Banks, NBFIs embrace work from home as coronavirus fans out
Banks and other financial institutions are doing their part to flatten the curve on coronavirus in Bangladesh by instructing their employees to work from home.
Since the virus originated in China three months ago and later ravaged the world's second-biggest economy as well as other nations in Europe, Asia and America, most companies in those regions have asked their employees to work remotely to help control contagion.
The concept got traction in Bangladesh after March 8, when the country confirmed its maiden cases of coronavirus infection.
Only 20 per cent employees of IPDC Finance, a non-bank financial institution, are coming to office, while the rest are working from home, said its Managing Director Mominul Islam.
The lender took the decision on Wednesday, which will continue until this month, he said, adding that the NBFI will extend the duration of the arrangement if required.
Mutual Trust Bank has ordered its divisions, departments and branch heads to plan work from home schedule from March 22.
All the government and corporate bodies have taken necessary steps to address the issue, said Syed Mahbubur Rahman, managing director of the private commercial bank, in a letter to the heads and branches.
"At MTB too, we need to take important precautionary measures to keep our customers, employees, support staff and our valued stakeholders on MTB premises safe and secure," he added.
To plan the work from home schedule, the availability of 50 per cent of the staff should be ensured at office preferably, the letter said, adding that the employees who are pregnant should stay home until further notice.
Bank Asia has already given leave to one-third of its employees for the next 15 days, said its Managing Director Md Arfan Ali, adding that all training programmes have been suspended too.
The decision will come into effect on Sunday.
At City Bank, 50 per cent employees will start to work from home from Sunday while the rest will come to offices on a rotational basis, said Managing Director Mashrur Arefin.
Its 800-plus direct sales officials have also been given leave until March 31, with fixed salary and commissions.
Some 80 per cent employees of IDLC Finance, another NBFI, will work from home from Sunday, said Group Chief Marketing Officer Jane Alam Romel. The decision will be effective for the next 15 days.
During the period, customers will be discouraged from visiting branches and will rather be asked to carry out transactions online.
Employees of Eastern Bank will run its operation in shifts. Half of the employees of the bank will work from home from Sunday, an official said.
Yesterday, four new people were diagnosed with the virus, taking the tally of confirmed cases in Bangladesh to 18, according to the Directorate General of Health Services. One person died of the lethal, pneumonia-like virus on Wednesday.
If the coronavirus outbreak worsens, the government will lock down most vulnerable areas of the country, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque yesterday.