As the coronavirus continues its scary descent across the United States, a growing number of companies are ordering or offering their staff the option to work from the comforts of their own home to help ease the diseases' negative effects on daily operations.
From small and medium entities to tech behemoths such as Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple businesses throughout the nation will have at least a good number of their personnel telecommuting through at least the end of the month.
Through February and March, tech companies have imposed non-essential travel, suspended appearances at important events like the SXSW, and canceled in-person employment interviews.
Now the coronavirus has made its way to American soil, tech giants are taking all the necessary precautions closer to home, especially in the state of California and Seattle, where the majority of tech firms are based.
According to the latest data by the World Health Organization, there are currently over 97,000 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus worldwide globally, though the huge majority are still in China where it emerged. In the US, 148 cases have been confirmed, including 10 fatalities.
Microsoft Corp has directed its workers in the Puget Sound and Bay Area to work from home starting March 4 until March 25. In a statement, Kurt DelBene, Microsoft Executive Vice President of Operations, said that the tech firm would still expect "essential workers," like those from its data center or retail units, to come in to work.
On Friday, Apple Inc asked its workers at its Silicon Valley facilities to work from home if possible "as a precaution," an executive confirmed to Reuters. Officials in Santa Clara County, where the tech giant's 12,000-workforce Apple Park campus is situated, had earlier asked big firms to look into asking staff to telecommute and limit close contact.
As of March 5, 20 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the county have been confirmed, health authorities disclosed. Apple Inc is also asking personnel in the Seattle headquarters to work from home. In the state of California, its Santa Clara County retail branches remain open, a spokesperson said.
Apple last month announced the spread of the coronavirus in mainland China would force it to miss revenue goals for the current quarter ending March and cause shortages in its iPhone production.
Facebook bared on Thursday that the company was "strongly recommending" its workers in its Bay Area headquarters work from home. According to a Facebook insider, the decision is based on the social networking giant's efforts to reduce the risk of spreading the virus. "The health and safety of our teams, their families and friends remain a top priority," a Facebook spokesperson disclosed to Business Insider.
