Information for employees

Current status: work from home till further notice.

Emergency response

Due to the escalating urgency of this situation, we are transitioning to a fully remote organisation. Please follow a work-from-home protocol till further notice. Keeping employee safety in mind, we will likely extend this policy beyond the lockdown. This is an evolving situation that we are monitoring closely, and will keep you updated regarding any changes.

Fridays 50% off (old)

At this time, we feel that having some additional time off will help us deal with the stress that we are under a little better. We announced Fridays off for 6 months (May through October), which was intended to cover the wave we were experiencing at the time, and an anticipated wave months down the line. We moved to Friday 50% off after October and continued with that till March, 2022. We have since transitioned to getting back to work full time on Fridays.

Staying updated during this time

Reliable sources of information include the The Ministry of Health and Welfare for India, BBMP for Bangalore, and the World Health Organisation and Centre for Disease Control.

Working from home

We want to equip you so you can be effective and comfortable while working from home. Please feel free to ship any of these to yourself from the office, or buy new equipment using the company credit card. The easiest way might be to collectively book a cab or a small transport vehicle through blowhorn (https://blowhorn.com/) and have them drop off whatever you need at each of your homes. If there's anything else we can do to support you during this time, just ask.

• monitors

• keyboards

• wrist rests

• mice

• webcams

• headphones

• chairs

• tables

To re-emphasize the best practices around remote work,

• Please try to create work / life separation in whatever way that is achievable. A work-only room or desk is ideal. A separate machine for work would be great, but if nothing else, have a work profile on your laptop that you only use for work. Please don't work from your bed! It's terrible posture, and isn't great for your mental well being either.

• Have a reasonable schedule and stick to it (trust us, it helps).

• Take regular breaks to stretch, hydrate and just chill out.

• Don't work all day! Make time for leisure activities.

• Communicate extensively on Slack. Let your colleagues and clients know when you're starting work, taking breaks, signing off for the day and about outages or other disruptions to work.

• Communicate over video chat where possible to stay connected.

Staying connected

Join our virtual watercooler on jitsi or discord (the links are available on #remote on Slack) when you're taking a break if you feel like hanging out with your colleagues and playing some games.

Our weekly standups are on as always.

Final thoughts

Lastly, everyone is different. There's a lot you're dealing with right now. Cut yourself some slack if you're not as productive as you'd like to be.

If you are unwell, please get the medical attention and rest that you need. If you need to take time off for yourself or to care for someone, please do so without any hesitation. Nothing is more important than the health and safety of you and your loved ones.

We will be sending out an update to all of our clients to let them know about our COVID response policy. If you have any concerns, please reach out to Deepa, Ravi or Srihari over Slack, email or phone.