Post-lockdown blues for tech startup
YO-I, an information technology services and consulting startup that champions the concept of an industrial future framed in green, is now facing a less lofty challenge — coping in a post-lockdown environment in Shanghai.
The local company, which provides services in digital transformation and cloudbased software, is striving to get back on track as the city’s lockdown measures are lifted, but the transition back to normal operations has been hampered somewhat by its location.
Yo-i, which employs more than 130 people, is housed in a Greenland office building on Zhuguang Road — a short walking distance from what was the city’s biggest temporary hospital for coronavirus patients or close contacts.
The National Convention & Exhibition Center (Shanghai) makeshift hospital, known as fangcang, housed 174,000 positive and asymptomatic patients for 54 days in April and May, accounting for 30 percent of total capacity in temporary medical facilities.
It was closed on May 31, followed by “deconstruction and environmental disinfection work,” according to media reports.
The makeshift hospital may be a thing of the past, but its legacy continues to affect nearby buildings, including Yo-i’s headquarters.
The nearby Xujing East Metro Station remains closed, which makes commuting to work more difficult. Staff have to walk or use shared bikes to get to office from the next closest station.
“That can mean walking up to 40 minutes a day,” said Linda Huang, a general administrative director at the company.
Yo-i has adopted flexible work schedules to cope with the current situation. Some staff who live especially far away work from home.
Huang said the company is taking no chances when it comes to staff getting quarantined in office if restrictions are tightened once again.
“It's unacceptable,” she told Shanghai Daily.
During the April-May lockdown, the Greenland office buildings were restricted to “closed-loop management,” meaning that staff had to live in office, without canteen or shower amenities.
Because of that, Yo-i told all its employees to stay at home. In late May, Yo-i was included in the first group of “white list” firms allowed to resume operations.
Smaller businesses like Yo-i are the backbone of China’s economy. They are a prime employer of millions of workers. Their ability to survive and prosper again is the key to getting the post-lockdown economy up and running again.
Yo-i, whose main clients are steel and nonferrous metals companies, is aiming to “boost China’s industrial energy-saving and efficiency by 1 percent of GDP,” according to its website.
Since its founding in 2016, the company has grown rapidly, in terms of staff and revenue. Its ambitions dovetail nicely with China’s long-term digital and environmental strategies.
In a bid to pursue green growth, China has announced that it will strive for peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.
The resurgence of novel coronavirus this year has thrown a monkey wrench into Yo-i’s smooth development. Lengthy lockdowns have affected customer service, business trips, capital flows and expansion plans.
Because of strict COVID19 requirements imposed in other areas of China, it’s difficult for Yo-i to send workers out of town. For example, staff wishing to visit clients at ongoing projects in Henan and Shandong provinces would have to quarantine up to 14 days in those places, even if they could produce a negative PCR test.
Disappointed but not daunted, the company is taking every step possible to keep operations normal and “minimize the influence and risks of COVID-19 as soon as possible,” Huang said.