Work from Office: 6 ft of separation, masks must for work from office

New Delhi | Kolkata: So this is how WFO may look like soon for India’s white collar employees. WFO, work from office, will undergo major changes as per home ministry guidelines issued Wednesday on graded resumption of economic activity. And most employers reckon the change is manageable.

From April 20, offices that are allowed to open will have to ensure every employee wears a face mask, no employee is closer than 6 feet from another, that there are no meetings of 10 people or more, that lunch breaks are staggered so that all employees don’t gather at the same point at the same time, that employees work in shifts and that there is an hour’s gap between shifts. IT/ITES offices have been told to work at 50% staff capacity.

That’s not all. The guidelines say use of staircases should be encouraged, and in case of lifts, no more than 2-4 people (depending on the size) should be allowed at a time.

Part of New Normal: HR Heads

Those with children below 5 years of age and those aged above 65 should be encouraged to work from home, the guidelines say.

There are strict rules on providing adequate hand sanitizers, preferably touch-free ones, and on mandatory thermal screening. Employees who need transportation must be ferried in vehicles that do not use more than 30-40% of seating capacity, the rules mandate.

All workplaces have to keep a list of Covid hospitals nearby, and all employers are to encourage staff to use the Aarogya Setu app. No “non-essential” visitors allowed in offices, no consumption of tobacco products, and a big no-no on spitting – those are among the other rules.

District magistrates will enforce these rules through fines and penal action prescribed in the Disaster Management Act 2005.

India Inc’s HR heads seemed to think this will be the new normal for a long time to come. Some of these rules are already in place, they said.

Most companies are okay with the 50% staff rule. A senior official at an IT major said his company were unlikely to go beyond 30% staff strength. This firm had also reduced the number of people travelling in office cabs, arranged for box lunches to allow eating at desks, and restricted use of lifts.

At Axis Bank, HR head Rajkamal Vempati said: “People who are working out of the home are doing so, and those in branches are coming in on a rotation basis. Sanitisation is happening on a periodic basis. For specific operations, such as back-end processing and IT, we have already been arranging for transport for workers. We will ensure that they work at the mentioned capacity,” she said.