Infosys sacks employee for inappropriate social media post on coronavirus

India’s leading IT services company Infosys has sacked one of its employees who put an inappropriate post on a social media platform regarding the coronavirus pandemic.

Infosys on Twitter said, “Infosys has completed its investigation on the social media post by one of its employees, and we believe that this is not a case of mistaken identity.”

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The company added, "The social media post by the employee is against Infosys' code of conduct and its commitment to responsible social sharing. Infosys has a zero tolerance policy towards such acts and has accordingly, terminated the services of the employee."

The sacked employee in question came under severe criticism for the post on a social media platform which stated: “Let’s join hands, go out and sneeze in open in public. Spread the virus.”

Following a public outrage on social media, Infosys had issued a statement saying it would investigate the matter internally. Meanwhile, the Bengaluru Police has also registered a case against sacked Infosys employee.

The nationwide lockdown announced by the government has literally brought the entire economy to standstill. The Indian IT industry has literally gone into work from home mode with only the critical staff at the office premises.

The Indian IT industry generates close to 90 per cent of its revenues from overseas markets like the United States, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. Now with the extensive spread of coronavirus in the United States and Europe, fears have risen on the business impact it will have on the Indian IT industry.

Various analyst bodies have warned about significant cuts in IT spending budgets in 2020 and the estimates are that it could have an impact in the next six to nine months. This would also mean that there could be negligible revenue growth for the IT companies.