IT cos, others gear up to face 2nd Covid wave

Visakhapatnam: IT, pharma and other companies across Andhra Pradesh have prepared contingency plans to tackle the threat posed by the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic.

The State, which was credited with smoothly shifting to work from home (WFH) mode a few days after the pandemic broke out in the country in March, 2020, is now faced with the daunting task of safeguarding the health of thousands of employees working in various IT, pharma and other industries.

"We are ascertaining the views of member-companies to find out the number of employees required for various processes and core jobs. If night curfew is imposed or in the event of a lockdown, we will be needing police passes to allow them to reach their workstations and back home after finishing their duties. Otherwise, most of the employees of IT and IT enabled services are being allowed WFH," Sreedhar Kosaraju, president of IT Association of AP (ITAAP) told Bizz Buzz on Wednesday.

Major manufacturers like Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, Hindustan Shipyard Ltd and BHEL have not yet revived WFH. "For us the situation during first and second waves are different as a nationwide lockdown was imposed last year in March following which the employees could not reach the workplaces for want of public transport," a PSU executive pointed out.

Meanwhile, the pharma companies are reviewing the preparedness with the no end in sight to the second wave. There is already buzz that the State might clamp Corona Curfew at night and minimise public movement during the day.

Some of the private sector banks including ICICI have started allowing their employees to do their work at branches in turns to reduce manpower at workstations.

Visakhapatnam, the main IT hub in AP, employs around 25,000 in 170 small and big companies- most of them BPOs. Major employers including Conduent, HSBC, Patra India, WNS, Concentris, Fluentgrid Ltd, Miracle Software and Omics International

have been continuing WFH since the first wave of pandemic.

"There is not much difference for most of the big BPOs. Now only thing they have to do is to minimise the manpower required at office if there is no respite from the second wave in the coming days," MP Dubey, Joint Director of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) said. He said Visakhapatnam was ahead of other tier-2 cities in migrating to WFH mode by installing required software and systems at employees' houses immediately after the first wave.

When contacted, Murali Krishna Gannamani, CEO of Fluentgrid Ltd, a turnkey digital transformation solutions company, said they were allowing WFH for most of their workforce.

"Last year's pandemic experience has helped us in discharging our corporate responsibility in popularising Covid Appropriate Behaviour. "We are streamlining our internal processes to minimise the number of people required at the office. Anyhow, the pandemic has taught a lesson on how to be effective in virtual mode," he remarked.