Kochi: The IT companies in the state are seeking new ways to cut expenses due to the COVID crisis. The companies have started reducing the size of offices. Many companies in the IT parks are trying to return a larger area of the space they rented.

"Majority of the staff are working from home. We have a space for 450 staff in IT park. Retaining the space for 100 staff, the rest will be given back," said the representative of a leading IT firm. They added that other companies also have informed they are vacating one portion of the office space.

Layoff

A study report shows that a total of 64 employees were terminated from IT companies between April and June. This was found in a survey conducted among the staff in Techno Park, Info Park and Cyber Park.

280 staff were benched and 1137 had a salary cut. 7514 staff took part in the survey. The authorities themselves admit that the actual figures of the terminated staff could be even higher.

Financial crisis

About 79.8 percent of the people who took part in the survey stated that they had a decrease in the income. 89 companies faced a loss of Rs 52 crore. A loss of Rs 28 crore was occurred due to freezing of projects and cancellation of projects led to a loss of Rs 13 crore. There was a decline of Rs 33 crore in the income in the months between January and June.

Challenges

The lack of public transportation is a major challenge. The companies cannot meet clients and projects were cancelled. The employees are refusing to come to the office pointing out that working in air conditioned rooms is not safe.

Working from home needs more safety as they are handling very expensive data of the companies. The condition is unlikely to be improved till September. So, the companies are trying to cut expenses, the participants of the survey said.