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The spread of the novel coronavirus is having a significant impact on employment. Since the second half of 2020, there has been a marked increase in media reports of companies offering voluntary retirement programs, and there are also many news stories about non-regular employees having their employment contracts terminated or not renewed.<\/p>\n
Some believe the number may increase even further this year, and it appears that some companies have already begun implementing voluntary retirement programs.<\/p>\n
This trend is likely relevant to the construction industry as well. While there is still plenty of work available right now, and the labor shortage hasn\u2019t been resolved, it\u2019s possible that, depending on the location or the nature of the work, there might actually be a surplus of workers in some cases.<\/p>\n
Personally, I haven\u2019t heard anything like that yet, and I occasionally get messages from a classmate who runs a small-to-medium-sized construction company in the countryside asking, \u201cWhen are you going to come work for us?\u201d Even in times like these, there\u2019s no shortage of companies recruiting for positions such as temporary civil engineering construction managers, design engineers, and CAD operators. It\u2019s hard to believe we\u2019re in a recession; in fact, it even makes me feel like the boom is still going strong.<\/p>\n
Lately, many people have been working remotely. In particular, it seems that more and more companies are having their non-regular employees work remotely. I currently work as a non-regular employee at a certain construction consulting firm, and partly because my job involves a lot of desk work, I\u2019ve been working remotely more often. In the latter half of December last year, I worked entirely from home, to the point where I couldn\u2019t even manage to exchange year-end greetings.<\/p>\n
I know a construction management engineer who works as a temp. Since he spends most of his time on-site, he doesn\u2019t do it very often, but apparently he still works remotely a few times a month.<\/p>\n
Of course, he goes out to the job site to check on progress and ensure safety, but there are also quite a few days when he does desk work to prepare documents. Since desk work can be done remotely\u2014and in line with the client company\u2019s policy\u2014he reportedly works remotely about once a week.<\/p>\n
When it comes to preparing documents or drawing simple diagrams, he actually seems to get more work done at home, and he said, \u201cI\u2019m grateful for the days I can work remotely. I can really focus on the paperwork.\u201d<\/p>\n
Admittedly, it seems difficult to switch on-site work to remote work, but they say that document-related tasks\u2014such as preparing on-site inspection reports and plans, or creating and revising drawings\u2014can be handled perfectly well remotely.<\/p>\n
In addition, that company has implemented a chat tool and appears to be using a video conferencing system as well; it seems they use these tools to communicate whenever they have questions.<\/p>\n