Square Enix Japan also allows employees to work from home after the corona crisis
Square Enix allows employees in Japan to work from home if they wish, even after the corona crisis. The decision is striking, as studios also cite working from home as a reason for delaying games.
The work-from-home scheme affects Japanese Square Enix Holdings and Luminous Productions; the latter is the studio responsible for Final Fantasy XV. The holding also includes the various Creative Business Units that develop games for Square Enix.
Square Enix wants to implement and continue to support working from home as a permanent work style and not just a way to prevent infections. According to the company, in practice it will usually be a ‘hybrid’ situation, in which employees work from home at least three days a week.
Square Enix expects that working from home can benefit the creativity of its employees and that it will therefore not be at the expense of game development. Employees can switch between working mainly at home or at the office on a monthly basis, depending on their job responsibilities. The company expects that by December 80 percent of employees will mainly work from home.
Graphic artist and sound artist working at home. Photo: Square Enix
The fact that a large game company is making the definitive switch to working from home is striking, because several studios have been forced to postpone the release of games in the past year. It was regularly mentioned that working from home contributed to the delays due to the corona pandemic.
In October, Yosuke Matsuda, Square Enix’s CEO, said in an interview with the Financial Times that the corona pandemic is having a significant impact on game production. “Time has stood still when it comes to production. We couldn’t develop anything. The impact of that is yet to come”. The studio postponed the next-gen update for Marvel’s Avengers to an unknown date in the coming year. A direct link with working from home was not established.
According to Square Enix, the working from home arrangement will lead to more diversity within the company, as it will be easier to hire people. The change must also ensure that the organization can quickly adapt to unexpected situations, such as disasters and pandemics.
Since the outbreak of the corona pandemic, Square Enix has already implemented home working arrangements. Employees were questioned about this in June and 80 percent would experience working from home as positive.