Tata Steel white collar employees to shift from WFH mode to work-from-anywhere

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, Tata Steel is planning to issue an advisory to shift some of its employees from work from home mode to work-from-anywhere to ensure their health and safety. The decision is likely to be rolled out this month that will allow a large section of the steel maker's white collar employees to work from any part of the country.

Initially, 10 per cent of Tata Steel's office staff will be offered the opportunity to work remotely, and going ahead, up to 30 per cent of such employees will get this benefit, TheEconomic Times reported.

Also read: Post-COVID, 75% of 4.5 lakh TCS employees to permanently work from home by '25; from 20%

There are around 32,000 employees in Tata Steel across the country and 55,000 contractual workforce, while its manufacturing facilities are located in Jamshedpur (Jharkhand), Kalinganagar (Odisha), long products in Gamariah, Seraikela-Kharswan districts of Jharkhand, one unit in Angul, Odisha. The decision came after Tata Steel moved large section of its employees to work from home mode amid the COVID-19 outbreak in India.

The objective behind the "connected workforce" app is to monitor coronavirus-related risks. This digital technology enables crowd sensing solution to pre-empt and detect violation of social distancing at shop-floors with the help of the cameras installed, COVID risk profile assessment of employees, scientific contact tracing and face-detection and social distancing checks through artificial intelligence.

Another Tata Group company, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has announced that 75 per cent of its 4.48 lakh employees globally (including 3.5 lakh in India) will permanently work from home by 2025. The decision came after TCS briskly moved 90 per cent of its 4,48,000 employees post-lockdown to an operating model it calls Secure Borderless Work Spaces (SBWS).

Also read: Tata Sons to appoint external agencies for stake valuation