Mindef Exploring ‘Work Near Home’ Arrangements With Satellite Offices

By
Shawn Ambrose
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Working from home might be a dream for some, but for others, it’s a living nightmare.

With kids running around, a sluggish WiFi, and your partner who goes aiyoh every six seconds, getting things done isn’t always easy.

Image: Giphy

This is why more and more employers are calling their workers back to the office, either because they want productivity to go up or because they enjoy terrorising them.

One government ministry, however, is taking a slightly different approach to solve this problem.

Mindef Exploring ‘Work Near Home’ Arrangements With Satellite Offices

You’ve heard of working from home, but what about working near home?

Image: Giphy

And I’m not talking about setting up your workstation at the coffee shop and working while chowing down on Cai Png. 

The Ministry of Defence (Mindef) is exploring a “work near home” arrangement where staff members will share an office at selected military premises near their homes.

As you know, most workers, except those in essential services, have been forced to work from home since the circuit breaker in April.

This includes military personnel, such as those in administrative roles, according to TODAYonline.

Even some ICTs and basic training for recruits were temporarily suspended, but have since resumed.

Soldiers must have been gravely disappointed (or happy?) to hear the news.

Since working from home became the national default arrangement, Mindef said it has been helping suitable personnel make the switch to telecommuting.

Now, however, Mindef is exploring arrangements which can help improve productivity and reduce commuting time.

According to TODAYonline, the ministry is looking to conduct a trial to set up satellite offices at Chong Pang Camp and at the former Spring Singapore building in Bukit Merah, where workers will be able to access on-site systems and emails.

“We have enabled secure remote work devices and virtual meetings for our staff. We are also examining more flexible options to better support our staff who cannot fully work from home for various reasons,” Mindef said.

Basically, shared workspaces will be set up in selected Mindef or Singapore Armed Forces premises to facilitate telecommuting for employees.

As the ministry said, it’s unlikely that the country will make a full return to the workplace in the near future.

It did not specify when the trial will begin, however.

More Employees Allowed to Return to Work

As you know, the government in September allowed more employees to return to work, as long as employers fulfil two conditions:

  1. Such employees continue to telecommute for at least half their working time
  2. No more than half of such employees are at the workplace at any point in time

Employers should also implement flexible working hours to allow employees to work partly at home and partly at the workplace, so as to reduce crowding on public transport during peak periods.

Staggering of reporting times is also encouraged, and split team or shift arrangements must continue to be implemented.

Working from home, however, still remains the default, and it’s unlikely that this will change until we find a vaccine.

Partner: Aiyoh

I really need to get back to the office before I lose my mind.

Over in TikTok, there’s a drama involving property agents that’s caused by us. Here’s what happened:

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Shawn Ambrose
Email: [email protected]