Civil Servants In These States To Enjoy Flexible Working Hours Starting 1 March
They still need to clock in nine working hours.
By Sadho Ram — 28 Feb 2019, 01:58 PM
Starting 1 March, civil servants working at all federal ministries and departments in certain states will be allowed to work flexible working hours, Public Service Department (PSD) has announced
In a circular uploaded on its official Facebook page, PSD director-general Borhan Dolah said the move to allow civil servants to come to work during flexible working hours is intended to help them with a balance between working hours and family time.
The flexible working hours will be introduced in Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur and all federal departments in Perlis, Perak, Selangor, Johor, Terengganu, Sabah and Sarawak.
The circular on the new working hours stated that the civil servants can choose to come to work between 7.30am and 8.30am and leave between 4.30pm and 5.30pm on working days, as long as they have worked nine hours in total.
Civil servants working in Johor and Terengganu can clock out between 3pm to 4pm on Thursdays, as long as they work a total of seven and a half hours.
As this was a "pilot programme", the initiative is limited to federal agencies in the aforementioned states. Pahang, Kelantan, Penang, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan are the states not included in it.
It is also not applicable to those working in statutory bodies, local councils, government schools, public healthcare facilities and state government agencies.
The circular stated that the end date of the pilot programme will be announced later.
Meanwhile, department heads will be responsible for ensuring that employees participating in the flexible working hours initiative adhered to its requirements, such as filling up forms indicating what time they clocked in based on gender and rank, as well as any challenges the department heads faced in implementing the programme.
Borhan stated that the pilot project is being introduced at these departments first to see if it is effective and will expand it to all other government agencies later.
The circular stated that the flexible working hour routine shouldn't affect the operations at the departments with service counters
According to the circular, it will be the heads of departments' responsibility to ensure smooth operations at their service counters, and that the department heads will have the prerogative to order any of their staff to come to the office at the required hours.
Meanwhile, pregnant women and their husbands are allowed to go home an hour earlier as practised in the previous staggered working hour scheme, reported The Star Online.
An infographic by Malaysiakini details the new flexible working hour routine.
Image via Malaysiakini