Main image via Astro Awani
Employers have hailed the government’s decision to abolish the ruling that permits only 30% of management staff to work in offices in Conditional MCO areas.
Malaysian Employers Federation executive director Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan told Astro Radio News this will enable employers to return to normal capacity, pre Covid-19. However, he reminded employers to be mindful of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) at the workplace because failure to do so could lead to new clusters at the workplace.
Why are workplaces riskier in spreading Covid-19?
“Colleagues tend to work in close quarters with each other”, Malaysian Public Health Physicians’ Association president Datuk Dr Zainal Ariffin Omar told Astro Radio News.
Image via Astro Awani
The other reasons are because they are in the same place for a long period of time and tend to become complacent in adhering to SOPs because of the familiarity with each other. Dr Zainal says it is important for necessary steps to be in place to ensure workplaces are safe from Covid-19.
“Employers need to continuously remind, monitor and provide basic facilities such as hand sanitisers and face masks as well as conduct meetings with the relevant Covid-19 protocols in place.”
However, MEF’s Datuk Shamsuddin encouraged employers to consider continuing with the WFH policy by allowing certain employees to do so based on the nature and requirements of their job scope.
“Initially, we faced challenges in implementing the WFH policy, but now we are in a better position to actually continue with the culture of working from home.”
“But, employees should have a dedicated workstation at home to maintain productivity and eliminate distractions,” says Datuk Shamsuddin.
The government decided to lift the WFH directive because it has been difficult to implement, especially at manufacturing companies, as their operations cannot be conducted remotely.
By Roshini Ravindran
