Bambang Nurbianto The Jakarta Post Jakarta
Private companies have had differing responses to the government's decision to extend Idul Fitri holidays for up to five days. Some companies have also implemented the additional holidays, while others gave less or even more than suggested to their employees.
The government has decided that it will require civil servants to take three days leave in additional to the Idul Fitri holiday on Dec. 6 and Dec. 7. The three additional days are Dec.5, 9 and 10. The additional three holidays will be cut from their 12-days annual leave.
But the government has made the additional holidays optional for private companies.
A number of firms, such as a pharmacy company PT. Paros Indonesia, Standard and Chartered Bank, and Allianz insurance company, have implemented the five-day holiday for their employees from Dec. 5 to Dec. 10.
Others, such as Manulife insurance company, Sewu New York life, and construction firm PT Trileger, give four days holiday from Dec. 5 to Dec. 9.
While many other companies gave more than five days, such as PT Alkatel Indonesia from Dec. 4 to Dec. 9, road developer PT Lampiri Djaya Abadi from Dec. 4 to Dec. 10, PT General Motors Indonesia from Dec. 2 to Dec. 11, and PT Samsung Indonesia from Dec. 5 to Dec. 12.
Manulife human resources development (HRD) senior manager Ahmad Masykur said the company would not follow the government's official holidays because as an insurance firm it is the peak season for the insurance business.
"We have a lot of activity at the end of the year, therefore we cannot follow such a holiday scheme," Masykur told The Jakarta Post on Friday. Masykur, however, added that the two additional days were granted as holidays and would not be cut from employees' annual leave.
PT Alkatel's HRD manager Reni Prawiranata said that her company's board of directors decided early this year to give Idul Fitri holidays from Dec. 4 to Dec. 9. Like Manulife, the two additional days are granted as holidays.
"If the employees want to take more holidays, they should follow the company's standard procedure for taking annual leave," Reni said.
Meanwhile, HRD staff member of General Motors Indonesia Herli Ismail said that the longer holidays were usually given as there were not many projects during the holiday season.
"In addition to that the company also wants to give more time to its employees to celebrate Idul Fitri," Herli told the Post.
Buntoro, a HRD staff member of PT Lampiri Djaya Abadi, said the company would give a longer holiday from Dec. 4 to Dec. 10 as many of its construction workers would return to their hometowns to celebrate Idul Fitri.
"It is difficult to find construction workers a week before and after Idul Fitri," said Buntoro.
But not all employees are happy with the longer holiday policy for Idul Fitri. They said that they did not like it because it would be taken from their annual leave.
Olga Ayu Susanti, a customer service officer at PT Samsung Indonesia said that workers in her company were allowed to take longer holidays on the condition that their annual leave or their weekends would be cut accordingly. In the following weeks, she will have to come to the office on the weekend in exchange for the additional holidays.
"Many staff members here are not happy with it. We had hoped that there would be free additional holidays. We want to take the additional holiday but it should not be cut from our annual leave," Olga told the Post by phone.