Square Enix will allow most employees to work from home permanently

As a result of this, Square gave reasoning as to why they will be making this move permanent, even beyond the pandemic. On November 25, 2020, it announced "a permanent and core program" that will allow "all executive officers and employees" to have the option of working at home on its site.

Square Enix announced their decision to allow employees to permanently start working from home, starting December 1st, though it does come with some caveats. "This is a highly confidential job, and because it's not like people can take it home and bring development materials with them, honestly, work cannot progress", Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai wrote previously about working from home options during the pandemic. As such, the Final Fantasy publisher hopes that designating roughly 80% of its staff "home-based" workers will create a more productive, happier and healthier working environment. Moreover, the nature of the work involved demands consistent, robust security. In order to ensure all targets can be achieved and particularly busy periods of production are met, Square Enix will be re-assessing its "home" and "office" staff on a month-by-month basis. In both cases, those individuals will work an average of at least three days from their respective locations.

Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd.

Square Enix expects approximately 80 per cent of employees to be home based in December, the first month of the program's implementation.

Square Enix had for some time been exploring options for enabling greater flexibility in working styles when the COVID-19 outbreak occurred.

"Rather than utilizing work from home exclusively as a means of preventing infections during the current pandemic", said Square Enix, "the Company will establish it as a permanent and core program among the working styles it accommodates". Square Enix also carefully considered a wide range of opinions from businesses as diverse as games, publication, and music regarding the practicality of work from home.