Asian Tech Press (Jan 12) -- Yahoo Japan will reportedly allow its 8,000 employees to work anywhere in the country and even commute by plane when their jobs require it, bucking a growing trend in which companies want to bring employees back to the office in the third year of COVID-19.

Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Yahoo Japan's program will take effect April 1 and allows employees to commute by air, which was previously impossible.

While Yahoo is best known in Japan for its Internet portal, it is now a unit of SoftBank Group's Z Holdings Corp., which also owns instant messaging app LINE and mobile payment service PayPay.

According to Yahoo Japan president and CEO Kentaro Kawabe, the company now has 90% of its employees working remotely, and the vast majority of them said their performance has remained stable or improved when they work from home.

"So were allowing Yahoo employees to live anywhere in Japan. This doesn’t mean we’re denying the benefits of the office -- you'll be able to fly in when needed," said Kentaro Kawabe.

Yahoo has set a monthly commuting budget of 150,000 yen ($8,277.80) per employee, and raised its previous daily cap. Face-to-face communication will still be encouraged, as the program also aims to boost morale and improve health, and each employee will receive a monthly allowance of 5,000 yen for social gatherings.

The Japanese Internet company has had an "office anywhere" remote work system in place since 2014, but its employees could not work from home more than five days a month before the COVID-19 outbreak.