Work from home may stay for govt. staff

Work from home may stay for govt. staff

Draft paper moots staggered attendance and variable hours as a matter of policy

15/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,NEW DELHI

Post lockdown, the Union government will continue staggered and variable work hours for its employees with the Personnel Ministry floating a draft consultation paper on best work-from-home practices.

The Department of Personnel and Training may provide the option of work from home to eligible officers and other employees for 15 days a year as a matter of policy, the paper said.

The department asked the Ministries and departments to send in their suggestions by May 21.

“Extra protocol for all VIP and Parliament matters”, which require utmost attention, is among the proposals. An employee working from home cannot process “classified papers/files”.

“As per instructions of the Ministry of Home Affairs, no classified information shall be handled through e-office. Therefore, classified files shall not be processed in e-office during work from home,” the draft paper said.

The National Informatics Centre (NIC) may evaluate the existing security protocol for remote access of classified file and information in consultation with the Home Ministry and propose suitable guidelines and the standard operating procedures (SOP) for handling classified information in e-office, it said.

“Till the time, classified files shall be processed on standalone computers only as specified in the Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure (CSMOP).”

There are 48.34 lakh Central government employees.