Nearly half, or 44%, of major companies in Japan surveyed by Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun have revamped or are considering reviewing their employee transfer systems.

The survey was conducted from early June to early July this year and polled over 100 companies.

The companies used to require all transferred workers to physically relocate. However, when asked about what direction their transfer protocols had taken after January 2020, when the pandemic was first confirmed in Japan, 12 companies, including Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT), JTB Corp. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp., responded that they had revamped their systems. Furthermore, 34 companies responded that they were "considering" doing so, bringing the total to 46, or about 44%.

Of the 46 companies, 10 said they had reduced or were considering reducing the number of employees subject to transfer, and another 10 cited a deferment system that allows employees to refuse transfers for a certain period.

Many companies are also offering the option to work remotely. Travel agency JTB implemented remote work at almost all workplaces except for over-the-counter sales positions during Japan's first Covid-19 state of emergency in the spring of 2020. In October that year, the travel agency announced it would make remote work permanent. It noted that "remote work quickly became widespread under the coronavirus pandemic, and many employees felt that it did not hinder their productivity and work efficiency."