ASN Ban During WFH: 5-Minute Response Delay Faces Sanctions

The Indonesian government has established a policy of working from home, or WFH, every Friday in a week for civil servants (ASN). However, several provisions have been applied to ensure that WFH does not reduce the productivity of ASN.

Quoted from a post by the Government Communication Agency on the Instagram account @bakom.ri, during the WFH period, ASN are required to be ready to receive tasks or on standby. This is because WFH is emphasised not as an additional holiday, but as a policy aimed at transforming work culture.

“The Work From Home (WFH) policy every Friday is not a holiday. Rather, it is part of the transformation of a more adaptive and efficient ASN work culture,” wrote Bakom RI in its post, quoted on Monday (6/4/2026).

To maintain productivity during WFH, ASN are obliged to keep communication devices active during working hours. In fact, ASN are also required to respond to calls or messages no more than five minutes. ASN are also required to report performance achievements on an ongoing basis.

Strict performance monitoring will also be carried out with a supervision mechanism using geo-location technology. Therefore, the whereabouts of ASN will be continuously monitored during working hours, and evaluated continuously for energy efficiency and performance.

“The government also ensures that public services continue to run optimally, especially in strategic sectors that directly serve the needs of the community. Thus, this work culture transformation encourages a more modern way of working, without reducing the quality of services,” as stated in the Bakom RI post.

For information, Interior Minister Tito Karnavian has also emphasised that ASN must remain standby or active during WFH at home. He said that delayed response to messages or calls for tasks more than five minutes will face sanctions.

“To ensure that ASN truly carry out WFH, and then their handphones are required to be active, so that the location can be known through geo-location,” said Tito in a press conference in Seoul, South Korea, on Tuesday (31/3) as reported by CNN Indonesia.

In his presentation, ASN must respond to calls/messages within a period of less than five minutes during WFH. Tito has also prepared several consequences for those who violate.

First, for those who do not respond to two calls, they will receive a verbal warning. Second, not responding within a five-minute period without reason will result in a written reprimand. Finally, for ASN who repeatedly make mistakes, they will face performance evaluation and administrative sanctions.