The Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) has issued a protocol for work from home (WFH) for the Government employees saying every employee should be disposed of all the receipts and files in their eoffice before 5 pm each day, which is to be monitored by a daily report showing unattended receipts or files. The protocol says every employee must be available for telephonic consultation during office hours, and the phone should be answered every time it rings.

“Every working day, before 10 AM, each officer on WFH shall fix targets/specific work for their immediate subordinate to be achieved on the day. This shall be sent through eoffice/email ( not by phone).

The recipient of this e-file/mail shall further allocate work to his/her subordinate ( and so on). This correspondence shall be available on eoffice,” it said. On the receipt of the work, each employee shall acknowledge to the reporting officer the receipt of work using eoffice network. This communication shall be received before 10:30 AM.

The protocol further states every employee shall be available for telephonic consultation during office hours and the phone shall be answered all the time. In case of any issue that needs consultation, officers can set up remote-meeting (RM) either through the phone or through a WhatsApp Video Call (VC). The notice for such remote-meeting shall preferably be communicated at least one hour in advance.

Everyone who is called for VC/RM shall necessarily attend. “Further, if any work ( like submission of Bills etc) calls for physically coming to the office, they shall come for that specific work. The office will make suitable arrangements for their transportation,” it said.

“The WFH facility shall not be considered as ‘paid leave’(except in case of MTS) and it is expected that the officers who have taken this facility are alert and always available for official functioning remotely,” it added.