I think it would be interesting to renovate idle public facilities into telework/coworking bases and operate them with a focus on telework support for women in the child-rearing period and the creation of side job projects for regional companies. By collaborating with regional obstetrics and gynecology departments, it will also be possible to approach women who have recently given birth. Furthermore, in order to accommodate child-friendly co-workations, it is even better if there is coordination with guesthouse-like functions.

I will also demonstrate the value of introducing telework in regional cities through the efforts of Telework Center MINAKAMI in Minakami Town, Work Terrace Saku in Saku City, and Takasaki City (Photo). Rather than just supporting women, I will build a stage for business owners, women, and the government to collaborate to improve the region.