Japan’s biggest power producer, Jera Co., holds executive and other important meetings on the internet and, except for power plant personnel, about 1,300 of the 1,700 employees at its headquarters and branch offices worked from home last week in response to the government’s call to curb social interaction to slow the novel coronavirus.
“We also regularly use internal web meetings every workday,” said Jera spokesman Atsuo Sawaki. “Including about 100 staff who worked at offices at staggered hours to prevent infection, more than 80 percent of our workforce has changed work styles since the coronavirus outbreak. We maintain business continuity by using four different audio and video meeting apps to communicate with other firms globally.”
Jera, run by Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings, produces about 30 percent of the power in Japan. It is one of a growing list of major companies that are encouraging employees to work from home to minimize exposure to the virus. That in turn is fueling an unprecedented boom for teleconferencing services.