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With the growing swine flu scare across the city, a number of IT-BPO service providers in Pune are seeing up to 20 per cent drop in attendance, report Kaustubh Kulkarni & Pravda Godbole.
The growing fear among software professionals is of getting infected while travelling to work in buses or cabs. And so, many IT-BPO firms have allowed their people to work from home if it fits their job profile. Some are planning to hire laptops to encourage employees to stay at home and work.
There are around 150,000 software professionals working here, while the number with BPO and other IT-enabled services is another lakh. Around 5,000 cabs and some 400 buses ferry these 2.5 lakh people daily round Pune. And the mode of transportation is a serious cause of concern.
Speaking to Business Standard, a staffer from IBM, who works with the product development unit, said: The attendance levels at the office have dipped since Monday.
The office administration has asked staffers to work from home whenever possible. While staffers from the IT services division have to work from workstations at office, professionals from the product department are working from home, using laptops.
Another IBM official said: We have been advised to take rest even if one of our family members is suffering from cold, cough or fever. The overall complex built has led to dropped attendance levels.
Amdocs is reportedly planning to hire laptops for employees who do not have any facility to work from their homes.
Said a source, our manager just received an email regarding this. We have submitted details about who all have laptops of their own and access to the Internet.
There is a possibility that we may take laptops on rent to give to employees to be able to operate from home until we feel the situation comes under control. Another with Core objects said staffers have been advised to rest at home if certain symptoms were seen.
However, we have not seen a sharp decline in attendance. Some people, though, are avoiding coming to office.
Speaking to Business Standard, Zensar Technologies vice-chairman and CEO Ganesh Natarajan said, We do not have work from home systems at Zensar. However, if staffers as well as their family members have shown symptoms similar to those of swine flu, then they have been allowed to work from home.
Proper instructions have been given to staffers to avert spreading of the disease. However, we have not seen any significant change in attendance levels as of now. Zensar has also reduced or postponed official travel plans of staffers.
Those who have Internet access have been asked to work from home; the rest are working in shifts. That way we can avoid crowding. Also, we are distributing amla candies to our employees, as amla is best for boosting immune systems, said Nikunj Verma, vice-president, human resource, Ignify Software.
Absenteeism has also shot up, as more people want to stay indoors. We have close to 20-25 per cent absentees daily on an average since this whole swine flu thing has come up, said a BPO employee.
Avaya India Pvt Ltd, with its office in Magarpatta City, has told its employees to stay away from the workplace as far as possible for almost a week. Management sent us an email on Thursday, informing us that we have an option of operating from home," an official stated.
