Lockdown 3.0: IT and ITes Services open even in Red Zones. Five questions that this situation poses.

After the extended lockdown in India, the government came out with a list of essential services. These remained operational even during the nationwide lockdown. But the story was different for the IT and ITes industry. While we were still juggling between work-from-home and economic crisis, the MHA had issued its guidelines on the Lockdown 3.0. It has opened up the country to work again. The guidelines read:

Most of the commercial and private establishments have been allowed in the Red Zones. These include print and electronic media, IT and ITes industry...with staggered shifts and social distancing; and manufacturing of IT hardware and manufacturing units of packaging material will continue to be permitted.

But there is a more pressing question here. It is:

How is this all going to be managed?

Some Industry leaders commented on Lockdown 3.0 guidelines. For instance, CP Gurnani, managing director and CEO, Tech Mahindra tweeted,

Thank you MHA. For Indian IT this is the opening of the Lockdown. Even in Red Zones: IT and ITES, we are allowed to operate with 33% strength. Most of us will collaborate with the Govt and the Clients, would rather WFH and help fight the pandemic.

But the 33% strength is a very ambiguous number. And the government has not issued any guideline on its monitoring. So who is to blame when more than the specified number of people come out? On the other hand, what guidelines will people follow in their offices? Many organisations have issued statements that they will take care of their employees. Yet, people may be working from home, industry leaders have said.

Still, we, and people in the country, raise these questions:

1. How will people from Red Zones travel to companies in Green Zones?

So the first thing that the guidelines have not specified is the movement of people across areas. For instance, Gurugram is an Orange Zone but Delhi is a Red Zone. How will people come from Red to Orange? Many people have raised similar questions. Priyashmita Gupta said on Twitter, "So if the office in the green zone can open but employees need to come from the red zone, it's just a matter of time before green becomes red?"

Not only that, but there is also a question of people who's hometown is not the same as their office locality. Does that mean that States will open borders for interstate travel? Charu, on Twitter, asked the CM of Delhi, "If Delhi Government opens offices with 33% attendance and if people from outside of Delhi, do they need to join back offices? Are they allowed to enter Delhi? Will these people be put under quarantine if they are coming from the Red zone?"

This unclarity brings us to our next question.

2. What auxiliary services are open? Is Public transport working?

People need to travel to reach their offices. Cabs, Metros and buses are only operational in Green zones. So how will someone come from Red Zone to the Green Zone? Most importantly, if someone comes from Green Zone to a red Zone, how will they go back? What if office-goers don't have their vehicles?

Most of the IT and ITes organisations are based in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Pune. Majority of people here are dependent on public transports. The Guideline also said that intra-district and inter-district plying of buses will be prohibited. But then, how are people supposed to go to work? But there is a catch. According to the guidelines, companies have to arrange cabs for the employees, but is this monetarily feasible?

Also, electronic items are the basic things needed to work in an IT and ITes industry. The delivery of these goods is still unclear. If companies or employees need these items, how will they get it?

3. Who will monitor whether all precautionary measures are being carried out?

Jeet asked us, "Who will be checking that the private companies are maintaining all lockdown restrictions?" MHA did not lay down a guideline on how companies will manage their operations. They have asked to maintain social distancing, but what if some companies don't follow it? Is there a monitoring authority?

The Government has issued mandatory use of the Arogya Setu App. But what if private companies are not following them? Look at this tweet:

And what if the head of the office is not complying?Who will monitor that?

— Astha (@surfplanethoney) May 3, 2020

4. What happens to people who get infected? Who will be liable if a person falls sick?

"So the IT and ITes companies or the government will pay the hospital bills if the employees or their family members catch Covid? What if they get seriously ill and hospitalized? And if the employee or any family member dies due to Covid who will be responsible?" asked Sandeep.

This posed a tough question on the working of the companies. This is a more important question for Tier 2 and Tier 3 companies who usually don't provide any health insurance.

5. What is the working guidelines of the companies?

Private offices can operate with upto 33% strength as per requirement, with the remaining persons working from home. The cubicles have to set up far and sanitation will be a must. The directives to work are:

- Wearing face masks in the office at all times.

- Maintain social distancing at work, in breaks and during lunches.

- Providing thermal scanning, sanitizer and touch-free mechanisms on lifts and others.

- Frequent sanitisation of the office, bathrooms, smoking areas etc.

- Avoiding large physical meeting, or that include people over the age of 65, pregnant women and/or children.

- Mandatory use of Aarogya Setu app.

The disobedience of the MHA guidelines is punishable by law. The person will have to go to jail for one to six month and/or pay 200 to 1000 rs as fine. But then who will be monitoring all these activities?

IT and ITes Companies have issued some guidelines. For example:

a. "When we allow employees to resume office, it will only be limited to the critical workforce. We work in a contactless fashion and separated from our teammates, so the ability to do our jobs hasn’t been impacted,” said Manish Dalal, senior vice president and general manager, Endurance Group, APAC to Dataquest.

b. Phillips Innovation told us, "As a first step towards aiding our employees during the nationwide lockdown, we have launched an Employee Assistance Program that has a doctor on call. We have also launched virtual learning sessions with external experts on time and self-management. AI is also being organized to make remote working a pleasant experience for all the employees."

c. TCS stated on their website, "Our priority has been to safeguard the health and well-being of our 446,000 associates in the 46 countries we operate. This is while we continue to support mission-critical IT backbones globally."

d. Jaguar Land Rover plans to resume production from 18 May onwards. They said, "We will adopt strict social distancing measures across our business and are currently evaluating many different measures to ensure we protect and reassure our workforce when they begin to return to work,” said a statement from the company.

e. Cybermedia, along the lines, has allowed all its employees to work from home until a clearer picture appears. "We will wait for the lockdown to get over unless and until it is critical. Even then, we will open a small window."