‘Allow IT-BT offices more than skeletal staff’

The Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA) has requested Karnataka Dy CM and IT/BT Minister Dr CN Ashwath Narayan to relax some guidelines pertaining to the IT/BT sector  post-May 3. 

In a letter to the Minister on Thursday,  ORRCA says member-companies have chalked out a work resumption strategy that takes into account every safety requirement, and has requested more leeway in the matter of staff strength in offices.
The following is the letter sent by ORRCA to Dr Narayan:

“All companies on ORR, Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA), would like to congratulate the Karnataka government for all the pro-active steps and measures taken to contain the spread of COVID19 in the state very effectively. 

‘Bengaluru, the Silicon Valley of India and IT-BT companies, has supported the lockdown measures by being nimble in its response and adapted quickly to new ways of running our operations. Approximately 98% employees are working from home and still effectively managing day-to-day operations. 

“We thank the state government and the health ministry for regular guidelines and advisories that habe helped us adapt to the new standards of workplace, facilities and services which has resulted in minimal cases of infection. 

“As we come closer to the official end date of lockdown 2.0, we recognise and appreciate the state’s plan to have a safe, calibrated exit from the lockdown in a gradual and phased manner with all necessary checks in place to ensure we do not have a resurgence in the virus spread. 

“ORRCA companies are committed to supporting the government’s directions post-May 3, while we look forward to relaxation of the rules for the IT-BT sector. Barely 50 or so critical staff are currently working from office,  which is not a sustainable model as we enter the 2.0 month of lockdown. 

“We want to assure you that we will be taking the following measures to ensure safety of our employees and making our facilities secure, as well as minimizing any chance of a virus spread. This is a humble request for relaxation of lockdown rules for the IT-BT sector post-May 3, should the state government make the decision to continue to extend the lockdown for Bengaluru, so our employees can start to return to office in a gradual and phased manner. 

1. Adopting a slow and staggered approach to getting employees to workplace in a phased manner. Different companies have proposals ranging from as low as 2% to a high 33% employees returning to office starting on May 4. We however believe and recommend the following conservative, phased approach will ensure employees returning to work does not lead to any recurrence of the infections and overwhelm the city infrastructure. 

Phase 1: May 4 — May 31: 10% – The partial opening will be used for moving more assets, better infrastructure at employee homes and initiating critical projects which had to be closed due to non-approvals from clients to work from home or other reasons. The percentage of employees per site will follow this cap and will only be applicable for areas that are in the safe zone. 

Phase 2: June 1 — June 30: 33% – Based on the success of the first phase, the percentage of employees can be increased to 10 to 33% in this phase. 

Phase 3: July 1 — 30 July: 50%. The ratio can be increased to 33 to 50% in this phase. 

All companies will review the learnings from each phase before getting to the next phase and also will have a detailed SOP for reverting to working from home in the event of deterioration in the city’s situation.

2. Revising the workplace standards and service levels to ensure appropriate social distancing and other precautions:
• Companies will ensure that employees coming into the workplace will maintain social distancing. All seating including cafeterias will be reconfigured to meet the necessary norms. COVID 19 declaration and sign-off: Prior medical screening of all employees returning to work will be conducted.

• Medical facilities including doctor and paramedic staff will be available on call as needed. 

• Employees with high Ask, pregnant, expecting mothers, PwD, mothers with creche-going children, pre-existing illness, anyone showing symptoms of cold plus fever (whether or not tested) will be asked to work from home. 

• Temperature checks will be undertaken at the time of arrival of employees,; office timings may be staggered to ensure there is no rush of employees at any one time. 

• Social distancing will also be managed in common areas, conference rooms, training centres, etc. 

• Employees will be mandated to wear masks at all times. 

• Meetings will continue to be virtual and all events / town halls / gatherings will be avoided. 

• Visitors will be discouraged to enter the office premises unless approved by the management and will need to follow all precautionary measures of self-declaration, temperature checks, etc. 

• Enhanced cleaning of the workplace will be conducted at regular intervals using ICMR- prescribed sanitization guidelines. 

• Employee Transportation: Transportation of employees and support staff will be undertaken through a mix of buses and company provided cabs. Organizations shall use buses for nodal pickups and drops, and take care of social distancing in the vehicles as well. Health checks of drivers and cleaners will be done. Employees and drivers will always be advised to wear masks during the commute and sanitizers, etc, will be provided in the vehicles. 

• All domestic travel will remain suspended subject to government guidelines.

• Employee Communication: Companies have been in regular touch with their employees and communicating with them on their personal wellbeing as well as work related priorities. In the post- lockdown scenario, companies will provide clear guidelines on which employees will need to come to office and who will continue to work from home. All precautionary measures and do’s and don’ts will be explained for employees coming back to office. These will also be published at prominent places in the office buildings. Sufficient awareness around medical resources will be available to employees through email, poster campaigns and company websites. 

3. Incident Management protocol: Companies will publish elaborate guidelines for any suspected / confirmed case of employee coming to work or in contact with an impacted employee / friend / family regarding reporting, diagnosis, quarantine and treatment. A response team will also be created across the company to ensure quick action in case there is any suspected case or exposure. Details of testing facilities, quarantine centres and Covid-19 facilities will all be available and published on company websites.”