Yahoo Japan Corp. President Manabu Miyasaka said the company will take the rare move of allowing employees to take one-year sabbaticals by the end of fiscal 2014.
The unpaid leave, unusual in work-obsessed Japan, is aimed at creating a flexible working environment to lure outstanding new recruits, Miyasaka said Thursday as he announced the Internet portals' earnings for fiscal 2012.
Yahoo Japan will not necessarily require workers who take sabbatical to stay with the company afterward, Miyasaka said, adding that they could leave to start a new business, for instance.
Miyasaka said group net profit jumped 14.4 percent to ¥115.04 billion and that revenue grew 13.5 percent to ¥342.99 billion — both record highs attributed to robust ad campaigns. Revenue and profit have risen for 16 years straight since its launch in 1996.