COVID-19: Companies Striking Balance Between Health And Work

Pathik Shah, CEO of DB Digital

"We have come up with a few initiatives to protect our employees from COVID-19/Coronavirus. With a workforce of over 100 employees at our office in Noida, the city which seems to be where the pandemic is breaking out in India, we have suspended all non-critical travel completely while making it optional for our employees to come to the office, enabling them to work from home remotely to prevent the spread. We are working actively to provide N95 masks and hand sanitizers to all our employees, and also providing medical assistance to anyone who needs it. We have also introduced our in-house audio alerts to remind our employees to keep drinking water and wash hands from time to time and have also put huge LED screens in the office to circulate the latest updates about the outbreak. In addition to that, we're also experimenting with disinfectants like Oxivir and increasing the office temperature via central units when people are not in office as that may help reduce the probability of infection."

Atul Todi, CEO & CO-Founder, 10times

"Challenging times force people to innovate, and the events industry is reportedly facing adversity head-on through the hybrid event model and going completely virtual. For events with a high percentage of international audiences from around the world, using customized live-streaming and broadcasting solutions can take a physical event to a virtual venue, hosted on the cloud, according to experts. For events with a mix of local and international speakers and audiences, enabling a hybrid model during conferences and expos, organizers can open a new channel to drive participation - for example, during a live conference, besides delegates onsite, allowing virtual participation, along with online-offline networking features."

Lokendra Ranawat, CEO, WoodenStreet

As with every pandemic, the panic within the masses has largely affected startups which rely on supply-chain, exports, imports, and physical store chains – all of which have been disturbed. Because people aren’t willing to step out – and are restraining their contact with others – stores have seen a decline in footfalls to a great extent. The biggest impact is visible in the FMCG startups, which face high demand and a low supply of essential products.

Within the offices of various startups, lockdowns and work-from-home maneuvers are already underway to curb the spread, but this leaves a skeletal crew behind to handle the operations and hampers the decision-making processes. Whether direct or indirect, Coronavirus is going to leave a massive footprint on the economy, stability, and functionality of startups.

Pratik Sud, Founder at Synq.work

"We held informative sessions with our staff early March following WHO guidelines to limit the spread. Informing our employees about the underlying statistics about the severity and infectivity of the virus helped keep them at ease. Furthermore, we encouraged them to stay away from baseless forwards and rumors and get information from WHO and government sites."

Yogita Tulsiani, M.D, iXceed Solutions

"We are following the most conservative health and hygiene guidelines prescribed by leading global and local health authorities (e.g., CDC, WHO) eg: sanitizers at every desk, sanitizing the office twice a day, providing masks to employees, etc, Communicating with employees frequently and with specific information. We are trying to provide as much support to any impacted employees per health guidance. We have curbed all travel – essential/non-essential ( eg important meetings are done virtually / online. Remote working has already been implemented and we have equipped everyone with the necessary infrastructure to be able to work remotely  ( VOIP on their mobiles, using apps, be able to access all the company database remotely, provided laptops, etc ). Employees can take available holidays if they don't wish to work from home also. Modified the leaves policy for probationers/ permanent employees."

Niraj Ranjan Rout, Co-Founder, and CEO of Hiver

A lot of companies across the globe are encouraging their employees to work from home. Lack of face to face communication definitely impacts team collaboration. There are many collaboration tools available for companies/ teams to collaborate better and work in a more productive way. One such email collaboration platform for teams is Hiver. As email remains one of the most popular ways of communication among teams today, our product at this time has taken centerstage for corporations. Hiver helps teams stay together and up-to-speed even while choosing to work remotely. Some of our clients, such as Vacasa, Air Comm and LeResearch, have been using Hiver for teams with remote employees and have seen a remarkable increase in the teams' efficiency and productivity.