For techies, work from home the new normal?

Working from home could become the new normal for IT employees even after the government lifts the lockdown as many companies have decided to play it safe in the coming months fearing a second wave.

Two major associations of IT and IT-enabled service companies in Electronics City and Whitefield said the fear of Covid-19 will prevail even after the pandemic passes.

N S Rama of Electronics City Industrial Township Authority noted that the “unknown” was the major factor. “The fear of the unknown is playing a major role in our decision making as of now. What we do know is that the world will not be the same and every person will need to play a major role in the coming days to contain the disease,” she said.

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Rama said the authority has set up a task force to brainstorm the issues surrounding the pandemic and the ways to deal with it in the coming days. “Of course, work from home will continue to be a regular exercise. Many companies may begin full operations with as little as 10% workforce in the office and scale up the numbers depending on the situation,” she said.

Companies have noted that there are various things at play — starting from the companies' confidence in getting things done remotely to the willingness of workers to remain at home. "Above all, firms have concerns about the possible re-emergence of the virus. So, we are looking into all aspects, from employees’ commute to their stay and thinking of best solutions to adapt ourselves even as we wait for the guidelines from the government," she said.

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The Whitefield Export Promotion Park Industrial Association (WEPPIA), which has several IT majors as its members, said even production companies have started re-arranging workspace to ensure social distancing.

WEPPIA manager Umashankar R noted that hardware firms typically have fewer employees compared to software companies where thousands of employees work from a single building.

"We visited a company today to check the new seating arrangements made to conform to the rules of social distancing. Even then, they plan to allow not more than 50% of the employees to work at the same time," he said.