E-Office for Orang Gomen

Is the Malaysian civil service really ready to adopt the home office concept?

Beginning January 2010, a selected group of 35 Public Works Department (JKR) draughtsmen will start working from home in a pioneer E-office initiative on a trial basis of 3 months. The programme will cease if productivity does not increase.

The KSN was reported as saying, "I also work from home. But I also work from my car, and when I go back to my hometown, I take my work with me. In this age of the Blackberry and Internet, it is not impossible to work from one's home."

Yeah, I know many of us government officers - who were often accused of being lazy and goyang kaki having nothing to do - take our work back home and continue working even at home.
But that's an extension of working at office. Now, now, if this work from home concept is going to be extended to other schemes in the civil service - that'll be like dream come true to many...

But who can actually work from home?
And should some groups in the civil service be given 'priority' of sort to work from home?

We know that for instance - policemen, firemen, doctors, nurses, teachers - can't work from home. So, who can? So far, it seems like the option is only open to those whose work is ICT based - draughtsmen, ICT support, CRM support and other technical persons whose work is all computer-and-internet-based.

Yes, the e-office concept is workable. It might help reducing the need to rent massive workplace, ease road congestion, reduce the burden on civil servants in terms of petrol expenses and travel time and allow them to spend more time with their families. E-office means one has 24 hours at his or her disposal in sorting out the work schedule instead of the usual 9 hours in the office.

Maybe the e-office will work well for 'disabled' civil servants - those who have disabilities due to accidents or are suffering from chronic diseases.

Maybe it'll provide a solution for mothers with small children who still want to work but don't want to spend so much time away from their children, especially when the children are sick and unwell. And yes, it'll be so easy to practise exclusive breastfeeding when the mother is working from home.

Maybe it'll help those who have to take care of sick and elderly parents/siblings/relatives.

And maybe it will work well for those who need to work in "bersunyi-sunyi" condition. The ICT guy/artist who has to come up with creative ideas to produce montage or documentaries for example. The chance to work alone in isolation might be good when one is in a project that requires intense and specific concentration.

So - it seems like a good policy, this e-office thingy. By allowing civil servants to work from home, the government might not lose those who are experts in their respective fields to untimely resignations or premature retirements. If the experts in the respective fields are retained, then this might help ensuring efficiency and boosting productivity in the public service.

Question: What about the control mechanisms to be used so that those who cannot work from home and still have to go to the office will not feel discriminated against those who are allowed to work from home?

Lets say Mr A is a draughtsman who is allowed to work from home, and
Mr B is a technician who has to go to the office.

Mr A might claim that since he works from the office, it's okay for him to go and lepak at Restoran Mamak at anytime he pleases, so long as he submitted all the sheets as required by his office.
Mr B, should him be caught at the same Restoran Mamak during the conventional working hour, could be subjected to disciplinary procedures. Notwithstanding the fact that he has finished all the tasks required from him.

Lets say Ms Y is a IT technician working on a creative montage and allowed to work from home, and Ms Z is a clerk who has to go to the office.

Ms Y might claim that she deserve to go to the shopping mall for a 'retail therapy' during the day after working long nights to produce the said montage.
Ms Z, should she be found undergoing a 'retail therapy' at the mall during office hour could be subjected to disciplinary procedures.

What is the definition of "absence" from work for those who work from home?
How does one apply for official leave when one is working from home?
How to determine the "lenght of time" (tempoh masa) of a person who work at home to be as adequate compared to his or her colleagues who work at the office?
Who is responsible to exercise disciplinary control and supervision over those who work from home?
What if those who work from home immerse themselves with immoral activities, or spend more time doing part-time jobs for additional income then concentrating on their 'real' job, although they get to claim for eletricity/internet connection/telephone bills?
What about the security aspects of those government assets in the E-office? The computers, expensive softwares, web cams, etc?

Personally, I like the idea of working from home.
But how to go about executing it as to be fair to everybody in the civil service still bothers me...