Vina
KOTA KINABALU: Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) will officially incorporate a “Work from Home Staff ‘ program as part of its initiative of becoming a Kampus Rahmah (nurturing campus) in 2020.
UMS registrar Vina Zahriani Yusof said the university had recently implemented the concept in the wake of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the Registrar Department would strategize it to enhance the staff’s happiness under the Rahmah Campus concept.
“Guidelines and regulations are being developed by BPG (Administrative and Governance Division) and BSM (Human Resources Division), and are expected to be implemented in the third quarter of this year,” she said at the Majlis Aspirasi Pendaftar (registrar aspiration ceremony) 2020 at the UMS Recital Hall here yesterday.
“A benchmark and study USM, and private organizations will be streamlined to draft guidelines and regulations on Work from Home authorization. An example of one that has been implemented recently and was allowing staff, given the home surveillance directive for the COVID-19 outbreak prevention, to work from home for 14 days from the date of receipt.
“This implementation will be monitored by BSM. We also study the possibility of extending the Work from Home to those facing issues of sickness with children and parents,” she added.
Vina said the UMS staff happiness index had decreased from a moderate level of 73% in 2018 to 71% in 2019.
However, she added the 81% work involvement statistics reflected the staff’s very good commitment in their field of work.
Vina said amongst other initiatives to raise the UMS happiness index in 2020 included drafting the best mechanism for the Dress Down Day so staff can dress in smart casual code on certain days, and Free Friday so staff could have free time to do constructive activities instead of staff meetings after lunch time on Fridays.
She added, in line with the UMS Vice Chancellors 2020 Mandate Announcement, UMS had also allowed for the staff to transfer an unused RM300 dental treatment allocation towards the purchase of personal eyeware for every two years.