Federal govt staff to return to offices on May 16
DUBAI: The UAE government announced ending all existing exemptions granted to federal government employees, including permission to work from home, due to emergency conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic, with effect from Sunday (May 16).
The circular issued on Monday exempts female employees who have children enrolled in distance learning until the end of the current school year.
The Federal Authority for Government Human Resources (FAHR), in co-ordination with the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs and the Ministry of Health and Prevention, has issued the circular, regarding the official work in Federal government organisations. The authority also announced that unvaccinated employees will be required to undergo mandatory PCR testing every week, at the employee’s own expense.
Unvaccinated government workers will be expected to pay for tests themselves unless they present a medical report exempting them from taking the vaccine owing to an illness or health condition.
The circular called on all federal government entities to adhere to all safety measures and follow the “The Guidelines for Office and Workplace Environment during Emergency Conditions” issued by the FAHR, and any instructions related to occupational health and safety, with an emphasis on social distancing.
Recently, the FAHR issued its annual report for 2020 in a creative and interactive digital form, the first of its kind on a federal government level.
In the report’s introduction, FAHR stressed that the entire world has been affected by the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that business sectors were negatively affected, which made governments adopt various precautionary measures.
FAHR also pointed out that the UAE has exerted significant efforts during this critical period, by atempting to maintain the balance between protecting the health and safety of the community and ensuring continuity of business while providing services to the public. The country mainly succeeded in maintaining that balance, due to the vision of its leadership and its robust infrastructure. For example, it employed advanced technologies to continue the education process and work activities by utilising distance learning and teleworking applications, supported by the availability of suitable technological tools and automated human resources systems, it added. The authority also noted that over the past year, it invested in digital human resources solutions by upgrading its current systems and launching new ones, in order to overcome the crisis caused by the pandemic and turn challenges into opportunities. FAHR, therefore, maintained continuity of business and performed training and development operations on a federal government level.