San Francisco

Visa Inc. has allowed the majority of its 20,000 employees to work from home for the rest of the year in light of safety concerns due to COVID-19, the global payments network's CEO Alfred Kelly Jr. has said.

"The safety and well-being of Visa employees continues to be my top priority. As a result, I expect a majority of our workforce will continue to work from home through the 2020 calendar year," Kelly said in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday.

Another reason for extending remote working for most of its employees is that the move will contribute towards decongesting transit systems and roads amid concerns about social distancing.

"We are fortunate the majority of Visa employees can work safely from home while continuing to support our clients effectively. Unfortunately, there are tens of millions of people who can't work from home, for whom not showing up to work means not getting paid," Kelly said.

"It simply seems wrong for Visa employees to be crowding transit systems and roads when we have the flexibility to both continue full business continuity while working from home. Those who have to get to their place of work to receive a paycheck should have priority use of socially distanced transit," he added.

Visa's announcement came after rival firm American Express Co. on Monday said that the majority of its workers can continue working from home for the rest of 2020.

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