Karnataka Advisory Asks IT Cos To Cut Foreign Trips

“We have asked information technology (IT) companies not to send their employees abroad on work,” said Karnataka’s health and family welfare and backward classes minister, B. Sriramulu.

The state’s health department has issued multiple advisories to companies based in India’s “Silicon Valley” since early January to curb employee travel and even explore work from home options to limit close interaction at workplaces.

Several IT companies in Bengaluru have cancelled their travel plans at least for March. “All international and business travel for March has been cancelled,” said a senior engineer at an IT firm in Bengaluru, requesting anonymity.

Chip maker Intel India, in an email to staff last week, asked them not to travel from or through Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Iran and Italy until further notice. “Exceptions for business travel for these countries must be approved by an ELT member. There will be exceptions for essential travels, including returning of employees currently on business travel in other countries,” said the mail.

Dell Technologies India has also put in place measures to restrict travel. The company said in a statement that using work-from-home options helps reduce “foot traffic and congregation in buildings for those whose jobs require them to be in a Dell facility”.

“To help keep sites worldwide safe, we have increased the frequency of deep cleaning and sanitization of all our workspaces and conference rooms,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

Mindtree Ltd on Tuesday said it has been taking steps to prevent people from contracting Covid-19, after an employee in Bengaluru tested positive this week for the virus upon his return from the US to India via London.

Health officials in Karnataka are scheduled to meet IT companies on Thursday to reiterate its earlier advisory as well as ask the latter not to share personal details of infected patients.

Noida-based HCL Technologies Ltd has invoked its epidemic contingency plan, which includes remote working or working from home to aid social distancing in the impacted regions.

It has also launched a dedicated global helpline in association with HCL Healthcare and is taking steps to ensure business continuity, said a spokesperson. The company will provide complete support to clients and employees in this regard, added the spokesperson.

Paneesh Rao, chief people officer at Mindtree, said the company has “created a comprehensive action plan to ensure the health and safety of all its employees”.

“Proactive measures have been taken to intensify the sanitization of our campuses according to government and health department guidelines. Advisories along the lines of the World Health Organization guidelines have been issued internally. We are monitoring the situation closely…,” said Rao.

Several global firms have shut operations in China following the Covid-19 outbreak. However, Indian industry executives say they have so far managed to run their operations by asking employees to work from home or remotely from other locations and avoiding travel unless absolutely necessary.

Telecom firm Ericsson India has imposed global restrictions on non-essential business travel. The company has also implemented guidelines for private travel and each employee is required to discuss their return to work with their manager before attending office. Employees who have visited mainland China, South Korea, Iran, or northern Italy will have to work from home for 14 days after their return, the company said.

―Livemint