Toyota Motor Corp, Japan's largest automaker, has lifted a ban prohibiting office staff from working overtime, a move intended to give experienced workers more time to coach younger personnel, the Nikkei business daily said.

The rule change, which will impact about 20,000 workers in sales, accounting and other administrative segments, has been brought in place at a time when experts feel insufficient training contributed to the company's recent quality problems, such as the massive recalls, said the paper.

Toyota was forced to recall more than 10 million vehicles for problems with unintended acceleration and braking issues, which cost the company billions of dollars and tarnished its image.

When its earnings were hurt by the global financial crisis, the automaker placed restrictions on overtime to cut fixed costs in May 2009 and completely banned it the following month, said the paper.

Toyota has already lifted a ban on overtime for factory workers as production volumes recover, the paper added.

(Reporting by Rachel Chitra in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)

Japan Safety Toyota Ban