Throughout 2020 we've been living in a pandemic, all the while, the Year 2020 continues to rage havoc in numerous ways to the point that any bad news is now meme'd to "2020 just keeps coming," or any variation of that. With countries going into lockdown, video game studios were some of those having to find ways to continue to do their work while being at home. Earlier this year, we reported that Square Enix had announced its employees were to be working from home while the studio assessed the situation over time. Today Square Enix announced that the work from home is now to be permanent as a new internal program.

In an official statement from President and Representative Director Yosuke Matsuda, it was announced that Square Enix, based in Tokyo, Japan would be offering all executive officers and employees the opportunity to work from home on a permanent basis. Square Enix "hopes not only to create a flexible and diverse working environment, but also to further bolster productivity and help employees achieve the optimal work-life balance"

This new program also means that it'll be able to "recruit more diverse human resources, as well as to establish an organization capable of adapting to unexpected developments such as disasters and changes in employment models." It's detailed that the program splits employees into "home based" and "office based", both working an average of "at least three days a week".  While all eligible employees are designated at home based, there may be some positions that may be required to work as office based.

This program comes into action on December 1, 2020 and Square Enix expects "approximately 80% of employees" to be working from home. There are also status changes allowed on a monthly basis.

It's noted that back in June, 80% of employees "had a positive view of work from home" and the company also took on board opinions from other businesses that have employees working from home. Essentially, this all seems to have resonated with the company and will now be a permanent program.

It's certainly a move that may catch on with other companies. Microsoft recently spoke with Bloomberg about how it continued the development of the Xbox Series X / S by offering up methods to use the office hardware remotely. Another studio, Wargaming Sydney, had announced its employees would be working from home until at least June 2021.