VIJAYAWADA: To facilitate IT employees working from remote locations, Information Technology Minister Mekapati Goutham Reddy on Tuesday launched the State government’s Work from Hometown (W@HT) website.
With W@HT centres across the State, the government aims to provide proper infrastructure, such as high-speed internet, uninterrupted power supply and dedicated work spaces, to IT and ITES employees/ employers and freelancers who are working from home due to the Covid- 1 9 pandemic.
The State government’s IT, Electronics and Communication department is launching W@ HT pilot centres in 29 locations in engineering colleges and APIS facilities in Visakhapatnam, Kakinada and Tirupati, in coordination with AP State Skill Development Corporation, AP Non-Resident Telugu Society, AP Innovation Society (APIS) and AP State Council of Higher Education.
Each centre will have a seating capacity that could accommodate a minimum of 30 employees. Requests of any IT/ITES company requiring a dedicated centre will also be considered. As the pandemic is seemingly receding, the companies are evaluating options such as going back to the pre- Covid scenario of working from offices, letting employees work in a hybrid model by letting them work a few days a week from anywhere and continuing full time remote working.
“In order to support the hybrid working model as well as work from anywhere for an extended period, the government is launching the initiative to provide coworking spaces closer to employees’ home with facilities such as uninterrupted power supply, high speed broadband connectivity through leased lines, dedicated work stations and clean spaces,” the minister said. Based on the demand, the ITE&C department has plans to expand W@HT spaces by leveraging existing infrastructure in near future that could accommodate 100,000 IT employees.