Good move but many challenges ahead

2009/11/15

THE government's plan to try out working from home or teleworking is one in the right direction, said Frost & Sullivan director Delesh Kumar. He said this would bring significant benefits to employees and the public sector as a whole.

For the government, the immediate benefits would be reducing operating expenditures, especially with regard to utility and land space.

"Remote working will allow the government to manage their employees more efficiently."

However, he said introducing a teleworking policy is very challenging.

"Working from home not only requires a telephone but also IT platforms such as laptops, broadband connection and access to a centralised server.

Frost & Sullivan director Delesh Kumar says teleworking will reduce operating expenditures

"The government will have to invest in video conferencing, virtual private network services, as well as a central depository database.

"The overall process management will also have to be adjusted with team meetings being conducted via video conferencing, remote approvals and knowledge management platforms."

Nevertheless, flexibility in the workplace is the type of environment that the youth of today seem to be looking for.

The Malaysian Youth Career Survey conducted this year by Asia's largest online job portal, JobStreet.com, and the country's largest youth opinion website, YouthSays.com, revealed that many young Malaysians do look for flexible working hours.

In the survey, half of the youths between 15 and 35 years of age picked flexible working hours as a point that they would look for when working in a company.

Do you think 'remote working' is viable? Send your comments to nsunt@nst.com.my