Prologue
Morikawa: « Aoi, how do you confirm if a remote employee is actually working from 9 o’clock? »
Aoi: « We have an attendance system, don’t we? »
Morikawa: « They might clock in at 9 and then go have a coffee. »
Aoi: « There are people who have a coffee after clocking in even at the office. »
Morikawa: « They might be taking a nap. »
Aoi: « If you start suspecting that much, we’re talking about monitoring them with a webcam all day. »
Morikawa: « I don’t like that. »
Aoi: « For remote work time management, the starting point is to think about ‘watching employees’ and ‘tracking working hours’ separately. »
In remote work, employees are not right in front of their supervisors.
That is why managers and executives say things like,
« I don’t know if they are really working. »
« I can’t confirm what time they started and finished. »
« I don’t know if they are working overtime or doing housework. »
However, just because work has become remote does not mean that working time management is unnecessary.
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s telework guidelines also state that while ingenuity is required to track working hours for telework, smooth labor management is possible by using information and communication technology, and it is desirable for companies to clarify management methods in advance.
The issue is
not ‘how to monitor invisible employees,’ but ‘which records to use to track actual working hours.’
Even with remote work, the company must track ‘how many hours were worked’
Morikawa: « Since they are working from home, shouldn’t we just leave it to them? »
Aoi: « Even if the workplace changes from the office to home, the concept of working hours does not disappear. »
The basics of working time management do not change significantly whether working remotely or at the office.
The basic rule is for the employer to confirm and record the start and end times for each working day.
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s ‘Guidelines for Properly Tracking Working Hours’ suggests, as a fundamental method, in addition to the employer confirming it themselves, methods based on objective records such as time cards, IC cards, and computer usage time.
For remote work, for example:
Clocking in on an attendance management system.
Login/logout records of business computers.
Access records to internal systems.
Usage history of business applications.
These can be used as confirmation materials. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s telework-related materials also suggest the idea of utilizing such information and communication equipment records.
Morikawa: « So, the time the computer is powered on is the working time? »
Aoi: « That is not correct. »
PC logs are powerful data, but ‘login time = working time’ is not necessarily true
For example, an employee might log in to their computer at 8:50 AM and start working at 9:00 AM.
Conversely, they might have gone to dinner with their computer still on after finishing work at 6:00 PM.
PC logs are important objective data, but not all time spent logged in automatically becomes working time.
On the other hand,
The attendance system shows they clocked out at 6:00 PM.
However, they are using business systems on their PC until 10:00 PM every day.
They are sending emails to customers at 7:00 PM, 8:00 PM, and 9:00 PM.
Chatting with their supervisor is also continuing.
In such a situation,
« They clocked out at 6:00 PM, so I don’t know what happened after 6:00 PM »
is probably not a good way to end it.
If there is a large discrepancy between the self-reported time and objective records, it is required to investigate the actual situation and make necessary corrections.
Morikawa: « So PC logs are not evidence to catch employees, but data to check if attendance records are strange? »
Aoi: « It is better to think of it that way. »
Even just saying ‘I have started’ and ‘I am finishing’ can create a system
Small companies can operate without large-scale attendance systems.
For example,
Clock in on the attendance system at 9:00 AM.
Clock out at 6:00 PM.
Apply in advance for overtime.
Record the time if you step away.
Decide on these rules.
If the company uses chat,
« I am starting work »
« I am finishing work for today »
You can also use the method of reporting as a supplement.
The important thing is not to let it be inconsistent for each company.
Morikawa: « What if Person A uses LINE, Person B uses phone, and Person C does nothing? »
Aoi: « The general affairs person who has to reconstruct attendance at the end of the month will cry. »
Who, when, and by what method will record the start and end of work?
Decide this first.
If using self-reporting, ‘Just write 8 hours’ is not acceptable
In remote work, self-reporting is sometimes used.
However, just because it is a self-reporting system,
« Just enter 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM every day »
is not an acceptable operation.
They are actually working until 8:00 PM, but the company atmosphere only allows reporting until 6:00 PM.
If overtime exceeds a certain amount, the supervisor gets angry.
Employees do not report overtime because their evaluation will drop.
This is not accurate working time management.
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s guidelines state that when using self-reporting, in addition to explaining to employees to report correctly, one must not operate in a way that hinders proper reporting.Also, if there is a significant discrepancy between objective records and reported time, an investigation and correction are necessary.
Morikawa: « What about a system that says ‘You can only enter up to 10 hours of overtime per month’? »
Aoi: « If they are actually working 20 hours, closing the input field at 10 hours does not make the reality 10 hours. »
The difficult part of remote work is ‘stepping away’
There are problems unique to remote work.
10:00 AM.
A courier arrived.
12:00 PM.
Lunch.
2:00 PM.
Stepped away for 1 hour to go to the hospital.
4:00 PM.
My child came home, so I dealt with that for a bit.
Morikawa: « Should I have them record all of this in 1-minute increments? »
Aoi: « It is important to decide how the company will handle it first. »
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s telework Q&A suggests, for ‘stepping away time’ that easily occurs during remote work, for example, a method where the employee reports it at the end of the day to track it. When tracking stepping away, one can consider treating it as a break and pushing back the end time accordingly based on the individual’s request. When treating it as hourly paid leave, it is premised on labor-management agreements necessary for that system. On the other hand, in certain operations, a method is also shown where stepping away time is not tracked in detail, and the time from start to finish is treated as working time, excluding prescribed breaks. The important thing is
to decide in advance in the work rules, etc., how to handle stepping away.Morikawa: « What about recording everything, like 3 minutes to bring in laundry, 2 minutes for a courier? »Aoi: « The management cost for that might be higher. »
Just because it is remote work, there is no need to monitor the employee’s daily life by the second.
Create a system that can manage working hours with the precision necessary for the company.
‘Overtime is prohibited’ does not mean overtime pay disappears
Morikawa: « Then I can rest easy if I write ‘Overtime Prohibited’ in the remote work regulations. »
Aoi: « You are looking for a magic sentence again. »
As a company,
« Overtime work is subject to prior approval »
is a conceivable approach.
In fact, in remote work, it is difficult to know when overtime begins, so it makes sense to clarify the procedure.
However, in reality, a supervisor might say,
« Finish this document by today »
at 5:50 PM.
The employee continued working after 6:00 PM.
The supervisor was also aware of that.
In such a situation,
« There was no prior application, so it is not overtime »
is dangerous to process mechanically.
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s telework Q&A also states that regarding overtime work when there is a prior permission system or post-reporting system, it is not organized such that it is automatically excluded from working hours just because there was no permission application. It is necessary to look at specific situations, such as the employer’s instructions or involvement.
Morikawa: « Look at the reality rather than the rules? »
Aoi: « For working hours, whether they were actually under the employer’s command is more important than the name. »
Do not send emails at 8:00 PM while saying ‘Good work’ at 6:00 PM
One of the reasons why long working hours easily occur in remote work is that the boundary between work and life becomes ambiguous.
If it were the office, you would physically leave the workplace if you left at 6:00 PM.
At home, the computer is right next to you.
After dinner,
« Let me just check my email »
you open it.
A message comes from the supervisor.
« It can wait until tomorrow morning, but just take a look at this »
You get curious and open the document.
You fix it a little.
When you notice, it is 10:00 PM.
Morikawa: « Isn’t the person just doing it because they like to? »
Aoi: « If the supervisor keeps sending work messages at night, you can’t say that so easily. »
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare lists suppressing after-hours email sending, restricting system access late at night or on holidays, establishing procedures for overtime/holiday/late-night work, and alerting long-working employees as measures against long working hours in telework.
Working time management is not just about counting the hours worked, but also about creating a system that prevents overworking.
Do not make the chat ‘online status’ an attendance record
Morikawa: « If Teams is green, they are working, and if it is yellow, they are slacking off. »
Aoi: « It is dangerous to use that for attendance management. »
The status of chat tools is convenient, but it is not working time itself.
They might be reading documents on paper.
They might be on the phone with a customer.
They might be designing while thinking.
Conversely, they might be away from their seat even if they are ‘online’.
In remote work, there is a tendency to keep watching the employee’s screen or monitor mouse operations, but excessive monitoring destroys the relationship of trust with employees and may lead to more ‘pretending to be in front of the computer’ than actual work results.
Think of attendance management and work management separately.
This is especially important in remote work.
In attendance management, track what time to what time they worked.
In work management, look at what they are in charge of, how far they have progressed, and whether results are being produced by the deadline.
Morikawa: « Not whether they moved the mouse for 8 hours? »
Aoi: « If that is the work being evaluated, the employees will become masters of mouse operation. »
‘Deemed working hours outside the workplace’ cannot be used automatically because it is remote work
Morikawa: « Home is outside the company, right? Then can’t we use the ‘deemed’ system where we assume they worked 8 hours? »
Aoi: « Working from home does not automatically make it a deemed working hours system outside the workplace. »
The deemed working hours system outside the workplace is not a system applied just because you are working outside the company.
The worker is engaged in work outside the workplace, and it is difficult to calculate working hoursetc., and it is necessary to meet the requirements of the system. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s telework Q&A also explains that for telework at home, it can be subject to the deemed working hours system outside the workplace if certain requirements are met.
Nowadays, since people often work using PCs, cloud, attendance systems, chat, etc.,
« I don’t know the working hours because they are at home »
is often not an explanation that will hold up.
Morikawa: « Remote work does not equal deemed working hours. »
Aoi: « Let’s think about that separately. »
The rules for overtime pay do not change with remote work
Sometimes, when remote work begins, it is treated as if the very concept of overtime has disappeared.
However, for employees working under standard labor hour systems, the rules regarding overtime, holidays, and late-night work do not vanish just because they are teleworking.
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare also explains that even in the case of telework, if employees are required to work overtime or on holidays, it is necessary to conclude and file a 36 Agreement and pay the required overtime premiums, and that overtime premiums are also required for late-night work.
Morikawa: « The Labor Standards Act doesn’t leave the building just because you do. »
Aoi: « The law doesn’t go out of Wi-Fi range. »
For small companies, just decide on these four things first
A company starting a remote work system does not need to introduce a massive monitoring system from the start.
The first things you want to decide are:
How to record start and end times.
How to handle mid-day absences.
Who to apply to and how when working overtime.
Who checks when objective records and reported hours conflict.
These four.
For example:
Clock in and out of the attendance system at 9:00 and 18:00.
Record long absences for personal reasons as mid-day breaks.
In principle, apply for overtime to your supervisor.
Check every month to ensure there are no major discrepancies between attendance records and PC logs.
Even just doing this will organize things significantly.
Furthermore,
In principle, do not send work emails after 22:00.
In principle, do not access the system on holidays.
Decide on emergency contact methods.
Adding such measures to prevent long working hours will stabilize the system.
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s model work rules for telework were revised in July 2025, and reference materials for establishing telework rules as work regulations and informing employees are still available.
Don’t make it a binary choice between ‘trusting’ or ‘monitoring’
Morikawa: « In the end, I guess we just have to trust employees with remote work. »
Aoi: « Trust is important. But you don’t have to rely solely on trust for working hour management. »
Morikawa: « So, monitor them? »
Aoi: « Let’s move away from that binary choice. »
Trust the employees.
At the same time, record start and end times.
Keep objective logs as well.
Check if there are any unnatural discrepancies.
Decide on rules for overtime.
If long working hours continue, the company should reach out.
This way, you won’t be a company that
« doubts its employees and monitors them all day, »
nor a company that
« leaves everything to the individual and doesn’t know their working hours. »
What really changes with remote work is not the concept of working hours.
It is changing the way of working, from one confirmed by a supervisor’s eyes to one confirmed by records and rules. Morikawa: « When you’re at the office, it looks like you’re working just by sitting in your seat. »
Aoi: « When you start remote work, that illusion disappears. »
Morikawa: « If that’s the case, remote work might actually lead to focusing on the work itself. »
Aoi: « If you get to that point, your telework is quite mature. »
Morikawa: « So, what about the always-on webcam idea? »
Aoi: « Rejected. »
Morikawa: « But the employee’s cat might be on screen all day. »
Aoi: « I would actually like to see that, at least. »
