Centre updating new rule book to make work-from-home easy for government employees

The Centre is working on guidelines for the new work from home culture for government functioning which includes how offices will operate and procedure for file movement and disposal, under the new normal that the coronavirus pandemic has ushered in.

As per news source, some changes may be introduced in the Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure. It is the rule book according to which the functioning of every central government office and the movement of a typical government file to align it with the new work dynamics, which includes work-from-home (WFH) situations, and increased use of electronic communication.

The Centre has asked all the officials who are at the Deputy Secretary level and higher must ensure 100% office attendance and secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) access has been extended to officials across ministries to facilitate WFH.

The new guidelines, however, will address the issue in a more thorough and clear manner with plans to extend VPN access even further.

Under discussion are issues ranging from procurement of laptops and ensuring that all officials are able to operate from home with secure access, to detailing the time band within which employees must respond to office mails.

Flexi-timings for WFH, protocol for handling of confidential/classified documents besides disposal of VVIP references will be also detailed.

Of special concern is the need to maintain the confidentiality of government documents as access to them expands beyond office computers in the WFH scenario.

According to officials, inter-ministerial discussions have begun to frame the new guidelines, which are likely to be issued later this week.

Involved in the framing of the new policy are the Department of Expenditure, Home Ministry, Electronics and IT Ministry, National Informatics Centre, Department of Personnel & Training, and the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, besides representatives of state governments and experts.