Fujitsu Limited, a Japanese multinational IT company headquartered in Tokyo, has reportedly announced that it will boost its shift to becoming a digital transformation organization with an ambitious plan to transform the working style for its employees in Japan in the light of COVID-19 pandemic.

According to sources familiar with the knowledge of the matter, Fujitsu will reduce its office space in Japan by 50% over the next few years. Moreover, the company would encourage its 80,000 group employees in Japan to work remotely.

Fujitsu said in the statement that the company would change the concept of employees to fixed offices through manual trust between employees and exceptional autonomy along with offering value to clients.

Sources cite that the company is planning to offer USD 65 per month as stipend for workers to set up their home office environment in lieu of a present commuting allowance. The company is also encouraging ‘hot-desking systems’ in its existing offices to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Most of the organizations worldwide are allowing their employees to work from home. A survey conducted by the Japan Productivity Centre in May concluded that over 60% of respondents wanted to continue working from home even after the COVID-19 outbreak is contained.

For the record, Fujitsu is the 17th biggest publicly traded employer in Japan which employees around 130,000 workers. Meanwhile, this move will not affect the working of factory staff of the company.

Fujitsu also recently made headlines as the manufacture of the fastest supercomputer in the world, named Fugaku. The supercomputer is currently being used to identify the potential COVID-19 treatments and forecast the flow of virus-laden droplets.

Japanese snack maker Calbee also deployed a new system that allows its 800 employees to work from home full time. The company expects around 30% of its employees to go to the office.

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