Gazprom to try to start returning employees to offices on May 12 - sources
MOSCOW. May 8 (Interfax) - Gazprom plans to start gradually returning its staffers to offices on May 12, several sources familiar with the situation told Interfax on Friday.
Employees would take PCR tests for coronavirus and, if they test negative, they might start returning to their regular workplaces from May 12, on the condition that they do not use public transport to get to work from home, the sources said.
"The employees who have been transferred to remote work in keeping with the order of March 12 shall be gradually returned to their permanent workplaces starting May 12, depending on the business needs. Access to permanent workplaces shall be granted based on the results of polymerase chain reaction tests, provided that an employee is able to get to work from home and back without using public transport," a source quoted an order signed by Gazprom head Alexei Miller.
The administration will have to provide employees in offices with individual protective items.
The heads of Gazprom's divisions have been ordered "to ensure the development of measures starting May 12 to gradually lift the restrictions preventing the spread of the new coronavirus infection, taking into account the actual sanitary-epidemiological situation in the areas of their operations," the document says.
Since mid-March, most of the employees of Gazprom's head office (administration) and its subsidiaries have been working remotely. The company restricted business trips abroad and around Russia and discouraged its employees from travelling privately. Conferences involving more than ten people have been held in a video format.
As of the early 2020, Gazprom employed about 473,800 people.