Zomato, Flipkart's top brass are back in office

BENGALURU: The leadership team at India's large startups, including Flipkart, Paytm, Udaan, Oyo and Zomato, are back at work, in a bid to assure their workforce of health and safety measures before asking them to return.Most startups have allowed employees to continue working from home, for roles that may not require them to commute to offices, although the government has greenlighted office travel. "...depending on where the offices are situated, wherever possible, our senior leadership has taken the decision of coming to the office first, to instil confidence in our workforce that all necessary steps are being taken to safeguard employees," a Paytm spokesperson told ET. Only 25% of Paytm's workforce are working out of offices even as guidelines permit 33%.Over the last couple of weeks, e-commerce companies Flipkart, Udaan and Zomato have also adopted a similar policy, employees at these firms told ET. "We encourage employees to apply their own judgement on when and how they would like to return to the office... A significant number of employees resumed work over the last couple of weeks," said SujeKumar, cofounder of Udaan, a Bengaluru-based business-to-business e-commerce firm.Employees highlighted several concerns around returning to work, including travel restrictions, reluctance to risk the health of their family, especially in cases where they have aged parents and young children. In some instances, they are in hometowns and unable to return. "The fear is not just about the workplace but also getting to work, and other factors at play," said an employee at a Delhi-based online retailer.Businesses, however, are trying to address these concerns. Udaan, for instance, has tied up with car and bike rental firms such as Zoomcar and Bounce to provide sanitised vehicles for employees who do not own personal transport. Others, like ride-hailing app Ola, have communicated to employees about safety measures. These include sanitising workspaces six times a day, safety teams for each site and demarcated seating to enable social distancing.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/36YC0Fs