BackCoronavirus impact: Bengaluru IT, tech firms extend work-from-home policy
Three out of the six coronavirus patients from Karnataka are linked to the IT sector in BengaluruConsidering that employees of IT majors often travel to on-site locations, the possibility of contracting the virus is high
PremiumBengaluru: Technology firms based in Bengaluru have extended the work-from-home policy after the Karnataka government asked companies to adopt precautionary measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Infosys Ltd and Google Inc. have allowed employees to work from home for varying periods of time.
Infosys, which evacuated one of its satellite offices on Friday after one employee came in contact with a suspected Covid-19 patient, said: “Employees have been directed to work from home, and there is no impact on our client deliverables as a result of this temporary evacuation." However, it was not clear whether the government’s announcement had any role in the company’s decision.
Google also asked its employees to work from home after one of its employees tested positive earlier this week.
Three of the six confirmed Covid-19 patients in Bengaluru work in the IT industry.
After an employee of Dell Technologies tested positive, the company sanitized the entire floor and asked all his colleagues to work from home. After an employee tested positive, Mindtree Ltd, too, has taken adequate precautionary measures for all its employees. The wife and child of the Dell employee also tested positive.
Walmart-owned Flipkart issued a statement to this effect, after the government laid out a detailed advisory on Friday. “In light of the current updates on the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation and keeping in mind the well-being of our employees, we have decided to extend work from home for our employees till the end of next week," Flipkart said in a statement.
Since the first reported case of a Bengaluru-based information technology (IT) professional testing positive for the virus, several companies operating in the tech corridors and parks in the city have asked its employees to work from home, besides following general guidelines on Covid-19, which have been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Considering that employees of IT majors often travel to on-site locations, the possibility of contracting the virus is high, and the chances of the virus spreading among other employees upon their return to India increases.
Ayushman Baruah and Romita Majumdar contributed to this story.
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