Coronavirus: Twitter tells employees in South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong to work from home due to virus scare
Amid the rising number of coronavirus cases in South Korea and Japan, Twitter announced that it will be mandatory for its employees who are based in these two countries, as well as and Hong Kong, to work from home “due in part to government restrictions.”
“Our criteria will evolve over time as we get more information, and we will communicate to affected Tweeps as appropriate,” wrote the company in a blog post on March 2.
About 81% of cases outside China are from four countries: South Korea, Japan, Iran, and Italy.
South Korea is witnessing the largest outbreak outside China. With 600 new coronavirus infections confirmed in one day, the total has now crossed 4,800. The virus has killed 29 people in the country.
Twitter also “strongly encouraged” all employees globally to work from home if they can, beginning March 2.
“Our goal is to lower the probability of the spread of coronavirus for us - and the world around us. We are operating out of an abundance of caution and the utmost dedication to keeping our Tweeps healthy,” said the post.
It added, “While this is a big change for us, we have already been moving towards a more distributed workforce that’s increasingly remote. We're a global service and we’re committed to enabling anyone, anywhere to work at Twitter.”
Twitter said that it recognizes that working from home may not be an ideal situation for some job functions.
“We are working to make sure internal meetings, all hands, and other important tasks are optimized for remote participation. For those employees who prefer or need to come into the offices, they will remain open for business. Our Real Estate & Workplace team is increasing deep cleaning and sanitizing in all spaces, as well as more visual reminders for personal hygiene best practices and pre-packaged, pre-composed, and pre-plated food options,” said the company.
The measures are in addition to the travel, event and visitor restrictions that were previously implemented.
On February 29, Twitter informed employees and started notifying partners that the company is suspending all non-critical business travel and events. This policy will remain in effect till the World Health Organization (WHO) or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “deem it appropriate to step back from pandemic precautionary measures or when a vaccine becomes available.”
“Our goal is to reduce the risk that anyone at Twitter might contract or inadvertently spread the virus. It is important that we take these proactive steps to protect ourselves and others and minimize the spread of COVID-19,” said the company.
Meanwhile, the staff at Google's European headquarters in Dublin were instructed to work from home on Tuesday as the company tested its preparedness for a potential outbreak in Ireland.
“Most of Google's 8,000-strong office in Dublin, Ireland - the tech giant's European headquarters - have been told to work from home on Tuesday after a member of its staff reported flu-like symptoms. Google stressed that the day-long measure was precautionary, and in accordance with the advice of medical experts,” reports Business Insider. However, most of the workers are expected to return on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase also asked its employees to start working from home. “An update on COVID-19. We're asking some employees to start working from home this week. Working from home is not a complete solution, but it may help slow the growth of infections. We want to be prepared for the worst at @coinbase, but also be calm/rational in our approach. I'm sure much to improve on,” tweeted Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.
A March 2 communication to its employees said that while the overall risk to Coinbase employees remains low, it is increasing. “We strongly encourage you to prepare for the next phase of this crisis, which will likely involve both community transmission and state/local government actions, such as school closures or movement restrictions. Employees that are likely to get sick more easily or for whom getting sick would be particularly problematic should now work with their manager to move to 100% Work From Home (WFH),” said Coinbase. “As of this week, if you are likely to get sick more easily, or if getting sick would be particularly problematic, we want you to work with your manager to WFH. If a local school closure impacts your family, you should also work with your manager to WFH,” it said.
Examples of this, said the communication, could include people who are already immunocompromised or live with people who are, people who are single parents or primary caregivers, people who are pregnant or live with those who are. It can also include people/teams who are critical single points of failure in the company, whose absence for a couple of weeks could impact customers. Business travel has been now restricted to essential travel only. Travel to China, Hong Kong, Japan, Italy, and South Korea remains completely restricted, said Coinbase. The company is also encouraging staff to ensure they have adequate supplies of food, medicine (in particular, prescription medication) and critical household goods (think batteries, trash bags, hygiene supplies, etc) to last at least 30 days.
“We’re moving toward virtual interviewing, asking you all to minimize external visitors (including canceling in-office events) and spinning up a visitor screening program, which will include a set of questions when visitors sign in and will expand to include temperature screening in SF,” said Coinbase.
(AP Photo/Jae C Hong)
Square Inc. has also asked employees to work from home. Square executive Aaron Zamost tweeted, “We're taking a number of proactive steps at Square to help mitigate the spread of Coronavirus. We believe this is the right thing to do for both our team and the broader global community.”
This includes implementing a “strongly-encouraged” work from home policy. The company has also suspended guests from visiting its offices, including candidates. “We'll continue interviewing those applying for jobs @Square, but will move interviews to be over video conference. A good % of our interviews are remote already, so we're well-equipped to accommodate,” tweeted Zamost.
Other companies such as AT&T and Citigroup have also restricted international travel, especially to Asia. Some including Facebook and Google have postponed or canceled conferences in the US.
On February 26, the CDC had said during a media briefing that Americans must be prepared for tele-schooling, remote working, and massive disruptions to their everyday lives because it is no longer a question of if, but when community spread of the novel coronavirus will happen in the US.
“These are practical measures that can help limit exposure by reducing exposure in community settings. Students in smaller groups or in a severe pandemic, closing schools and using internet-based tele-schooling to continue education. For adults, businesses can replace in-person meetings with video or telephone conferences and increase teleworking options. On a larger scale, communities may need to modify, postpone, or cancel mass gatherings,” the CDC had recommended.