KEY POINTSMirai Works survey finds 54.6% of large Japanese companies allow side jobsAnother 19.8% are preparing new side-job systems despite current bansWorking-hour tracking leads operational challenges as firms tie outside work to reskilling and talent strategy
Mirai Works’ 2026 survey highlights trends in corporate side-job and dual-employment policies. Note: Japanese text in the original image from press release has been translated into English by our editorial team.
Mirai Works
Mirai Works said on August 28 that 54.6% of large Japanese companies allow side jobs or secondary employment for full-time employees, suggesting the practice has become established among major employers.
The Tokyo-based company released the findings of its 2026 survey of 500 human resources and labor-management officials at large companies. The survey was conducted online from June 19 to June 22 and drew 500 valid responses. It covered firms with at least 1,000 employees in manufacturing or 500 employees in non-manufacturing.
According to the release, 9.0% of respondents said their companies allow side jobs in principle, while 19.8% said side jobs are currently prohibited but new systems are being prepared. Mirai Works also said 56.8% of surveyed companies accept employees from other companies as side-job or secondary-employment workers.
Among companies that prohibit side jobs, the most common reason was the difficulty of labor management, cited by 49.8% of respondents. Among companies that allow them, the leading reason was enabling diverse work styles at 35.9%.
The survey also pointed to growing efforts to use side-job systems beyond employee flexibility. Mirai Works said 77.3% of companies that allow side jobs use the system in areas such as public relations or business promotion, while 39.2% use it for PR and branding. Among companies with measures to reflect side-job experience in employees’ main jobs, 49.0% assign such workers to new businesses or projects.
Operational control remained a key issue. The most important challenge in running side-job and secondary-employment systems was proper tracking of working hours, selected by 38.1% of respondents. The most common method of managing those hours was centralized control through systems, at 40.3%, while 7.3% said they do not manage working hours for side jobs. In Japan, employers face legal obligations to monitor total working hours for some employees, including work performed across multiple jobs.
The release said 89.4% of companies have special health-management measures for employees engaged in side jobs or secondary employment. On legal and policy developments related to working styles, 76.6% of respondents said they were aware of them, although 42.2% said they knew of major developments but had not determined the impact on their own companies. The biggest concern in discussions on revising the Labor Standards Act and related rules was ensuring the accuracy of employees’ self-reporting, at 47.4%.
Mirai Works said 56.4% of companies view external activities such as side jobs and cross-border work positively as necessary for talent strategy and recruitment. When asked what measures would best turn autonomous work styles into corporate strength, the most common answer, at 39.0%, was creating mechanisms to return knowledge and personal networks gained outside the company to internal operations.
On the role of side jobs in the AI era, 48.0% of respondents said the importance of reskilling and improving expertise through outside experience rises as AI advances. Among companies that already allow side jobs, 55.7% said they plan to maintain their current stance of permitting and promoting them, while 21.2% intend to accelerate promotion further. Another 16.8% said they plan to tighten approval conditions or scale back the system.
Mirai Works, founded in 2012 and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth market under code 6563, provides professional staffing and matching services. As of July 31, the company had 98,000 registered professionals and 9,800 client companies.