Photo/Illutration Calbee Inc. employees at the company's office in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward hold a web conference with other staff working from home in July 2019. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Calbee Inc., a leading Japanese producer of potato chips and other snack foods, will extend teleworking indefinitely for the 20 percent of its workforce in the country currently doing so.

The company announced the decision June 25 after noticing its operational efficiency had significantly improved since the 800 or so Calbee employees at its head office and around the country began teleworking in late March due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

Company employees who had to leave their families behind in order to relocate to a new post will be permitted to move back home to be reunited with them and telework from there unless their department determines doing so disrupts operations.

Many employees will likely welcome the telework extension.

“In our survey of our staff, more than 60 percent said they no longer want to return to their pre-pandemic work style,” a Calbee representative said. “Each employee needs to think about how to work efficiently as their work style diversifies.”

On July 1, Calbee will stop providing its workers with money to buy commuter passes and instead pay for their transportation expenses based on the number of days they report to the office.

To cover the cost needed to telework at home or other places, the company will also start providing staff with a separate allowance. 

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