Bahrain Mirror: Civil Service Bureau (CSB) President, Ahmed Al-Zayed, announced allowing ministries, entities and government departments to increase the rate of distance work to 70% as a maximum.

The CSB instruction will be implemented starting from Sunday, April 5 and continue until further notice. It will be applied according to the work requirements, provided that the services delivered to the citizens and residents will not be affected.

CSB President noted that the decision aims to reduce the number of employees at the work place, as part of the precautionary and preventive measures taken by the kingdom to contain and prevent the spread of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Al-Zayed said this comes in line with the directives of the Government Executive Committee, chaired by Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, to encourage work from home for public institutions whenever possible.

Al-Zayed indicated that government departments will determine the employees to be covered by teleworking, provided that the staff will carry out their duties alternately from home or through reporting to the work place as the competent authorities deem necessary, adding that vital professions that will be exempted from the decision will be determined in coordination between CSB and government departments, in accordance with the requirements of public interests.

CSB President stressed that in addition to the categories given priority by Instruction 4/2020 to work from home, government departments shall give priority to spouses of employees who carry out vital tasks on the front lines to combat the Coronavirus while implementing the work-from-home policy.

Arabic Version