Yahoo told Japanese employees to work anywhere they want to fly and commute when necessary

With the covid-19 pandemic initially under control around the world, more and more companies want employees to return to the office. But Japan's Yahoo Company has done the opposite, recently issuing a notice to 8,000 employees that they can work anywhere in Japan and fly to work when the work is needed.

The company said in a statement Wednesday that the plan, which went into effect on April 1, allows employees to commute by plane, which was previously impossible. While Yahoo is best known for its internet portal in Japan, it is a SoftBank Group Corp. A division of Z Holdings, which also owns the Line messaging app and the PayPay mobile payment service.

According to President Kentaro Kawabe, 90 percent of the company's employees now work remotely, and he said on Twitter that the vast majority say their performance at home has remained stable or improved. He added: "So we allow Yahoo employees to live anywhere in Japan. That doesn't mean we deny the benefits of the office – you can fly over when you need to."

Yahoo is setting a commuting budget of 150,000 yen per employee per month and removing the previous daily cap. The company will continue to encourage communication between employees, as this initiative is also aimed at improving employee morale and happiness, and each employee will receive a subsidy of 5,000 yen per month for social gatherings.

The company has had a "work, anywhere" remote work system since 2014, but before the coronavirus outbreak, it limited the number of days it could work from home to 5 days per month. Japanese companies are responding to the epidemic by embracing flexible work arrangements, which is rare until 2020, as Japanese culture once prided itself on direct interaction and long hours in the office. Panasonic Corp. last week unveiled plans to work four days a week, Mizuho Financial Group Inc. The initiative has already begun.