Teleworking must be carried out wherever possible, public sector heads told

A public sector directive instructs heads of departments so that any work that can be done remotely should be carried out in this way until another notice is issued.

In a statement, the Office of the Principal Permanent Secretary clarified that directives issued to public sector regarding telework are different to what was issued last year, which relied on teleworking requests being made by public employees themselves.

Instead, heads of department must ensure that all teleworkable jobs are in fact carried out remotely, with no prior request needed from the employee.

Guidelines were communicated to all ministries last week. 

The UĦM had send a letter to the Principal Permanent Secretary to ensure that the COVID-19 remote working directive is implemented fairly this time around, with no deductions in take-home pay while working from the premises only in exceptional, justified circumstances. 

Where duties have to be carried out from the workplace, the union proposed that administration must create a roster comprising different bubbles, which do not mix together, and work must be assigned through a rotation system.

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