KUALA LUMPUR: Experts have raised concerns about working from home, including on issues such as a proper wage, mental health and data privacy.
Malaysian Trades Union Congress president Datuk Abdul Halim Mansor said the government's work-from-home order was ambiguous and inconsistent.
"First, are the working days for those at the office reduced to three days, or will employees be asked to also work for another two days at home? If that's the case, it's like 'bringing work back home', rather than working from home," he said.
"Second, the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) said working hours for those assigned to the office will be reduced to four hours and three days a week.
"So, how if employers start calculating the salary based on employees' attendance at the office?" he asked.
Furthermore, Halim said it was unfair to pressure employers to pay their employees' salary in full when industries were forced to cut down on productivity.
He also said Miti's one-size-fits-all approach to industries was not applicable to all economic sectors as they did not operate the same way.
"In hindsight, Miti should have discussed with industry players and the Human Resources Ministry before issuing the work-from-home order," he said.
Registered counsellor Surenthiran Pillai Venayagam Pillai said a prolonged work-from-home order might take a toll on the mental wellbeing of employees.
"Malaysians are highly sociable people. So they may experience issues like cabin fever and depression when they work from home in solitude for a long time.
"Those with a family may face anxiety as they struggle to juggle both work and family at home," he said.
Nevertheless, he said, employers could relieve their employees' emotional burden by providing physical, psychological and policy support.
"In terms of physical support, employers should help employees set up a proper workplace at home by providing ergonomic chairs, sufficient Internet quota, or other forms of goods or allowance for them to function seamlessly.
"As for psychological support, employers should provide or create platforms for employees to gain access to wellness interventions like sharing or counselling sessions with professionals.
"Employers must also put in place clear standard operating procedures for the staff to follow to avoid performance hiccups."
A security expert from Universiti Sains Malaysia, Professor Dr Selvakumar Manickam, said small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) were more susceptible to cybersecurity threats compared with large corporations.
"Large, private companies have robust mechanisms in place to safeguard their data privacy. For example, employees will have to connect to their office portal via a virtual private network (VPN).
"However, SMEs lack facilities like VPN or firewall protection and this leaves them vulnerable to data theft while working from home," he said.
Therefore, he advised SME owners to provide at least a paid antivirus software for their employees, among others, to safeguard their data.
"Employees must also be proactive and educate themselves on how to protect themselves from phishing attacks, online scams, data theft and other cybersecurity threats," he said.