Work from home may stay for govt. staff

Work from home may stay for govt. staff

15/05/2020

The third phase of the lockdown ends on May 17 and a fourth phase may be announced by the government. Several Central employees are not able to reach office in the absence of public transport.

In a communiqué to all departments, the DoPT said the COVID-19 pandemic had necessitated many Ministries to operate from home to maintain social distancing.

It is quite likely that in the near future, the Central secretariat would continue to go for staggered attendance and variable working hours to maintain social distancing at the workplace.

“Therefore, a broad framework for work from home is important to standardise the operating procedure post lockdown and to ensure the safety and security of information, while accessing government files and information remotely from home,” it said.

Accordingly, a new set of SOPs have been finalised for the employees to ensure smooth and seamless functioning of the government for continuity of the office works besides imparting resilience in the ecosystem even post lockdown situations.

Laptop or desktop use

Employees would be provided with the logistic supports in the form of laptop/desktop by the respective Ministries/Departments.

They may also get reimbursement for Internet services that they would use while working from home.

“The Department of Expenditure may consider reimbursement for data uses to the officers working from home and if required may issue separate guidelines in this regards,” it stated.

“Therefore, SMS alerts should be sent for all such receipts and files to the next officer in the channel.”

The Ministries/Departments concerned, who were not yet using the e-office module, would make an endeavour for its expeditious implementation in their secretariat, attached and subordinate offices in a “time-bound manner”.

At present, about 75 Ministries/Departments are actively using e-office platform, of which 57 have achieved more than 80% of their work.