COVID-19: Why some Bengaluru IT companies insist employees must report to office

Karnataka's Deputy Chief Minister Dr CN Ashwath Narayan on Friday announced that all employees of IT and BT companies, except for those discharging mission critical and essential services, must work from home. DCM Ashwath Narayan's statement comes after several employees of IT and BT companies have been voicing their concerns on social media that their companies were not allowing them to work from home. 

Speaking to TNM, an employee of a research and development company that designs microchips for smartphones in Bengaluru said that despite the government issuing directions to work from home, they have been asked to come in to work strictly. "The research we do requires data security. We can work from home but the company that has outsourced the work to us is not letting us work from home. The mobile company is our client. They have outsourced the R and D work to us," he said, while adding that all employees received an email asking them to come into work. 

Several other techies that TNM spoke to voiced similar concerns. One employee at a tech company in Madiwala said that her employers refused to give them the option of working from home citing "efficiency of work" as the reason. "Our team leaders said that the infection had not spread to Madiwala, where we work. They said that people work more efficiently if we come to the office instead of working from home. But the top people are all working from home," she added. 

An employee at a multinational IT company said that only certain teams of employees in certain departments were given the option of working from home. “When we asked them why, they told us that we had to come into work as the projects we were working on required our presence at work,” they said. 

So why are so many tech companies refusing to allow their employees to work from home despite the prevalence of a pandemic?

Data security and essential services

According to a senior manager at a multinational tech consulting service company in Bengaluru, only 40% of their workforce has been given the option of working from home. 

“As we cater to many clients from various sectors, we cannot give employees working on banking clients, and those clients who fall under the category of essential services. We work closely in providing tech assistance to several essential services companies like food delivery services, delivery services and others. For banking clients, it is nearly impossible to work from home because we have to maintain data security as it involves crucial information that must not be misused,” the senior manager said. 

The company’s employees have asked their management to at least give them staggered off days to ensure that too many people are not present at the office at any given point of time. “We clean doors, windows, and common surfaces regularly. The cleaning staff have been provided safety equipment like masks and gloves that they change daily. We are trying to work with the constraints we have as well,” he said.

Client waivers

IT and BT companies have multiple clients and these usually come with agreements to maintain confidentiality and data security. Since the work of the client is outsourced to these tech companies, the clients insist on a strict “no work from home” policy. The IT companies thus say that only if the clients waive off the no work from home policy can they give their employees that option.

“Look, we do not have a problem with giving our employees the option of working from home but without client waivers, we cannot do anything. Till last week, the government had only issued an advisory to work from home. Now that it is a directive, we will persuade our clients for waivers so our employees can work from home,” a manager at an IT company that does research and development for microchips said. 

Work laptops 

An employee working at a biotechnology company in South Bengaluru said that employees have not been given laptops at work and that they work on desktops at the office. “We do not have work from home options in our company at all. Even before the coronavirus pandemic, we did not have that option. Now the office is saying they have to buy laptops for everyone and enable secure access to the company’s server before allowing us to work from home,” the employee said.

The management of the company told TNM that their workforce would be able to work from home in three to four days as they are yet to procure laptops for all. 

Health Department officials told TNM that the lockdown of districts and imposition of section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in Bengaluru was to ensure that people practise social distancing.

“We have heard complaints that many companies were not following this. That’s why we issued a directive clearly stating that IT and BT companies must allow work from home if the projects they work on are not related to essential services. If we hear complaints, we will take action,” a health department official said. Meanwhile, a total of 21 cases have been confirmed in the state.