KUALA LUMPUR: The International Trade and Industry Ministry has allowed a maximum 10 per cent of workers in the management and supervisory capacities to come to office for a limited time.
Senior International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali said this was decided after taking into account the industry needs to have a small pool of workers to be on site.
"The workers are those doing accounts, finance, administration, legal, planning and ICT and will be allowed to be in the office for four hours only starting from 10am to 2pm for three days a week.
Azmin said this following the latest directive instructing employees in the private and public sectors, at the management and supervisory levels, in areas under the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) to work from home starting Thursday, Oct 22.
"A total 776,135 or 25 per cent from the 3.1 million workers are in the management and supervisory levels and listed as mandatory to work from home by the NSC.
"The companies are not required to submit applications for their staff but must issue approval letters for employees who are allowed to work throughout the CMCO to travel and to issue a suitable guideline for respective companies," he said in a statement.
Azmin added that the government will continue to cooperate with the private sector and industries to improve the work from home implementation as the new normal in line with the latest technology and online applications.
"The ministry will continue its monitoring and strict enforcement to ensure the adherence and implementation of the new standard operating procedures among the industry players," the statement read.
Yesterday, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said about a million workers in the two sectors in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Selangor, Labuan and Sabah will be affected by the order.
He said those affected include some 800,000 workers in the industrial sector; and 200,000 civil servants in the federal territories and states under the CMCO.
Ismail Sabri said the work-from-home order is being implemented to stem the surge in Covid-19 cases in Selangor and Sabah, adding that the Health Ministry has detected nine Covid-19 clusters involving workplaces in Selangor.