As death tolls due to the virus near 200, tech giants are announcing a temporary shutdown for their Chinese offices to protect their employees amidst coronavirus outbreak. Overseas employees are also being advised against travelling to China in the upcoming weeks. Furthermore, as a precautionary measure to safeguard their staff from the deadly virus, companies have asked employees to extend their Lunar New Year holidays or to work from home.
Google has announced to close all its offices located in China and Taiwan for the time being. The company has said in a statement that they have stopped their staff from travelling to China while those who were already there have been asked to leave at the earliest and then work from home for at least two weeks.
Other technology conglomerates such as Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon have also announced similar measures to protect their employees. Remarkably, Facebook had become the first major US-based technology firm to advise its staff against travelling to China.
Coronavirus impacts companies and employees across idustries
It is worth noting that almost all global conglomerates have significant office base or manufacturing units in the Asian country. For instance, even though the Google search engine isn’t available in China, the company has four offices in Mainland China for its advertising business which largely focus on sales and engineering.
The deadly havoc which had initially begun from Wuhan is fast spreading in the entire subcontinent and beyond. Therefore, MNCs from across industries are joining the China shut-down amidst the outbreak.
As Starbucks closed its 2,000 outlets in China due to the virus outbreak, automobile manufacturer, General Motors also extended its Lunar New Year holidays for the production plants. Toyota has also declared that its manufacturing units in China will stay shut until February 9, 2020. PSA, the parent company behind Peugeot and Citroen, Hond, and Nissan have also announced plans to evacuate their staff from China.
