Amid the ongoing novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic, many foreign companies in Shanghai have been directing employees to work from home since Feb 10 in an effort to curb the spread of the virus as staffers return from the travel rush.

Jiang Jian, vice-president of communications for Bosch China, was conducting a video conference via Skype with the heads of his three teams on his cellphone on Feb 10.

Jiang said that after the Spring Festival holiday Bosch China offered its employees a "work-from-home as first choice" option to resume work.

"Monday is the day for our weekly meeting, so a lot of internal and external work needed to be arranged," he said.

Huang Feng, chairman of Shanghai Association of Foreign Investment, said that since the beginning of February, the association had conducted a survey of member companies, and most chose to work from home, generally delaying their return to the office for one to two weeks.

Allan Gabor, CEO of Merck China, chooses to work from home and keeps in touch with his colleagues who also work from home via WeChat. [Photo/WeChat account: scofcom]