CUEPACS ADVISES WORKERS AGAINST BROWSING DURING OFFICE HOURS

NST
By R.S.N. MURALI
newsdesk@thestar.com.my
1/7/2010





KUALA TERENGGANU: Gentle reminder to civil servants browsing Facebook or other online content during office hours — your heads of department are watching.
In fact, some of the bosses have complained to the Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) that some civil employees were spending too much time online and were distracted from work.
“We don’t want to see a circular being issued by the Chief Secretary to the Government. Therefore, I am giving pre-emptive advice to civil servant to minimise the time spent on Facebook when at work,” said Cuepacs president Omar Osman.
He added that there had also been complaints that the time spent on Facebook and other online content during office hours had escalated since the FIFA World Cup began.
Omar said some heads of department were also monitoring content posted on Facebook by their subordinates, ranging from politics to office gossip.
“This may lead to a negative perception of the said employees, and could even lead to disciplinary actions,” he said after opening the Cuepacs’s Terengganu chapter delegates triennial conference here on Tuesday night.
On another matter, Omar took to task some heads of department for punishing subordinates just to “show power.”
He said Cuepacs had received complaints from members that the heads of department had transferred them outstation without giving reasonable grounds for the action.
Other actions included piling on extreme workload on the targeted employees.
Omar said Cuepacs had received an appeal from 12 staff from the Perak Fishery Department, who claimed they had been transferred out without valid reasons.