On the 4th of March, 2020, IBM announced that it would be halting all of their internal travel due to the spread of coronavirus. They had also cancelled all their international travel plans due to the very same reason. Earlier, IBM had also changed its IBM think 2020 conference to a Digital First event and this would take place from May 5th to May 7th.
The company hasn’t completely banned domestic work for the clients though they prefer that the issue be resolved virtually. They feel that cancelling such client meetings and conferences would prevent the spread of the disease. This is a form of “social distancing” that the company is following.
IBM had to cancel conferences and make them virtual to prevent the formation of crowds where the virus could spread easily. These restrictions are similar to the ones placed by Google who had to cancel 2 major conferences and limit travel for employees. Facebook has restricted social visits to company offices whereas Twitter is strongly recommending that its employees work from home.
If any of their employees travel to restricted locations such as that of China or other hotspots, then the company has requested that the employee self quarantine themselves for 14 days. As, per the latest reports, COVID-19 has infected almost 95,000 people worldwide and has killed almost 3,200 people.
