The novel coronavirus has engulfed the world in fear of its rapid spread and lack of medication. The virus which was first discovered in Wuhan City, China has so far claimed more than 3,000 lives and put at risk the lives of 90,000 people worldwide.
As we speak today, the virus has entered India and the Ministry of Health and Family Affairs have confirmed that there are 30 such cases. As the risk increases, employers are proactively jumping into action in order to ensure that their employees remain safe.
We all have heard the saying, “Desperate times call for desperate measures.” Well, this is the right time to hold the saying true. If in the last year, someone would have said to you that the future work will be based from home, you might have laughed at it. But the coronavirus outbreak has now led to the World’s Largest Work-From-Home experiment to take place. It has now become crucial that talent leaders play their part in creating awareness and ensuring that employees follow stringent hygiene techniques and actively steer clear of panic.
Companies all over the world have asked their employees to take protective measures and work remotely from their homes in isolation. Companies have even cut all their non-essential travel and asked employees to not travel anywhere even for personal reasons. India Inc is also encouraging its employees to work from home to avoid catching the virus. Here is a list of what different companies in India are doing for safeguarding their employees’ health:
Wipro
IT major Wipro has asked all its employees to restrict all non-essential travel. The Bengaluru-based company recently told news agency IANS in a statement that, “Wipro has suspended travel to and transit through mainland China, including Hong Kong and Macau, until further notice. Employees have also been advised to avoid non-critical travel to Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and Italy,”
The company also said that any employee who traveled to any of the affected areas in China in the past few days have been advised to work from home for about 14 days before joining the office.
TechMahindra
TechMahindra has informed all its employees to take preventive measures and carry protective gear with them at all times. Office sanitization is also being done on a regular basis to ensure that the virus doesn’t spread.
Harshvendra Soin, Chief People Officer, Tech Mahindra, said, “At Tech Mahindra, we strongly believe in “Wellness before Business”, which is why amidst the current Coronavirus outbreak, our focus is on ensuring the well-being of all our employees and partner ecosystem. We are working towards ensuring our employees are not just aware but also educated on preventive measures that can be taken.
Company Chairman Anand Mahindra also weighed in on the issue as well. Mahindra pointed out the silver lining in the coronavirus outbreak, saying the chaos will press a ‘permanent reset button’ leading to a greener footprint.
Hexaware Technologies
R Srikrishna, CEO Hexaware Technologies.“We expect a significant amount of travel restrictions from customers around the world that will reduce customer executives visiting India, or to any of our centers around the world. The impact has already started and is likely to last several weeks.”
The company has also reduced client meetings and asked employees to connect with them virtually instead of one to one meets.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
A TCS spokesperson said the company is working closely with all the relevant global, regional and local health institutions and are implementing the latest recommendations given to the company.
“We are ensuring that our staff has all the information and support they require. In addition, we are also working closely with our clients to coordinate any measures in this situation,” the spokesperson said. The spokesperson added that specifically in Italy, as a precautionary measure, the company has implemented work from home and restrictions on travel.
“This had also been put in place across some countries in Asia-Pacific, and is being monitored and modified based on the situation in each location,” the spokesperson said.
HCL Technologies
HCL Technologies said it has invoked an epidemic contingency plan in the impacted geographies and is providing full support to employees, wherever possible. It has also formed a special global task force to actively monitor the situation and take necessary actions in consultation with external agencies (International SOS).
“Remote Working/Work From Home” strategy has been activated to aid social distancing in the impacted regions. Travel advisory across the organization has been issued with full precautionary measures,” the company said. The company added, “HCL is pro-actively invoking all required measures to ensure business continuity and will also be providing full support to clients and employees.”
Zoho
Zoho, the SaaS application provider has also taken measures such as canceling user conferences, said Rajendran Dandapani, Director of Technology at the company.
They further said, “We have canceled our user conferences in a few at-risk countries, banned all non-critical travel for our employees and readied our disaster-response teams for quick action.”
Zoho has also canceled user conferences in at-risk nations and banned all non-critical and essential travel for employees and put in place disaster-response teams for quick action. Zoho’s founder has also shared that work from home will be the default work option during this time of coronavirus outbreak.
“We have adopted work from home as the default for all our offices worldwide as a matter of precaution, though we have not had any cases. Our employees are encouraged to come to the office only when absolutely essential. We will continue this policy until the virus threat passes,” said Sridhar Vembu, Founder, Zoho.
Flipkart
Flipkart has issued a ban on all domestic and international business travel, urged employees to get tested immediately in case they experience flu-like symptoms, and advised teams to not source samples from foreign countries. When it comes to local commute, the company has advised employees to use their personal vehicles and avoid public transport. All events, training, campaign activities, etc have been put on hold.
PayTM
Fintech unicorn PayTM recently announced that it has decided to shut all its 6 offices in Delhi-NCR for at least two days after one of its employees from Gurugram tested positive for COVID-19 (Coronavirus).
PayTM has five offices in Noida and one in Gurugram, Haryana. In an official statement, the company informed that it asked other team members of the infected patient to get themselves checked immediately, while other offices will remain shut for sanitizing purposes. The company also reported that the Gurugram office will remain closed for at least 14 days.
Nagarro
The software company, Nagarro, has requested its employees to avoid non-essential travel and work from home unless absolutely necessary to come to the office. They’ve also asked our colleagues to cancel all team parties or gatherings and avoid conducting in-person workshops or training. Preventive measures such as regular washing of hands, using sanitizers, and avoiding contact with people who have cold are being encouraged.
TravelTriangle
Gurugram-based travel aggregator TravelTriangle has also asked its employees to work from home till the Holi festival. The company has also said that it will regularly sanitize the office and will distribute protective measures to the employees.
Sandeep is a journalism and mass communication graduate with a keen interest in politics and business. He is a part of Research & Content team at HrNxt.com.