How industries see the ‘new normal’: Work from home & lighter shifts

TNN | Apr 21, 2020, 07:11 IST

IIIA said it was not sure about the resumption timeline for factories

Noida: Giving an insight into the changes that the floors of manufacturing units are likely to see, the Indian Industries Association (IIA) said on Monday implementing social distancing rules will lead to higher use of technology and could see some positions being permanently moved to working from home. IIA, which re presents small, medium and micro enterprises, said it was not sure about the resumption timeline for factories even after May 3, when the lockdown ends, and ensuring safety of workers from the novel coronavirus infection is a huge responsibility that factory owners would have.
“We are expecting a 10-20% increase in costs because of daily and sustained sanitisation. We are not equipped for these and we want the support of Noida Authority to execute these. We are sure of a complete restructuring of how production is operated post-lockdown with more technology and less dense work areas,” said Kulmani Gupta, president of IIA, Noida. The national capital region, on either side of Delhi in Haryana and UP, is one of India’s largest industrial producers. It’s a hub for textiles (Noida) and automobiles (Manesar). Gupta said most small and medium enterprises (SMEs) may make greater use of of technology to get certain employees to operate from home. Those who work in the assembly line would have to be on the shop floor, but social distancing, gloves and masks would be the norm.
“The idea is to start work but not cause contamination. And hands have to be continuously gloved, sanitised and washed. There’s a huge responsibility now on any factory owner to start work,” Gupta said. Raman Khatuwala, an IIA member, added, “Except for shop floor workers, executives can visit for little time windows. Floors of the factory have to be washed twice and sanitisation has to be done meticulously. But the worry is that some SME factories are so small that distance between employees is impossible, we must think of these things thoroughly before starting operations.”
The industry body also urged the government not to force them to pay full salary to those who have not worked during the lockdown. “There are people who are continuously working during the lockdown. There are some who are on a paid holiday. Now, we are not saying that we don’t want to not pay those who are not working now, but because their expenses have also reduced at this time, we want to pay their rent, food and basic expenses but can’t pay full salary. Talking of government subsidies, the electricity board has not waived any payment but only deferred due dates. So, we make an appeal to the government to support the SMEs at this time,” Gupta said.
The Noida region has 10,000 SMEs, which employ around 10 lakh people, according to IIA.