Work from home: Which companies are doing it?
- Daniel Teo
- Topics: Asia-Pacific, Home Page - News, News
With the number of cases of COVID-19 outbreak continuing to climb, many businesses in affected countries have asked its employees to work from home to prevent the virus from hitting its offices.
The virus has claimed over 2,800 lives in China, and there are over 81,000 confirmed cases worldwide across 40 countries.
Major organisations such as Microsoft and Tencent are not taking any chances by asking its employees to work from home.
And technology is set to play a vital part in supporting the biggest ever work-from-home exercise as employees will rely on web conferencing and instant messaging platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Slack to communicate and be effective working from home.
This will truly be a test of the workforce’s readiness and capability to work remotely given the rise and hype of the gig economy.
We take a look at which are the companies that have asked its employees to work from home due to the COVID-19 outbreak:
Microsoft
Given that the virus originated from China, Microsoft has shut its offices in the country and asked its employees to work from home. However, staff in other countries such as Hong Kong and Singapore continue to work from office.
Hitachi
Japan is one of the most affected countries with over 200 cases and four deaths. And electronics company Hitachi has taken precaution by allowing its employees to work from home.
Tencent
The Chinese gaming giant has asked its employees to work from home until February 7 to prevent the outbreak of the virus.
Dentsu
The Japanese advertising giant has sent its employees to work from home after one of its staff was found to have caught the virus.
Chevron
American energy company Chevron has instructed 300 workers at one of its London offices to work from home after an employee returning from Italy was tested positive for the virus.
Shiseido
Japanese cosmetic company is barring about 8,000 employees from coming into work for more than a week amid concerns about the COVID-19 outbreak.
Industrial and Financial Systems (IFS)
Singapore is one of the most hit countries with nearly 100 cases. And IFS has allowed its staff to work from home indefinitely to prevent an outbreak of the virus.
