We decided today to extend Work-From-Home for all end May. This was done because schools / childcare centres are not opened yet. Also to ensure that employees can do necessary Hari Raya preparations and have peace of mind with their kids

We’ll be fluid with it to sync when schools reopen. With an average staff age of 39, many have school going children. And being so close to Hari Raya, it’s best everybody stays home and returns after

Beginning June, return will be deployed over 3 months to ensure we dont have too many in the building. Those who are doing well from home will continue doing so. Of course anybody who wants to return to office, they are welcome to.

As employers, we can make changes to help keep people safe and make their lives easy. Nobody should be forced to choose work or family, you should be able to do both. And we will facilitate that. Also if we can keep people at home we should

Next week we will be introducing flexi time where employees will choose hours they want to work as long as they deliver their work. They can choose to work from home when they want. Key is trust, and keeping your boss and colleagues informed. And being reachable.

Work from home is now a permanent option, not just MCO arrangement. Many have thrived and gave me positive feedback. Some are dying to return to office, which is understandable as WFH is not for everybody. Not every role can be done from home too like drivers, security etc

Essentially we are giving employees the option to choose how / where they want to work. We will equip them with the tech hardware. In return we expect same deliverables as being in office. And to use this flexibility wisely and correctly.

We are also making all staff download the MySejahtera app as whilst we can control movements within the office, we dont have control beyond it. At least in event of unfortunate incident, we’ll be able to contact trace.

We have made great stride in using technology, virtual meetings, digital signature, etc, so this momentum must continue even when staff return. As we have WFH as permanent option, most meetings will be hybrid of virtual & in-person.

Would there be people abusing this? For sure. But policies should not be based on what small fraction of employees may do, but to see the bigger picture of positivity. We can deal with naughty ones on piecemeal basis.

We will also issue guidelines / tips to people managers on how to manage remote / split teams, answer all FAQs and have dedicated people assigned to them when they have queries.

The business that we do is about meeting people, to get gut feel, to see our potential investments before we commit, so we can never work 100% virtually forever. We also have some busines units which is not very automated yet.

Ideal balance is giving that option to people to decide depending on their own circumstances. Exciting times, and quite a cultural shift for us. But we defied all odds working well past two months virtually. Nothing stopping us from adopting flexibility permanently.

So stay home & stay safe. Don’t worry about your kids and who’s going to take care of them. Enjoy them. We did well adopting to a sudden change, so employing this flexibility permanently is the logical thing to do

This is part of the strategic plan we unveiled last week, one focus area being Organisational Transformation. People & Culture is huge part of it. So this initiative fits right in

Lastly, we removed dress code very early on when I joined. Wear what you want, that’s comfortable for you, but know the occasion. In our climate no need suit & tie daily. I’ve seen uptick in batiks worn, which is great!