Major companies struggling to cope with a 70% reduction in attendance New types of coronavirus April 13 at 19:16

The government has issued a policy calling on businesses in seven prefectures that are subject to the Declaration of Emergency to reduce attendance by at least 70%. Many large companies have already taken measures such as incorporating telework, but there are also places where they are struggling to respond, such as having to change the schedule for announcing financial results due to lack of business.

Nippon Express

Of these, Nippon Express, a major logistics company, has set a goal of reducing the employment ratio of its headquarters in Minato-ku, Tokyo, where approximately 2,000 people work, to less than 30% following the declaration of an emergency.

In order to achieve the target, the number of employees who go to work was kept to the minimum necessary for each department, decided to rotate, and came to work in order.

According to the company, there is no major problem with the operations of the headquarters at present, and the targets have been achieved.

Mitsubishi Materials

In response to a national emergency, Mitsubishi Materials, a major metal maker, closed its headquarters in Marunouchi, Tokyo, and moved its headquarters to an office located on the outskirts of the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Almost 1,500 employees at the headquarters already carry out telework in principle, but even if it is necessary to go to work, the goal is to avoid having to move to the city center where the population is large during the day and reduce the risk of infection.

Postponed Seibu HD

However, some companies have been forced to change the schedule for announcing financial results by conducting telework for the entire company.

Seibu Holdings, which operates railways and hotels, plans to announce its financial results last year on next month.

However, at present, more than 70% of the employees working in the headquarters, including the accounting department, have been swiftly working from home.

For this reason, the company has delayed the announcement of its financial results by two weeks from its original schedule and changed it to the next 26.

According to the company, "Announcement of financial results is important for companies, but schedule changes are inevitable for requests from local governments for infection prevention and for employee safety."