Fujitsu to Make Thousands of Workers Permanent At-Home Workers

On July 6th, Fujitsu  of Tokyo, Japan, announced that in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it will shut down half of its offices by 2022, and that 80,000 of its employees will permanently work from home.

The strategy is also part of Fujitsu’s “Work Life Shift” campaign, under which Fujitsu says it’s introducing a new way of working that promises “a more empowering, productive, and creative experience for employees that will boost innovation.”

Fujitsu noted that it was one of the first large companies in Japan to actively promote remote working practices, which it introduced company-wide in Japan in 2017. For employees in Japan, it says this latest initiative will mark the end of the conventional notion of commuting to and from fixed offices, while simultaneously granting them a higher degree of autonomy based on the principle of mutual trust.

The company also says it will introduce a “hot desk” system under which employees are not assigned to a fixed desk.

For more information, see Fujitsu’s plan here.