Govt guidelines on resuming work may come as a burden to companies: Experts

Rules on sanitisation, social distancing and other aspects could bump up operational costs for companies

Industries operating in rural areas, manufacturing units in special economic zones and expert oriented units will be allowed to resume operations from April 20, provided that they follow hygiene and adequate social distancing practices at the workplace.

The focus of the Home Ministry’s fresh guidelines, which will be effective till lockdown is in place till May 3, is to revive the rural economy, where the impact of the Covid-19 virus isn't as severe as in the cities, and to help the informal sector get back to work.

However, firms will have to follow a standard operating procedure for social distancing at offices, workplaces, factories and establishments. To begin with, all the premises will have to be disinfected – be it lift, walls, washroom, entrance gates or canteen. Wearing of face masks will be compulsory for all at the workplaces.

The companies will have to make special arrangements to bring the workers to office, with “30-40 per cent passenger capacity” in each vehicle so that there is no “dependency on the public transportation system” which has come to a grinding halt.

Workers will have to go through a mandatory thermal screening while entering or exiting the workplace. Importantly, medical insurance for all workers will be mandatory.

Experts said that these measures have the potential of increasing the cost of operations for firms. “Protecting health will come at a cost for firms as they have to provide with all these necessary measures, including dormitory and transportation. The cost to the company will considerably go up,” K R Shyam Sundar, Professor, Human Resources Management at XLRI, Jamshedpur said.

A top executive at the Confederation of Indian Industry said that ensuring health insurance for all workers might come as a major challenge for the industry, already grappling with cash crunch, and the government should have ideally borne the cost.

According to the guidelines, there should be no overlap of shift timings, though this might not be a big issue as this is already a mandate under the Factories Act of 1948. But lunch breaks of employees will have to be staggered to ensure social distancing.

“Large gatherings or meetings of 10 or more people to be discouraged. Seating at least 6 feet away from others on job sites and in gatherings, meetings and training sessions,” the guidelines read. Sundar said that this will lead to one-third of workers in a unit being left out, according to back-to-the-envelope calculations. “But with negotiations between employers and trade unions, there can be an arrangement done where all workers are called but in a staggered and rotational manner,” he added.

The employers will also be responsible for making a list of nearby hospitals or clinics, authorised to test Covid-19 patients, available at the workplace “all the time.” In manufacturing establishments, intensive communication and training on good hygiene practices will have to be followed.

Importantly, employees who have children below the age of 5 and those with co-morbidities will be encouraged to work from home. The employers will “encourage” the use of the Arogya Setu mobile application launched by the government which tracks and traces for Covid-19 patients.

“There measures are largely targeted at reinstating the informal sector economy. It will certainly support the workforce that has left cities and gone back to villages, whether it is in the construction sector or tea and plantation industry. Besides that, there is very little to support the formal workers,” Rituparna Chakraborty, senior vice president at staffing firm Teamlease Services said.

She said that though the order also helps the e-commerce sector in some ways but the real challenge for firms would be to find workers as most of them have already left for home. “Given the lack of demand and harassment that the e-commerce employees faced on the streets, more than half of the workforce has disappeared,” Chakraborty said.

She also agreed that though the cost of companies will go up in the short run in making workplaces safe but that is going to be the new normal going ahead. “You canot afford to restart work at the cost of health,” she added.

Sundar said that since the circular gives a lot of leeway to open up the rural economy, the governments should make an effort to transport the migrants who are stuck in urban areas back to their villages. “Opening up of economic activities in the rural areas and in semi-rural areas and partial resumption in urban areas will provide a lot of incentives for migrant worekrs to go back to their home states. It would make economic sense to facilitate it,” Sundar added.