Meanwhile, telework has not yet been introduced for government employees. From the viewpoint of promoting the introduction of telework in the entire employment system nationwide, there is strong demand for this to be implemented by government employees.

Taking such a situation into consideration and results of the first trial of telework in FY2004 among MIC employees, MIC has decided to expand the scale of telework trial for MIC employees. In this expanded trial (Phase II trial) in which the period will be extended and teleworkers will increase through participation of multiple divisions, MIC will implement the Phase II trial through introduction of new IP telephony terminals and highly secure thin client type PCs. Thereby MIC will i) identify issues and provide solutions thereof for the full introduction of telework from FY2006, ii) contribute to the achievement of goals of the e-Japan Strategy-II, "By the year 2010, the government aims to have teleworkers working under an appropriate working environment comprise 20% of the working population," and iii) facilitate nationwide introduction of telework.

Main items to be verified

i) Verifying smooth information sharing between home offices and base offices (e.g., headquarters); and identifying issues thereon
ii) Identifying and analyzing work management issues and considering measures to address such issues
iii) Accumulating and identifying knowhows, etc. on telework

Schedule

During October 31, 2005, through February 28, 2005, MIC will implement the Phase II trial and compile a report by the end of FY2005.


Outline of the Telework Trial

Participating employees

Approximately 20 employees from the information divisions and offices of the Information and Communications Policy Bureau

Outline

Work management related
- Telework will, as a rule, be implemented more than 1 day a week

- Work hours will be in the standard range, from 9:30am until 6:00pm. The implementation period will be for 4 months, from October 31 (Monday), 2005 until February 28 (Tuesday), 2006.

- The location of telework will be the employees’ homes and the like.

System related
- Each employee will use a rented PC and ancillary equipment (The costs for electricity and telecommunications will be covered by MIC).

- High-speed telecommunication lines will be used, from each employee’s home; either optical fiber (best-effort type 100mbps) or ADSL (best-effort type 47mbps).

- Private IP networks will be used as an information security measure. In addition, a firewall will be installed at the Data Center to implement virus detection and elimination, and prevent unauthorized access.

- Smooth communication and work management will be made possible through the use of IP telephony systems (which are expected to reduce voice communications costs), web TV conferencing (that can link up to 80 people) and messaging systems (chat function, indication of availability at desk, etc.).

- Information security measures will be strengthened with the introduction of a thin client system which will only deploy basic functions such as display and input in the client computers, and the resources such as application software are all consolidated at the server level.



Posting of Telework Diary

A “Telework Diary” on the status of implementation will be posted on the MIC website starting from October 31 (Monday), 2005

The goals of telework

II. Promoting IT utilization through a ground-breaking approach
6. Employment & Work
By using IT, the people will be able to make choices in looking for varied types of work that fit in with their life planning, bringing about a society where each person’s creative abilities can be demonstrated to the maximum. This will bring about a society where it will be possible to combine employment with housework, raising children and nursing-care, and in which men and women will be able to contribute equally. “By the year 2010, the government aims to have teleworkers
working under an appropriate work environment account for 20% of the working population” e-Japan Strategy II (July 2, 2003)

Definition of telework

“A type of work where information and telecommunications devices are used for more than 8 hours a week, and with no restrictions on timeframe and location.” e-Japan Priority Policy Program-2004 (June 15, 2004)

Producing an introductory guidebook on telework

II. Promoting IT utilization through a ground-breaking approach
6. Employment & Work
2) By making choices in looking for varied types of work, bringing about a society where each person’s creative abilities can be demonstrated at the maximum efficiency.
a) Supporting the introduction of telework by corporations (MIC, MHLW, MLIT, and METI)
With regard to teleworking, the “guidelines for the appropriate introduction and implementation of work at home using information and telecommunications devices” that were formulated in FY2003, as well as the “telework security guidelines to help private corporations establish a high-security telework environment” and the "survey on the telework population ratio of telework implementation at corporate offices" which were carried out and announced in FY2004, were all taken into consideration. And in early FY2005, measures will be announced, such as the production of an integrated guidebook for corporations and employees to grasp this mutually, for the promotion of the introduction of a system with the possibility for the people of choosing a wide variety of work types. e-Japan Priority Policy Program-2004 (June 15, 2004)

The introduction of telework for national public employees

II. Emphasizing measures and the putting in place of a system to achieve goals for FY2005, and looking ahead to preliminary arrangements from FY2006 onward.
5. Promoting e-government and e-municipalities
(2) Concrete measures
4) Putting in place an environment such as system for telework for national public employees
Targeted result: To increase the percentage of telework among the total number of employees from the current (2002) 6.1% to 10% in 2005, along with starting the introduction of telework among government employees (central bureaucracy) where it is not yet introduced by 2005. e-Japan Priority Policy Program-2004 (June 15, 2004)