Photo/Illutration Sayaka Naoi works for Tokyo-based Marubeni Corp. from her home in Fukui. (Provided by Sayaka Naoi)

Trading house Marubeni Corp. has introduced a fully remote work program designed to support employees facing relocation due to their spouse’s job transfer or need to care for elderly parents.

The initiative allows valued employees of the Tokyo-based company to continue their careers without having to take a leave of absence or resign due to family commitments.

Introduced in the spring, the program is available to employees in positions that can be performed in their entirety by working from home.

To be eligible, employees must have been with the company for at least one year and work full-time. Employees can relocate to anywhere in Japan.

The program can be used for up to five years. The employee’s eligibility is renewed annually following a performance-based review.

Working remotely will not negatively affect the employee’s salary and performance evaluation, the company said.

Marubeni said it is the first initiative of its kind among its Japanese competitors.

“Given the increasingly tight labor market, we hope the new policy will help retain workers who would otherwise have to leave us,” said Ken Robin Yoshimoto from the company’s human resources department.

Several employees, primarily in administrative roles, are already taking advantage of the new system.

One of them, Sayaka Naoi, is an accountant in the company’s Energy and Infrastructure Solution Group.

Since April, she has been working from home in Fukui where her husband, who works for another company, was transferred a year earlier.

The couple are raising their two children aged 10 and 4.

“During the first year when my husband was working alone in Fukui, I had to raise our children in Tokyo by myself, which was tough,” said Naoi, 39.

“Without this program, I would have had to choose between continuing my job in Tokyo or quitting to join my husband,” she said. “The new system allows me to have the best of both worlds.”

Naoi’s work primarily involves inputting data, making it well-suited for remote work. However, she makes a point of always having a visible presence during virtual meetings and keeps her team informed about her daily tasks.

The company encourages her to visit the Tokyo headquarters once every three months and covers her travel expenses.

Marubeni’s stated aim is to help its employees balance work and family responsibilities.

Previously, it unveiled a program that allowed employees to rejoin the company after resigning to relocate abroad due to their spouse’s work transfer.

This spring, the company expanded the program to include domestic postings.

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