Covid forces cos to rework plans

Companies ask staff to stay at home again, skip non-essential travel as cases rise

MUMBAI: Companies are advising employees to stay at home once again and drop non-essential travel while putting key business decisions on hold, amid a sudden resurgence of the Covid-19 cases in the country. India registered a 30% spike in Covid-19 cases over the last 24 hours.

To be sure, the cases are mostly mild, with flu-like symptoms, but doctors are advising against letting the guard down. Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya held a high-level meeting with medical scientists and officials on Thursday to take stock of the situation.

Companies are not taking any chances either, alerting their insurance partners, and in many cases beginning to actively monitor employees’ health status. Mumbai-headquartered RPG Group said it has alerted its insurance team to extend support in case of hospitalization and is monitoring the status of its covid- affected employees on digital tracking dashboards.

“While continuing with the hybrid model of work, our group insurance team is on high alert to extend immediate support in case any employee needs hospitalization,” said S Venkatesh, group president of human resources at RPG Group, a tyre and infrastructure conglomerate with 30,000 employees. “A digital tracking dashboard continuously updates the leadership of group companies of positive and recovered cases,” he added.

Health ministry data showed 17,336 new cases with a jump of more than 4,000 cases in the last 24 hours. The steady climb of Covid cases comes at a time when firms had started shifting from work-from-home to a hybrid model where employees came in a few days a week.

“We are never going completely back to work anymore and will follow the hybrid approach in our corporate offices,” said Praveen Purohit, deputy chief human resources officer, Vedanta Group. The oil, gas, and metals company largely relies on video-conferencing for its meetings.

Many of India’s big business houses are taking a re-look at their out-of-office programmes and team gatherings. In one of the largest promoter-driven groups, senior executives have been informed that they need to work from their homes unless an emergency crops up in office.

“The senior lot have been advised to hold their meetings on video calls because there have been close shaves where the entire senior team could have contracted the virus because one of them tested positive,” said a senior executive in the group.

Consumer electronics firm Panasonic India is conducting booster drives for its employees. The company’s CHRO Adarsh Mishra said it is encouraging hybrid meetings to help employees manage daily schedule smoothly. “We have also installed Coronaguard filters (a kind of air purifying filter) as an added safety measure in our office premises,” Mishra added.

Consultancy and audit firm Deloitte had adopted a hybrid model and executives visit office only on the days prescribed by their team’s requirements and book seats on an internal app. “They were already required to be double-vaccinated (this is synced to access cards) and we’re now providing reimbursements for the third dose as well,” said S.V. Nathan, partner and chief talent officer, Deloitte India. However, business travel continues for the company.

During the two years of the pandemic, India Inc. had put a plug on hiring, but over the last three quarters, a recruitment frenzy has developed. Companies and recruiters told Mint that despite the rise in cases, hiring mandates will not get impacted. “There will not be any recalibration of hiring in the staffing business. The mandates continue and covid is now part of life,” said Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder and executive vice-president of Teamlease Services.

According to rival ABC Consultants, firms have factored in Covid-led delays unless the number of severe cases shoots up. “In the middle to senior hiring, there has been no Covid-related drop. Firms have recalibrated business plans because of inflation or the Ukraine crisis but not because of covid anymore,” said Shiv Agrawal, managing director of recruitment firm ABC Consultants.

Mint had written in May, how surging inflation and high input costs is forcing companies to recalibrate its hikes, reduce performance bonuses by 15-20%, temper down the expectations of candidates during salary negotiation stage.