Photo/Illutration Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike discusses the need for teleworking in a video meeting with Kengo Sakurada, chairman of Keizai Doyukai (Japan Association of Corporate Executives), in the Tokyo metropolitan government office in the capital's Shinjuku Ward on Jan. 12. (Taichi Kobayashi)

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is calling on the business lobbies to ensure companies are prepared for a looming labor crunch as the Omicron variant quickly spreads.

She asked representatives of business organizations on Jan. 12 to have companies draw up business continuity plans (BCPs) under the assumption that Omicron will force more than 10 percent of their employees to be absent from work.

She also asked them to encourage companies that already have these plans to review them and confirm they are good enough to continue operating without one-10th of their workforce.

Koike had separate online meetings with Kengo Sakurada, chairman of Keizai Doyukai (the Japan Association of Corporate Executives); Akio Mimura, chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and Masakazu Tokura, chairman of Keidanren (the Japan Business Federation).

“Omicron variant infections are spreading at an unprecedented speed,” Koike told them. “What underpins society could become greatly unstable. Our society could become dysfunctional.”

Then she asked them to ensure companies review their continuity plans, which should cover retaining backup staff that can fill in for suddenly absent employees and ensuring they can continue operating with more than 10 percent of their workforce absent. She also emphasized that teleworking is essential in this leg of the pandemic.

Many companies that provide essential services, such as train operators or supermarkets, have already decided how they will continue running amid the Omicron wave with a chunk of their workers out of commission.

East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) has already determined that in the instance that it runs short on staff who can drive trains, it will use employees in the planning department who have previously worked as train drivers or conductors as backups.

At the end of last year, Japan Post Co. reviewed its guidelines on preventing coronavirus infections among its employees. The COVID-19 cluster outbreaks among the company’s post office staff in Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture and Nagasaki Prefecture forced mail delivery suspension and delays last fall.

A company official said if post office employees become infected with the novel coronavirus again, then “staff from branch offices or post offices in nearby areas will complement absent employees, depending on the circumstances.”

Summit Inc., a company that operates a supermarket chain in the greater Tokyo area, allows each individual store manager to decide whether to close their stores or request support staff in the instance that a large number of their employees contract COVID-19.

However, someone working for another large supermarket chain said that is often not an option.

“There is no choice but to close a store if many staff contract the virus because people will refrain from shopping at the store if that happens.”

Mazda Motor Corp. decided less than a third of its employees, excluding factory workers, in Hiroshima Prefecture should continue working in the office after the government declared pre-emergency measures for the prefecture on Jan. 9. The company is also prohibiting employees in the prefecture from taking business trips and having business-related meals.

Electronic components manufacturer Murata Manufacturing Co. notified its employees on Jan. 11 of its new COVID-19 countermeasures.

It is now prohibiting employees from having meals with people other than family members or people they live with. It also asked its employees to think twice before going on business trips to areas under pre-emergency measures.

Related News