Many IT and ITES companies are inclined to exercise caution even if the Centre may not extend lockdown beyond April 14, by asking their employees to work from home for a few more days.
A financial services company with global operations indicated it may ask its employees here to continue to work from home (WFH) till April-end.
Many companies are also in favour of continuing the WFH mode for their employees for a few more weeks before phasing it out to ensure that their employees follow social-distancing norms until the coronavirus (COVID-19) curve is flattened.
Even before the lockdown was announced by the State government in Telangana till March 31 and later extended by the Centre till April 14 to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, some IT and financial services companies were proactive to let some of the workforce work from home as a precautionary measure with COVID-19 positive cases increasingly being reported in the State.
Subsequently after lockdown was announced, the companies were quick to ensure that all their employees switched to WFH mode.
Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association (HYSEA) president Murali Bollu says that most companies are prepared to let employees work from home till the end of April to ensure business continuity. Even in the event of lockdown being lifted from April 15, employees of software companies may continue to work from home for two or three days more as it will be middle of the week.
If the lockdown is lifted, potentially IT/ITES offices may be kept open and employees may be given an option to work from office, he says.
Many employees may avail the option because of internet and system issues encountered by some while working from home. There is also the issue of shortage of laptops to be provided to all employees.
Work from home, a difficult strategy for non-IT companies to adopt
Mr Bollu says the period of lockdown may be longer in COVID hotspots and Telangana is among five or six states with a high number of positive cases with the numbers suddenly spiking after the Markaz event in Delhi. Many after Markaz event travelled back to various districts of Telangana.
Secondly, US imposed lockdown till April 30 and corporate offices of many IT/ITES companies here are in the US and they may direct their Indian offices to continue working from home till the month-end.
The other smart option for India is to to assess, based on the data, when the COVID cases will hit the plateau. In China, the disease plateaued out after about 80,000 cases.
Mr Bollu says even if the lockdown is extended by a couple of weeks or more with few days of intermittent relief in between, companies may not totally reverse the ongoing WFH mode till the COVID-19 transmission is totally under control.
