A Vice President at Wells Fargo, Chandrasekar C, is urging organisations to reconsider their commute policies in light of the current LPG shortage. In a LinkedIn post, he argued that enabling Work From Home (WFH) is no longer just a business continuity strategy but a critical social responsibility. He claimed that by reducing daily employee commutes, companies can help conserve fuel that is desperately needed for essential services like healthcare and logistics.
"With the current LPG crisis and oil crisis will gradually impact day-to-day life in India in a matter of days, it is important for organizations to think beyond business continuity and act with social responsibility,” Chandrasekar C wrote.
He explained, “One immediate and practical step companies can take is enabling Work From Home (WFH) wherever possible. Every day thousands of employees commute long distances, consuming significant amounts of fuel.”
The VP continued, “The fuel saved through reduced commuting can be redirected to essential services such as healthcare, emergency response, logistics, and public transport, where it is critically needed. In today’s context, enabling WFH is not just an operational decision, it is a responsible choice. Sometimes, these decisions can also be treated as corporate social responsibility (CSR)."
{{/usCountry}}The VP continued, “The fuel saved through reduced commuting can be redirected to essential services such as healthcare, emergency response, logistics, and public transport, where it is critically needed. In today’s context, enabling WFH is not just an operational decision, it is a responsible choice. Sometimes, these decisions can also be treated as corporate social responsibility (CSR)."
{{/usCountry}}How did social media react?
An individual wrote, “It would create impact only when employees also stick to WFH and not take advantage of the opportunity. Often, we can see people doing other activities during office hours.” The VP responded, “I strongly agree. My point is that with the given situations around the world and uncertainty on the ceasefire, we may foresee some oil shortage. My intention was only on heavy consumption of oils even in this situation.”
Another posted, “Better practised than preached.” A third commented, “As compared to other countries, India is less impacted, just hype created regarding shortage, the situation is not that bad yet. This will end within the next 10 to 20 days.”
About the ongoing LPG shortage:
Reportedly, several hotels and restaurants across the country have been affected by the shortage of commercial LPG cylinders amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia. Gas agencies in Delhi have reported a surge in requests for cylinders and calls from customers in fear over cooking gas shortages. Officials, however, have stated that there is no shortage of supply.
There have been reports of restaurants in Bengaluru scaling back menus and preparing for possible shutdowns amid the chaos. The owners of the eateries told HT.com that they first felt the drop in supply on March 9.
“Supply problems started on March 9. Most hotels received barely about 20% of their usual cylinder deliveries, and since then the supply has stopped completely. Distributors themselves are not receiving cylinders, so restaurants have effectively been cut off,” Arun Adiga, managing partner of Bengaluru’s iconic eatery Vidyarthi Bhavan, told HT.com.
“Many South Indian dishes, especially dosa, require burners that run on a steady flame. Our restaurant alone uses six to eight LPG cylinders a day, and bigger establishments can consume anywhere between 10 and 12 cylinders daily,” added Adiga.
Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company headquartered in San Francisco. In India, the company has offices in Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad. Chandrasekar C’s LinkedIn suggests he is based in Tamil Nadu.a