Many AMCs have either opted to allow their employees to work from home completely or on rotational basis to ensure safety of their employees and smooth functioning of day to day operation.
Edelweiss Mutual Fund has asked all its employees to work from home. The fund house said, “As the next two weeks are critical in containing the spread of the virus, our employees have been asked to work from home. Our business continuity plan has been adequately tested for readiness and as an organisation, we are ready to go remotely live from March 16.”
Meanwhile, SBI Mutual Fund has asked 50% of its employees to work from home on rotational basis. DP Singh, ED and CMO, SBI MF said, “Around 50% of staff is working from home on a weekly rotational basis. We are also urging our employees to use digital means of communication to avoid physical connect.”
SBI MF has temporarily suspended distributor meet and training programs. The fund house is exploring ways to offer digital training programs to distributors.
UTI AMC has asked most of its staff to work from home. Only employees whose work is critical and can only be done in office are required to attend office. The company has also taken into consideration factors like geographical location of employees, how they commute and so on to shortlist employees who can work from home.
Sharing how Mirae Assset MF is dealing with the coronavirus threat, Swarup Mohanty, CEO of the fund house said that his company has urged most employees to work from home. However, a few employees who come to office have been asked to work between 8am and 4 pm to avoid rush hour. “In addition, our cleaning staff has been sanitizing all the table tops and door knobs every hour to ensure cleanliness. We are also checking body temperature of all employees and visitors before letting them in,” he said.
Sunil Subramaniam, MD Sundaram MF said that his company has asked 50% of staff to work from home in all major cities like Mumbai and Chennai. Also, the fund house is checking body temperature of each employee before allowing them to enter the office premises, he added.
Apart from this, Sundaram MF has cancelled all the conferences and MFD meets. The fund house will hold con-calls to give regular updates to distributors.
Franklin Templeton has also allowed its employees to work from home. A company spokesperson said, “We have a very robust and regularly-tested work-from-home capability that enables the majority of our employees around the world to work remotely. Many employees have taken advantage of the option to work from home. In some of our offices, we have moved to split teams where half of the staff team works from home and the other half works in the office. Over the weekends, we do a deep office clean and switch.”
Invesco MF, CEO, Saurabh Nanavati said that the fund house has asked more than half of its workforce to work from home, apart from taking other precautionary actions which will protect its staff against the virus.
Cafemutual urge all its readers to stay safe and support one another in this testing times.
