Call centres expose fault line in Japan's COVID-19 fight
06 May, 2020
Almost a month after Tokyo declared circumstances of emergency, dozens of call centre employees for telecom KDDI still commute into their crowded office, where the concern with coronavirus infection has taken a back seat to data security.
Call centres have exposed among the fault lines in Japan's fight against the pandemic, since it requires a less forceful approach than many countries. During the past few weeks, 17 infections were confirmed at a post office call centre in the northern island of Hokkaido and 11 at a Kyoto mail-order business.
Japan Inc has been reluctant to embrace telecommuting, with organizations citing concerns about data security. Companies also fear a decline in worker productivity and customer support.
"Dozens of us remain working in a crowded office," an employee at KDDI Evolva, KDDI's call centre business, told Reuters. "We're able to be hit with mass infection any time."
Until recently, the KDDI Evolva office in Tokyo was packed at peak hours with practically 80 operators sitting less than a metre apart without partitions, said the worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Staff numbers have been thinned, however, not enough to dispel infection concerns, the worker said.
Another Evolva worker said operators were flooded with non-urgent enquiries because more persons were now in the home, adding: "Are these inquiries worth the infection risk for us?"
KDDI Evolva said it had been taking measures to safeguard workers, including reducing the amount of operators and installing partitions.
A KDDI spokeswoman said call centres were part of social infrastructure and need to remain open. She said it had been considering requests from KDDI Evolva.
Reuters spoke to a complete of eight call centre operators at multiple companies. Every one of them described fears about working conditions.
"NO CHOICE"
Japan has some 250,000 call centre operators, most of them contractors with less job security than everlasting employees.
General Support Union, a labour union, has received a lot more than 100 calls from operators concerned about safety in the last month, representative Kotaro Aoki said. Some who opted to take leave were told it would hurt their careers, he said.
"Most of us have no choice but continue steadily to work to keep carefully the jobs," one contractor at a call centre for photocopier maker Fuji Xerox said.
A Fuji Xerox spokesman said it made no distinction between contractors and regular employees in allowing telecommuting. He said it had been expanding telecommuting, however, many workers should be at work and before physical photocopiers and printers to troubleshoot for customers.
One Tokyo contract worker, who didn't want her company identified, said staff were told they couldn't reduce functions because customers would complain.
Japan declared a state of emergency in Tokyo and six other areas on Apr 7 which has since been extended nationwide before end of May.
Under Japan's post World War Two constitution, the federal government can't order companies to close, nonetheless it has tried to limit infections while keeping the economy ticking over.
It has targeted a 70 per cent to 80 per cent decrease in person-to-person contact, but by Apr 26, Google mobility data showed traffic to workplaces was just 27 % lower than prior to the pandemic.
Japan has reported practically 16,000 infections plus some 569 deaths.
INDUSTRY RESISTANCE
Call centres have been resistant to telecommuting. A survey this past year found only 6.3 per cent of call centres allowed staff to home based. Nearly 8 0per cent said that they had no plans to introduce telecommuting, with most citing fears of data leaks.
Top wireless carrier NTT DoCoMo saw 10 confirmed infections at one centre in March.
"Call operators have to be physically there to take calls from customers," a company spokesman said.
By contrast, japan unit of Switzerland's Zurich Insurance Group switched 95 % of its 500 operators to telecommuting through the use of virtual desktops that prevent information from being kept locally.
Telecoms companies such as for example KDDI and NTT DoCoMo have felt pressure to keep centres open following the communications ministry requested they cut back in-person operations, an industry source said.
A ministry official said the request was designed to reduce human contact, much less an order to keep call centres open.
"We hope the carriers contrive ways to prevent infections," the state said.
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