Tokyo, Japan (November 25, 2020) - Square Enix CO., LTD. (headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; President and Representative Director Yosuke Matsuda; hereinafter the "Company") currently enables work from home and will officially offer a permanent work-from-home program to all executive officers and employees as of December 1, 2020.
Rather than utilizing work from home solely as a means of preventing infections during the current pandemic, the Company will establish it as a permanent and core program among the working styles it accommodates. In so doing, the Company hopes not only to create a flexible and diverse working environment, but also to further bolster productivity and help employees achieve the optimal work-life balance.
The additional options this program creates will also enable the Company to recruit more diverse human resources, as well as to establish an organization capable of adapting to unexpected developments such as disasters and changes in employment models. By adopting a new style of working for a new world, the Company will enable employees to unleash even greater creativity as it continues to provide its customers around the world with content and services that fulfill their expectations. In so doing, the Company will strive to further enhance its corporate value.
Work-from-home Program
Providing customers with unforgettable entertainment requires creativity and productivity. Moreover, the nature of the work involved demands consistent, robust security. As such, the Work-from-home Program will combine "home-based" and "office-based" models.
The Company will designate each employee as either "home based" (working an average of at least three days per week from home) or "office based" (working an average of at least three days per week from the office). In general, all eligible employees will be designated as "home based." Division heads will designate some positions or individual employees as "office based" as dictated by the nature of the work involved.
Status changes will be allowed on a monthly basis depending upon the intensity of an employee's duties. The Company expects approximately 80% of employees to be home based in December, the first month of the program's implementation.
Reasons for program implementation
The Company had for some time been exploring options for enabling greater flexibility in working styles when the COVID-19 outbreak occurred. In response, the Company implemented a series of measures starting in February 2020 that included enabling work from home, staggered working hours, and online conferencing.
Following a sustained period with these measures in place, the Company conducted a survey in June that demonstrated that roughly 80% of employees had a positive view of work from home. The Company also carefully considered a wide range of opinions from businesses as diverse as games, publication, and music regarding the practicality of work from home. This program was finalized based on those considerations. By enabling the option of monthly status changes rather than establishing blanket rules regarding who works from home and who from the office, the Company has designed a program that should be highly satisfactory both to those performing duties and those managing them.
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