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Secondment, is a kind of employment that is widely accepted in Japan.
A simple explanation of how it works is as follows.
1 Two companies sign a secondment contract.
2 The original employer is the seconded source, and the employment relationship with the employee continues unchanged.
3 Based on the secondment contract, the employee works at another Company (related or otherwise) which is the secondment destination for a certain period of time – usually 1-2 years, and often with an automatic renewal clause.
4 During the period of secondment, the employee works under the direction and orders of the destination company.
5 Salaries are paid by the seconded company directly to the employee, on the other hand the seconded destination pays directly to the seconded source the amount equivalent to the salary and other personnel costs incurred by the seconded source.
6 The main difference between the secondment and the worker dispatch business is that the seconded source is not allowed to make any profit through the secondment – if it does, it is considered as a worker dispatch business, which is required to obtain the approval from the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare in prior.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) has decided to promote secondment and provide subsidies to both of the source and the destination in order to avoid layoffs at seconded source companies with dismissal due to the Corona disaster.

JAL and ANA, two BIG airlines, have already seconded many of their international flight attendants. However, for example, most of the non-Japanese Air Lines are not utilizing these governmental subsidies, because their overseas headquarters are not notified such a unique the Japanese system in detail although THEY ARE QUALIFIED ENOUGH TO APPLY.

The following is a summary of Japanese PMP website that provides information on this subsidy program dated Feb 5, 2021.

As I announced on December 24 last year on PMP HP, the establishment of the Industrial Employment Stabilization Subsidy has been officially decided, which will assist both the source and the destination to the subsidy when a (seconded source) company whose business activities have been downsized by the Corona disaster uses secondment to maintain its own employment through secondment.

As described in the December 24 PMP News Letter, the subsidy will cover from 2/3 to 9/10 of the wages of the seconded employees, the subsidy amount to be defined depending on the size of the company and whether or not they were laid off. For details, please refer to the December 24 News Letter.
https://www.pmp.co.jp/20201224-2/

First of all, the subsidy is limited to seconded source would keep the seconded employee’s employment.
Secondly, the subsidy is applicable to employees seconded on or after January 1, 2021.
The part that caught the author’s attention is that even in the case of secondments prior to January 1, wages, etc. after January 1 may be covered by the subsidy.

Finally, this might become a trigger demand for a new service, matching secondments between companies, including those in different industries.

Apart from Corona, Japan’s rigid labor market needs to change labor market liquidation.  Also, the secondment, a kind of training opportunity through working for another company.