What Does 「自宅待機」 or 「自宅勤務」 Really Mean?
Yesterday, work abruptly ended before noon. In Sales Development, the original plan to deal with inbound calls from customers and shop owners (expected to be many as none of the goods are really be shipped) for the entire day was suddenly scrapped after the 部長 came in and informed us that were are going to be "waiting/working at home" (自宅待機/勤務) until further notice. When somebody actually gathered enough guts to ask what does it mean by 自宅待機/勤務, the awkward answer that came back was something along the lines of "think about how Rakuten can improve services"...