Nearly one million office workers must work from home from Oct 22, says Ismail Sabri (updated)

PUTRAJAYA: Nearly one million private and public sector workers who are in the management and supervision categories in Selangor, Sabah, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya - which are under a conditional movement control order (MCO) - have been directed to work from home effective Oct 22.

Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said this decision by the National Security Council is aimed to limit the movement of people and prevent new Covid-19 infections.

“This is a directive, not a proposal or a suggestion by the government. Workers in several categories will work from home.

“The full list of those affected as well as standard operating procedures will be issued by the International Trade and Industry soon, ” he said on Tuesday (Oct 20).

The public service director-general will issue a list for civil servants to refer to, he added.

The decision will affect around a million workers - 800,000 from the private sector as well as 200,000 civil servants.

Ismail Sabri said among employees who will have to continue to work from the office are those in the financial sector, enforcement as well as welfare officers.

“This directive to work from home depends on how long the area is under conditional MCO. Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya will be under the order until Oct 27.

"If the order is not extended then workers will only have to work from home for five days.

“If it is extended further, then this directive will have to be followed until the order is lifted, ” he said.

Those who have to come to the office will be required to undergo swab tests and Socso contributors will not have to pay for the test, he added.