International accounting giant Ernst & Young tells its 6000 Australian employees to work from home to stop the spread of coronavirus
- The global accounting giant ordered 6000 staff to work from home for weeks
- Strict instructions come into effect from Wednesday, will last until March 31
- Company joins a list of businesses that have kept staff away from offices
- Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
Ernst & Young employees are the latest Australians to work remotely from home as the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread.
The global accounting giant ordered 6000 staff in its Oceania operations on Monday to not come into the office and instead work from home for the next two weeks.
The strict directive comes into effect from Wednesday and will remain in place until March 31.
The company joins a growing list of businesses that have ordered staff to work remotely as the number of confirmed cases of the virus climbs past 350 in Australia, including five deaths.
Ernst & Young headquarters across Australia, including its Sydney office (pictured), will be deserted for the next two weeks with all employees ordered to stay home
Some Brisbane-based Ernst & Young staff were already working from home after a male colleague reported flu-like symptoms last week.
He was later given the all clear after tests came back negative.
'The COVID-19 outbreak is unpredictable and affecting individuals, communities, and businesses in many ways,' EY chief executive Tony Johnson said in a statement.
'Across EY we continue to monitor and take advice from experts to ensure we support containment measures that protect the wellbeing of our people, our clients and the community.'
'We understand this can be a time of uncertainty for many of our people and we continue to have procedures and safeguards in place to ensure our people are supported during this period – their safety and wellbeing is our number one priority.
'Our teams are also working to communicate these changes to clients to ensure business continuity.'
Ernst & Young has also restricted all international and non-essential domestic travel while staff currently abroad were ordered to return home.
'We are focused on responding to the important short term issues but are also ensuring we stay balanced and maintain a focus on the medium and long term business issues – COVID-19 will pass,' Mr Johnson added.
Share this article
'We are continuing to monitor this situation closely and will be updating our guidance and protocols and informing our people and our clients as developments warrant.'
Elsewhere, NSW-based National Broadband Network staff are also working from home for the next fortnight, as are other NBN staff 'whenever possible'.
Communications giant Telstra also issued a similar directive to office-based staff to work remotely for the rest of March.
Other organisations include Finder, the Australian Securities Exchange, Vodafone, Foxtel Media and Dropbox.
Around 600 staff from law firm King & Wood Mallesons' Sydney office remain at home after a suspected case of coronavirus last week, which later came negative.
Another law firm Clayton Utz also sent its Sydney-based staff home earlier this month after it was revealed an employee's wife had recently visited a 95-year-old woman who later died from the virus.
A growing list of companies have ordered their staff to work from home (stock image)
