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Mukudzei Chingwere, Harare Bureau
With the rise in Covid-19 cases, the Government has ordered ministries to have just 15 percent of their staff on duty at any one time, but the rest staying at home on standby and being available to help cope with surges in work and being given more work to do at home.

Units that provide essential services will have higher percentages of staff on duty.

The thinning of staff on duty will boost safety, making it far easier to enforce social distancing and other protocols to minimise risk of infections.

The Public Service Commission has directed that only 15 percent must be at their work stations but those who remain at home have been ordered to be on standby, remain in the towns and cities they are employed and be ready to be called in to provide help if the 15 percent of staff on duty is overwhelmed.

With an estimated 300 000 public servants, Government is the biggest employer and an estimated 45 000 have been recommended to report for work, which will substantially reduce the number of those coming to work.

“We want 15 percent of the public service to be at their respective workplaces. We want to decongest the workplaces. Others will be on call and might be told to report for duty if those at work are overwhelmed or need to rest,” said Public Service Commission Secretary Ambassador Jonathan Wutawunashe.

“It is not every ministry where it is possible, where there are essential services that you cannot manage with 15 percent but those are exceptions.”

Ambassador Wutawunashe said the safety of workers was a priority and measures to protect the public servants would continue to be reviewed. He said as they protected their workers, they would not negate the provision of essential services, which are needed by the public or cannot afford to be put on hold.