日本は長らく長時間労働の国として知られてきましたが、近年、「働き方改革」という言葉が政府の方針として打ち出されて以来、社会全体の意識が少しずつ変わりつつあります。私が勤める都内のメーカーでも、ここ数年の変化はかなり大きく、十年前とは別の会社のようだと先輩たちはよく口にします。
Japan has long been known as a country of long working hours, but ever since the government put forward the phrase "work-style reform" as official policy, society's awareness has gradually been shifting. At the Tokyo-based manufacturer where I work, the changes over the past few years have been quite significant, and the senior employees often say it feels like a completely different company from ten years ago.
具体的にどう変わったかというと、まず残業時間に上限規制が設けられました。月四十五時間、年間三百六十時間という基準を超えると、人事部から本人と上司の両方に注意のメールが届く仕組みになっています。以前は終電まで会社にいることが当たり前だっただけに、最初は戸惑う社員も少なくありませんでした。「仕事が終わっていないのに、定時で帰っていいのだろうか」という声があちこちから聞こえてきたものです。
To be specific about what has changed, an upper limit was first placed on overtime hours. If you exceed the standard of forty-five hours per month or three hundred sixty hours per year, the HR department now sends a warning email to both the employee and their supervisor. Because staying at the office until the last train was once taken for granted, quite a few employees were thrown off at first. Voices saying "Is it really okay to leave on time when my work isn't finished?" could be heard from all over the office.
私自身、入社一年目の頃は「先輩がまだ働いているのに、自分だけ帰るわけにはいかない」と思い込んでいました。しかし、上司から「定時で帰れる仕事を定時で終わらせるのも実力のうちだ」と言われて以来、考え方を改めるようになりました。実際、夜遅くまで残ったところで集中力は落ちる一方ですし、翌日の生産性も下がってしまうものです。
In my first year at the company, I had convinced myself that "since my seniors are still working, I can't possibly be the only one to go home." However, ever since my supervisor told me, "Finishing work that can be done on time, on time, is also part of being capable," I started to change my way of thinking. In fact, no matter how late you stay, your concentration only declines, and your productivity the next day inevitably drops as well.
フレックスタイム制度が導入されたことも、私の生活を大きく変えました。コアタイムさえ守れば、出社時刻と退社時刻を自分で決められるため、朝の満員電車を避けたい日は十時に出社し、夕方早く帰ることもできます。子育て中の同僚にとっては、保育園の送り迎えと両立できる反面、自己管理が一層求められる制度でもあります。
The introduction of a flextime system also greatly changed my life. As long as you cover the core hours, you can decide your own arrival and departure times, so on days when I want to avoid the packed morning trains, I come in at ten and leave early in the evening. For colleagues raising children, the system lets them balance daycare drop-offs and pickups with work, but on the other hand, it also demands a higher level of self-management.
テレワークが本格的に普及したのも、コロナ禍を契機にしてのことでした。それまでは「対面でなければ仕事にならない」と考えていた経営層も、緊急事態宣言の下では在宅勤務を認めざるを得ず、結果として制度の整備が一気に進んだのです。通勤に往復二時間かかっていた私にとって、自宅で働ける日が週に二、三日あるだけでも、生活の質はまったく違います。空いた時間で朝ごはんを丁寧に作ったり、夜にジムへ通ったりと、以前なら考えられなかった習慣が身につきました。
Telework, too, only became widespread in earnest following the COVID-19 pandemic. Management, who until then had believed that "work doesn't get done unless you are face-to-face," had no choice but to permit working from home during the state of emergency, and as a result the necessary infrastructure was put in place all at once. For me, with a two-hour round-trip commute, having even two or three days a week of remote work transforms my quality of life completely. In the time freed up, I started preparing breakfast properly and going to the gym at night — habits that would have been unthinkable before.
もっとも、在宅勤務にはデメリットもないわけではありません。仕事とプライベートの境界が曖昧になり、気がつけば夜中までパソコンの前に座っているということもあります。会社から離れているからといって、必ずしも心まで休めるというものではないのです。
That said, working from home is not without its drawbacks. The boundary between work and private life becomes blurred, and before you know it, you find yourself sitting in front of the computer until midnight. Just because you are physically away from the office doesn't necessarily mean your mind can rest as well.
有給休暇についても、二〇一九年から年五日の取得が義務化されました。それまでは「申し訳なくて休めない」という雰囲気が根強く、有給を半分も使わずに終わる人がほとんどでしたが、今では上司の方から「来月どこかで休んでください」と声をかけてくるようになっています。制度が整ったことで、ようやく堂々と休めるようになったと言えるでしょう。
Paid leave was also addressed: from 2019, taking at least five days off per year became legally mandatory. Before that, the atmosphere of "I'd feel guilty taking time off" was deeply rooted, and most people ended up using less than half of their leave. Now, however, supervisors actively say things like, "Please take some time off next month somewhere." With the system properly in place, employees can finally take leave openly and without hesitation.
育児休業の制度も大きく前進しました。最近では男性社員が育休を取ることも珍しくなくなり、私の隣の席の同僚も、第一子の誕生に伴って三か月の育休を取得しました。復帰後、彼は「子どもと過ごした時間は何にも代えがたい」と語っていて、その表情を見ていると、制度の意味が数字以上のものだと感じざるを得ません。
Childcare leave has also taken a major step forward. Recently, it is no longer unusual for male employees to take parental leave; the colleague at the desk next to mine took three months off along with the birth of his first child. After he returned, he told me, "The time I spent with my child is something nothing else can replace," and seeing the look on his face, I cannot help but feel that the meaning of the system goes beyond what the numbers show.
とはいえ、課題はまだ山積みです。中小企業では人手不足のために、残業を減らしたくても減らせない現場が多く、サービス残業が水面下で続いているケースも報じられています。非正規雇用の人々や個人事業主が制度の網からこぼれ落ちている現状もあり、改革の恩恵が一部の正社員に偏っているとの指摘も根強く残っています。働き方改革は大企業に限らず、社会の隅々まで広がってこそ本当の意味があると言えるでしょう。
Even so, plenty of challenges remain. At small and medium-sized companies, labor shortages mean that even workplaces that want to reduce overtime cannot do so, and unpaid overtime is reportedly continuing under the surface. There are also persistent criticisms that non-regular workers and the self-employed are slipping through the cracks of the system, and that the benefits of reform are skewed toward a portion of regular employees. Work-style reform will only carry its true meaning when it spreads not just to large corporations but to every corner of society.
理想的なワークライフバランスは、人によって、また人生のステージによっても異なります。家庭を大切にしたい時期もあれば、仕事に没頭したい時期もあるはずです。大切なのは、自分にとって何が一番重要かを定期的に問い直し、その時々で柔軟に働き方を選んでいくことではないでしょうか。
The ideal work-life balance differs from person to person, and also varies depending on the stage of life. There are times when you want to put family first, and times when you want to throw yourself into your work. What matters, surely, is to periodically ask yourself what is most important to you, and to flexibly choose how to work at each point in your life.