KUALA LUMPUR – The government does not intend to continue the work from home (WFH) initiative for government servants, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
Ismail Sabri said currently only 20% of government servants were allowed to WFH, and the rest had to return to work in the office.
“Actually, work from home was implemented during the movement control order (MCO) before, where most government offices had to be closed.
“However, when the MCO ended, there are still 20% who WFH.
“We find that the productivity of employees in the office is better than at home,” he told the Dewan Rakyat today.
Ismail Sabri (Bera-BN) said this in response to an additional question from Datuk Seri Tajudin Abdul Rahman (Pasir Salak-BN) who wanted to know whether the government intended to extend WFH for government employees.
Ismail said the 20% of government employees allowed to work at home were staff who did not work in critical sectors such as health and services.
On April 1 last year, the government announced that WFH directives for the public and private sectors were revoked, and all sectors were allowed to operate at 100% capacity.
In early February, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin was reported to have said that the ministry strongly encouraged employers in the country to continue the WFH policy to ensure a safe workplace environment for workers.
He said the ministry was also encouraging an attendance rotation system to the office as Covid-19 cases were on the rise following the Omicron variant infection. – The Vibes, March 1, 2022
