As of – August 26, 2021
The COVID-19 has compelled organizations to tide over cultural and technological barriers to expedite the structural shift from physical in-person working to remote working. The information technology industry, with its distributed workforce, has adapted well to the demands of the new reality, delivering services seamlessly amidst the challenges. In addition, a geographically dispersed workforce helps significantly mitigate the impact of the pandemic on employees. Recent studies show that in future, a hybrid working arrangement that allows for greater flexibility will be a critical factor that would influence employee preferences.
As a first step in this direction, we will adopt a flexible, hybrid approach in our return to office policy. In the first phase, senior leaders who are fully vaccinated will return to work from offices in India, twice a week, effective Monday, September 13, 2021. It is important to note that the number of COVID cases have declined in India while the vaccination drive has gained significant momentum, allowing us to put in motion our return-to-office plan in a calibrated manner. However, we have extended the work from home arrangement for all other employees until October 31, 2021. We will take decisions based on situation of the pandemic in consultation with the employees. Each of the countries we operate in similar approach is considered, depending on the pandemic situation and local guidelines.
Enhanced safety measures at offices
The safety and wellbeing of our employees will continue to remain our foremost priority. We have greater focus on measures like workplace sanitization, strict social distancing practices, and vaccination, to ensure employee safety.
Here are the region-wise highlights of our global operations:
AMERICAs: USA, Canada & LATAM
- Employees to continue working from home (WFH) unless there is a customer requirement or need for critical infrastructure support from office
- We continue to follow local guidelines and only critical team continues to operate from office
APMEA – Asia Pacific Middle East & Africa
ASEAN & Japan
- 90% of employees are WFH.
- All employees working in KL Mid valley office are WFH as a special permit is required from the Ministry of International Trade Industry (MITI) even for an occasional visit to the office.
- Office in Singapore open for essential operations, rest continue to WFH
- Office in Indonesia is open with minimal staff as per customer requirement.
ANZ
- Sydney and Melbourne are under lockdown and all employees are WFH
- No lockdown in Perth. Few employees are working from office, rest continue to WFH
China
- Dalian and Chengdu offices are operational
India
- The overall situation in India is fairly under control with a few states reporting higher cases.
- Currently, no material impact to Wipro services rendered to our customer.
- Wipro Delivery Centers are operational across India with all necessary controls in place
- Various COVID task forces set up earlier continue to assess the situation on the ground. As an organization, we are rendering all possible support to our employees and their immediate family members.
Middle East
- Most of the countries have lifted lockdown, but operate with restrictions
- Wipro office in Dubai is open, offices in other locations are open only for administration, rest continue to WFH
Philippines
- 90% of employees are WFH. Our offices are operational with minimal staff
- Cebu city is under Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) and Manila under enhanced community quarantine( ECQ ) until August 31
- Wipro inoculation initiatives are in progress in Cebu and Manila through efforts by the government and external organizations
South Africa
- Two offices in SA are open now with selected support teams working from offices
- Majority continue to WFH
Europe
- Only a few employees work from customer offices based on customer requirement
- Offices in most parts of Europe where the government regulations allow are open, but limited to about 50% of employees for now.
We are continuing with restrictions on travel, customer visits, and physical gatherings, until further notice. Our global Environment, Health & Safety (EHS), and crisis management teams are monitoring the situation around the clock.
We are committed to supporting our customers and partners in these unprecedented times and will do our best to ensure a safe work environment for all our stakeholders.
