Civil servants allowed to work from home two days a week

PETALING JAYA: Starting Aug 1, civil servants will be allowed to work from home two days a week under a new hybrid working arrangement.

In a statement today, the public services department said the Cabinet approved the hybrid working day scheme, which requires three days in the office and allows two days of remote work each week.

Civil servants in most states must be physically present in the office on Mondays and Fridays and another day, while the remaining days are flexible. For Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, where Friday is the weekly day off, the mandatory office days are Sundays and Thursdays.

“A monitoring system will be introduced to ensure integrity, performance and the delivery of public services remain at the highest level,” the department said.

Civil servants must obtain approval for home or alternative remote working locations, and the arrangement remains subject to service needs and job suitability.

The department said the arrangement will become the “new norm” for the federal civil service, replacing a previous scheme introduced during the Middle East conflict period.

The hybrid work day scheme is part of the government’s public service reform agenda to modernise the civil service. The department said the scheme will not affect the delivery of essential government services to the public.

“Counter services and functions requiring physical presence will continue to operate as normal” including the security, defence, education, health and judiciary sectors.