Google, Twitter, Coinbase ask employees to work from home due to Coronavirus outbreak

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Coronavirus outbreak has caused a major disruption in the tech world by forcing companies to shut down their production plans. It has also led to the cancellation of several major tech events, including MWC 2020, GDC 2020, Facebook’s F8 2020, Google’s Cloud Next, of lately. Now, several tech companies including Google and Twitter have asked their employees to work from home as a precautionary measure.

According to a report, Google has asked around 8,000 of its employees working at its headquarters in Dublin to work from home after a staffer reported flu-like symptoms. The decision came days after Ireland reported its first case of Coronavirus, which lead to shutting down of the school to which the infected student belonged.

“We continue to take precautionary measures to protect the health and safety of our workforce, and as part of that effort we have asked our Dublin teams to work from home tomorrow,” a Google spokesperson told the news agency.

Similarly, Twitter too has asked all its employees across the globe to work from home. The company has made it mandatory for its employees in parts of Asia to work from home. “Beginning today, we are strongly encouraging all employees globally to work from home if they’re able…For those employees who prefer or need to come into the offices, they will remain open for business,” Twitter wrote in a blog post.

“Working from home will be mandatory for employees based in our Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea offices due in part to government restrictions,” the company added.

Apart from Google and Twitter, Coinbase, which is a cryptocurrency exchange platform, has also implemented similar measures. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong shared the company’s updated policies regarding the matter on Twitter. “Working from home is not a complete solution, but it may help slow the growth of infections,” he wrote in a Tweet.

Separately, Google, Microsoft and Oracle too have cancelled their upcoming tech summits. Additionally, tech companies including Amazon, Facebook and Twitter have prohibited their employees from unnecessary travel.