Proportion of People Able to "Naturally Switch" Between Work and Off-Duty: Over Twice as High for Full Remote Workers (19.4%) Compared to Full On-site Workers (8.2%)

LASSIC Inc. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Main Office: Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture; President and CEO: Koji Wakayama; Stock Code: 574A, hereinafter "LASSIC"), which operates the WEB media "Telework & Remote Work General Research Institute (Telerimo Soken)" that disseminates information promoting and supporting "location-independent work styles," conducted a "Survey on Work Style Rules and System Needs During Telework" targeting 1,000 working individuals with telework/remote work experience. When asked about personal practices for switching between work and life, "maintaining nearly the same start and end times each day" was the most common at 35.8%, approximately double the second-ranked practice (18.2%). On the other hand, regarding desired systems and support from employers, "formalizing rules to refrain from work-related communication outside business hours" was the most frequent request at 26.5%, exceeding personal efforts to draw boundaries for communication outside work hours (18.2%). Looking at work arrangements, the proportion of respondents who answered "able to naturally switch between work and life even during telework" was 19.4% for the full remote group, compared to 8.2% for the full on-site group, showing a difference of more than double and indicating a tendency for the switching situation to vary significantly depending on the current work style.

Regarding personal practices for switching between work and life during telework, "maintaining nearly the same start and end times each day" was the most common at 35.8%. The second-ranked practices, "habitually closing work-related apps at the end of the workday" and "personally setting boundaries to only handle urgent communication outside business hours," were both at 18.2%, approximately half of the top-ranked practice (35.8%). Fourth was "doing nothing in particular and feeling boundary issues" at 15.4%, followed by "operation of turning off notifications outside business hours" at 14.4%, "naturally switching between work and life even during telework" at 13.7%, and "establishing routines before starting work and after finishing work" at 12.9%.

Regarding desired systems and support from employers, requests related to communication outside business hours and management of working hours and attendance occupied the top positions. Specifically, "formalizing rules to refrain from work-related communication outside business hours" was the most frequent at 26.5% (Figure 2), followed by "none in particular" at 21.0%. Next, "management and executives clearly stating a policy to refrain from communication outside business hours" at 19.9%, "development of attendance management tools for telework" at 19.7%, and "clarification of start and end time rules" at 19.5% were all clustered around 20% with narrow margins. Even for the same aspect of communication, personal efforts like "personally setting boundaries to only handle urgent communication outside business hours" remained at 18.2% (Figure 1), falling below the desire for formalization as a system (26.5%).

Looking at responses by work arrangement group (Figure 3). (Note: In the question about "practices for switching," full on-site respondents were asked about "practices of interest," so their responses reflect "objects of interest" rather than "actual practices.") The proportion selecting the top personal practice, "maintaining nearly the same start and end times each day," was 33.8% for full remote, 37.6% for hybrid, and 34.3% for full on-site, all in the 30% range. The proportion selecting "able to naturally switch between work and life even during telework" was 19.4% for full remote, 16.4% for hybrid, and 8.2% for full on-site. Full remote workers (19.4%) were more than double full on-site workers (8.2%). The proportion stating "none in particular" for desired systems and support from employers was 31.7% for full remote, 21.1% for full on-site, and 17.8% for hybrid. The proportion desiring "development of attendance management tools for telework" was highest among hybrid workers at 22.6%, followed by full on-site at 19.0% and full remote at 11.5%. While the proportion of people who can "naturally switch" and the demand for systems/support vary by work arrangement, the practice of aligning start and end times shows little difference across all groups, remaining in the 30% range.

(Source) Telerimo Soken "Survey on the Trade-off Between Remote Work and Annual Income" (2026)

Regarding desired systems and support, the proportion of "none in particular" was lowest among 20s (12.7%) and highest among 60s (36.6%) (Figure 4). The figures for other age groups were 19.2% for 30s, 18.1% for 40s, and 25.2% for 50s. On the other hand, the proportion desiring "formalizing rules to refrain from work-related communication outside business hours" was 30.4% for 20s, 20.7% for 30s, 28.5% for 40s, 25.9% for 50s, and 28.0% for 60s, with all age groups showing over 20%.

Summary) "Self-Drawn Lines" vs. "Formalization Desired from Employers": Practice Varies by Work Arrangement

Commonly ranking high in both personal practices and desired company systems/support were the handling of start/end times and communication outside business hours. "Personally setting boundaries to only handle urgent communication outside business hours" was practiced by 18.2%, while the desire for "formalizing rules to refrain from work-related communication outside business hours" as a system/support was expressed by 26.5%.

Looking at work arrangement groups, there are differences in the proportion of people who can "naturally switch." The percentage selecting "able to naturally switch between work and life even during telework" was 19.4% for full remote and 8.2% for full on-site. Regarding desired systems and support...