Accepting the reality of coronavirus influencing work patterns in the coming days, the Ministry of Personnel has circulated a draft proposing work from home for all central government employees for at least 15 days in a year.
“It is quite likely that for the near future, the central secretariat will continue to go for staggered attendance and variable working hours to maintain social distancing at workplace,” the draft circulated on Wednesday said.
To facilitate work from home, DoPT proposes implementation of e-office in all ministries and associated departments. Seventy-five ministries have already started working on this digital platform and 57 are completing 80% of their work on e-office. To facilitate this further, DoPT has proposed access to VPN to section officer-level to help remotely access electronic files on a secured network. So far, this is available to deputy secretary and higher-level officers.
Security, however, remains a concern. Ministry of home affairs guidelines state that classified files cannot be accessed over internet. DoPT therefore says that work from home will not be available for those dealing with classified files.
Reimbursement of data, helping officials procure desktops or laptops have all been dealt with in the proposal.
For Parliament-related or VIP queries, the draft also proposes an SMS alert system so that the next officer in chain of command is alerted when the file is processed. Video conferencing on NIC platforms can replace official meetings, proposes the draft.
"Officers working from home shall be available on phone. NIC shall ensure that their devices are protected against any malware, "the draft says.
Ministries have been asked to respond to the draft by May 21, post which department of administrative reforms and public grievance in the Ministry of Personnel will finalise the work from home protocol.
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