What is a new style of travel or work, "work application"?

What is a new style of travel or work, "work application"? July 31, 13:26

"Worcation" is being discussed on SNS.
The motivation for this was that at the government meeting on the 27th of this month, the idea of ​​promoting "Wacation" was announced. This is an unfamiliar word, but is this a new coined word? What does it look like in the first place?
I looked it up.

"#Working" on SNS

The "work application" that the government is trying to promote.
It seems to be a combination of "work" that represents work and "vacation" that means vacation.
In the discussions on SNS, while there are opinions that "I would like to try it someday", critical opinions that stand in line with the start of "Go To Travel" stand out.


"What is worcation? Only senior citizens who can do that kind of thing can't be done by people who work on-site."

"Worcation, it seems like working during vacations.

" I think it will lead to the spread of infection.''

What would you like to do in a word application?

This "work application". What is it like in the first place?
When I asked a major travel agency such as JTB, it is not certain when it started, but it seems that it has been used for many years as a new style of travel and work style.
For example, this way of working.

I want to go on vacation for a long vacation, but in the meantime there is a meeting that I have to attend for only one day.
You can take a long vacation without canceling the trip by participating in the conference by telework from the travel destination.

According to the questionnaire to 463 domestic companies conducted by WEB site "Japan's Human Resources Department," about 15% of the companies, mainly large companies, answered that they had already introduced it.
It was a system that was gradually introduced by some companies that wanted to promote work style reform.

Introduced two years ago What about Japan Airlines?

Two years ago, I interviewed a company that introduced “working” as a system.
This is Japan Airlines.

--Why did you introduce "work application"?
“This is part of the work style reform of employees. As we proceeded with the reform, we introduced it to increase the number of work style options.” The

Japan Airlines system targets employees who work at the head office.
Before employees can take “work”, they must apply for the location and duration of the trip and obtain permission from their manager. Of course, when I'm traveling, I basically treat it as vacation. However, you will be paid a solid salary for the time you work.
Since it is assumed that this is a vacation, all travel expenses and stay expenses are to be paid by the owner.

The employees who used it...

There are more than 400 employees who have used "Wacation" on Japan Airlines. It seems that some employees have taken it nearly 20 times, so I asked them to talk.

This is Yoshimasa Higashihara (37) who works in the human resources department. Travel destinations are Hokkaido and Okinawa in Japan, and Singapore, New York, and Hawaii overseas!
He says he has made time for work while enjoying vacations, making conference calls and preparing documents at 11 locations in Japan and abroad.
Mr. Higashihara says that the advantage of "work application" is not only that it is easier to schedule a vacation.

(Masamasa Higashihara)
“Until now, it was difficult for me to take a long vacation, but now I can work even during my vacation, and I can travel for more than a week. By working in a different environment, I feel that my head rotates faster.

A drastic decrease in users at the attracting municipality Corona

Some local governments have been focusing on attracting them because they will lead to regional promotion.
Since 2017, Wakayama Prefecture has been engaged in activities to attract companies, with tourist destinations within the prefecture as travel destinations for “work applications”.
Shirahama, a resort area, is about an hour away by flight from Tokyo. We have been selling mainly to companies in the metropolitan area. As a result, a total of 910 people from 104 companies came to the prefecture for the purpose of "working" in three years from 2017.
However, the number of users has decreased dramatically after the spread of the new coronavirus.
A person in charge of the Information Policy Division of Wakayama Prefecture said, "The government seems to promote worcation, but now it cannot be said that the prefecture will come in a big way. Recently, telework has spread to companies. , I hope that when the spread of infection calms down, there is an opportunity to increase the demand for word applications."

Ask experts

As I interviewed, I would like to take "working" when the new Corona settles down, but I feel that there is still a barrier to widespread adoption.

Therefore, we asked Shinka Takahashi, Chief Researcher of JTB Research Institute, who is familiar with the tourism industry, about the issues.

-Is the spread of "work application" going forward?
“There are still many challenges to disseminating work applications. Especially, it is limited to some occupations where teleworking is possible. Also, the boundary between work and vacation becomes ambiguous, and the business There are many issues in labor management, such as how much the expenses such as expenses and accommodation expenses are to be paid, and whether an accident while traveling will result in a work-related accident.”

What do you think about the future?
"Now, I think that it is necessary to carefully judge according to the infection situation etc. when advancing worcation. Also, only word has become famous for worcation, but in fact its definition is If it is used properly, I think that there will be benefits to the three people who are the workers, the company, and the destination that accepts travel, so we will solve the current issues as one of the new ways of working. I think we need it.''