As the novel coronavirus is spreading rapidly and cost more than 3,000 lives, corporations and organizations around the world are feeling the heat of it. Companies are now facing battles on two ends- sustaining the business and safeguarding employees. The outbreak has now led to the world’s largest work-from-home experiment to take place.
Companies like Amazon and Google have already reported their first case of the virus. Other major corporations that have units in China and other cities where the virus is on the rise have asked employees to either take unpaid leave or work from home. Taking preventive measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus, Twitter has told its employees to opt for work from home.
Twitter has told its 5,000 people workforce globally to work from home while making it mandatory for employees based in Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea offices – as new coronavirus (COVID-19) spread in new territories.
In a blog post, the micro-blogging platform said that it has already banned all non-essential business travel and events for its workers. The company also said that US offices would still be open for employees who feel the need to come in person.
The company had also announced that it was pulling out of this month’s South by Southwest media conference in Austin, Texas. Other leading technology companies, including Facebook and Google, have postponed or canceled conferences in the US. Facebook has also joined Twitter by pulling out of South by Southwest.
Twitter’s HR Head, Jennifer Christie said, “Our goal is to lower the probability of the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus for us – and the world around us.”
The company post also highlighted that Twitter has been developing ways to work from home for some time. Jennifer added, “While this is a big change for us, we have already been moving towards a more distributed workforce that’s increasingly remote. We’re a global service and we’re committed to enabling anyone, anywhere to work at Twitter.”
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