A smartphone screen displays COCOA, a coronavirus contact-tracing app provided by the government. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
It took the health ministry two months to uncover the problems plaguing its COVID-19 contact-tracing smartphone app, which made it useless to Android users, after the bugs and their causes were first publicly pointed out in November.
The free contact-tracing app, called COCOA, was introduced to alert people if they came into close contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19. It is designed to notify users if they have been within a radius of 1 meter for longer than 15 minutes of other app users infected with the novel coronavirus.
Jan 28, 2021
Sydney/Tokyo – The idea of a four-day workweek has increasingly been embraced by businesses inside and outside Japan during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Unilever New Zealand has introduced the system as part of a one-year experiment, while Mizuho Financial Group Inc., one of Japan’s three megabanks, launched similar work arrangements in December.
While the emerging trend reflects that employers are becoming more engaged with improving their workers’ productivity and life balance, it is receiving additional help from the pandemic.
Unilever New Zealand has allowed all of its 81 employees to work one day fewer per week without a cut in salary during the experiment.
4-day workweek gaining traction as business responds to pandemic
January 25, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)
This photo shows Unilever New Zealand s office in Auckland. (Photo courtesy of Unilever New Zealand/Kyodo) SYDNEY/TOKYO (Kyodo) A four-day workweek has increasingly been embraced by businesses inside and outside Japan during the novel coronavirus pandemic. Unilever New Zealand has introduced the system as part of a one-year experiment, while Mizuho Financial Group Inc., one of Japan s three megabanks, launched similar work arrangements in December. While the emerging trend reflects that employers are becoming more engaged with improving their workers productivity and life balance, it is receiving additional help from the pandemic.