Updated with news of SXSW conference cancellation:

Microsoft Corp. pledged Thursday evening to keep paying hourly workers who are losing shifts because of the coronavirus outbreak and several other tech giants have since said they would follow suit.

A Facebook Inc. spokesperson told Business Insider today that the social network “will pay contingent workers that cannot work due to reduced staffing requirements.” Google LLC and Twitter.com Inc. said they will take similar steps.

The four tech firms earlier called on staff in areas with coronavirus cases to work from home if their jobs allow. Microsoft has recommended telecommuting to all of its 50,000-plus employees in Puget Sound, which is home to the company’s global headquarters. On Thursday, Microsoft that it will continue paying the wages of hourly employees who work at the company’s Puget Sound locations even if they’re employed by external suppliers. 

“This will ensure that, in Puget Sound for example, the 4,500 hourly employees who work in our facilities will continue to receive their regular wages even if their work hours are reduced,” Microsoft President Brad Smith wrote in the announcement.

In the background, Apple Inc. today reportedly joined the list of tech companies that are allowing employees to work from home. The iPhone maker permitted telecommuting on Friday at its Cupertino, California headquarters and other offices elsewhere in Santa Clara County.

Silicon Valley’s venture capital community is taking precautions as well. Y Combinator said this morning that it will turn its high-profile Demo Day startup gathering, which was expected to attract an audience of about 1,000 investors, into an online event. A number of venture capital firms previously limited business travel for staffers.

Update: Late Friday, the organizers of the popular music and tech conference SXSW, also known as South by Southwest, said they’re cancelling the event for the first time in its 34 years. They said they’re looking running at an online-only event. The cancellation joins virtually every other major tech conference getting cancelled, postponed or turned into a digital-only event in the past couple of weeks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost nearly 1% more today, after falling nearly 900 points earlier in the day, and S&P 500 fell 1.7%. That followed a volatile week in which both indices as well as others worldwide took a substantial hit. The Federal Reserve slashed interest rates by 50 basis points on Tuesday in a bid to soften the economic impact of the coronavirus, with economists polled by Reuters expecting more cuts later this month. 

Photo: Microsoft