Bambang Nurbianto

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.