Even though cross-deployment of employees to different worksites is not allowed due to workplace measures taken to stop the spread of Covid-19, employees can work at more than one site if their job scope requires them to do so.

A concerned reader, who only wanted to be known as Ms Irene, wrote to The Straits Times earlier this week sharing that during a visit to convenience store Cheers at Toa Payoh MRT station, she found out that the store's manager also works at another outlet.

She said: "I was concerned and wondering why this manager is working at more than one outlet when cross-deployment is not allowed since there is higher risk of contracting and spreading the virus with increased interaction and moving around."

In response to questions from The Straits Times, Enterprise Singapore (ESG) clarified that while cross-deployment should be avoided as far as possible, certain roles such as area manager or delivery driver require the employee to perform duties at more than one permitted site.

In a May press statement, ESG said: "If cross-deployment cannot be avoided (e.g. due to the nature of the job), additional safeguards must be taken to minimise the risk of cross-infection (e.g. minimise the number of premises that workers are cross-deployed to, put in place systems to ensure no direct contact with the cross-deployed personnel)."

When asked if staff at Cheers are cross-deployed to different outlets, a FairPrice spokesman said this has been permitted by the authorities since the company is an essential service provider. Cheers is the convenience store arm of FairPrice.

"As an essential service provider, NTUC FairPrice may be faced with the need to cross-deploy employees on occasion to support operational needs so that our services remain available and uninterrupted during the Covid-19 pandemic," said the spokesman.

She added that all of the company's work arrangements are in compliance with guidelines from the authorities.

Precautionary measures taken at Cheers convenience stores and at all FairPrice outlets include ensuring that all staff wear masks, check their temperature twice daily, and declare their health status and report to their supervisors before the start of every work shift. Hand sanitisers are also made available for employees.

The FairPrice spokesman said: "Records and time sheets of staff deployment are duly maintained and interactions between cross-deployed staff and base staff are kept to a minimum. These are complemented by other in-store initiatives such as safe distancing measures, a high-frequency cleaning regime - especially for high-touch surfaces like food counters, chillers, shelves and checkout counters - as well as contact tracing efforts to protect the well-being of our staff and customers."