Federal government employees in Dubai to work remotely
Pilot system to cover entire workforce of federal departments in emirate from March 17
Abu Dhabi: Starting Tuesday, 25 per cent of the workforce of some selected federal departments in Dubai will work remotely as a precaution to avoid any spread of the Coronavirus.
From Wednesday, 50 per cent of the workforce of select federal departments in Dubai will be working remotely, while the pilot remote work system will cover 100 per cent of the workforce of these departments from March 17.
The pilot system will be applied gradually to other emirates across the country.
The system is based on the division of labour on the employees in each department so that a group of them will perform their duties from home or remotely. Each department will start dividing the work among its employees so that at least 25 per cent of the workforce, but not more than 50 per cent, will work remotely.
Employees will be divided into two groups, and the work will be distributed remotely between them, so that the group that works remotely on the first day, returns to work from the ministry’s offices on the next day and so on.
The system aims to reduce the presence of employees in their offices to avoid crowding.
Senior, pregnant employees
Meanwhile, government agencies have issued a circular to allow all senior citizens and pregnant employees to work remotely from Monday.
The Government has been studying the application of the remote work system to all government employees as a precautionary and preventive measure to counter the spread of the coronavirus.
And to start implementing the remote work system, government agencies have provided all employees with laptops and software for the application of the remote work system.
This programme, named “Microsoft Team”, connects groups of employees with one another to complete official transactions without the need for employees to be present in their offices.
The programme provides control over the work, performance and achievement of employees and the calculation of working hours for each employee.
Through the programme, the head of the department can monitor the work and performance of the employees working under their management.
Who’s in, who’s out?
The remote work programme will be applied to all state employees in the federal and local sectors, but hospital workers, employees working in emergency departments such as electricity and water emergencies, civil defense personnel, the police and workers in the passports departments at airports, sea and land ports are excluded.