Behind the Friday WFH Workers, Social Inequality is Widening

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The government’s Work From Home (WFH) policy for civil servants (ASN) and private sector employees has been in place for exactly one month since 1 April 2026.

Some workers feel grateful for the opportunity to WFH every Friday.

One of them is a private sector employee named Sabila Malia (27), who is pleased to be able to work from home because she is close to her child.

“Given WFH as well, Alhamdulillah, so I don’t waste petrol and can take care of the little one,” she said when interviewed by Kompas.com in Manggarai, South Jakarta, on Monday (4/5/2026).

“I prefer WFH because I can work while lounging on the bed, plus no need to bother with showering and getting dressed,” said Tasya when contacted by Kompas.com on Monday.

Although she can work while relaxing, Tasya still feels that WFH has its own challenges.

Because she often finds it difficult to discuss matters and feels her communication with fellow colleagues is disrupted, as it is only through mobile phones.

A sociologist from Jakarta State University (UNJ), Rakhmat Hidayat, assesses that sociologically, WFH reflects a shift in urban society’s lifestyle patterns from industrial to digital-based.

This means that to work, society no longer needs to rely on physical rooms or offices, but depends on networks or digital platforms.

WFH also changes the supervision of work, which is usually done hierarchically or directly, now based on trust or the output of completed work.

“However, on the other hand, a new form of control emerges through technology or digital surveillance, so the employment relationship becomes more hidden but still strong,” Rakhmat explained when contacted by Kompas.com on Monday.

Although it appears more flexible, working that is no longer tied to a place certainly changes the rhythm of life, interaction patterns, and boundaries between private and public spaces.

Where workers in the upper social class tend to have easier access to carry out WFH effectively, starting from comfortable workspaces, adequate devices and internet access, to energy-saving equipment.

Meanwhile, workers in the middle to lower social classes tend to find it difficult to carry out WFH effectively because they lack comfortable workspaces, limited devices and internet access, and so on.

“This means WFH can widen social inequality,” he stated.

The uneven distribution of internet access throughout Indonesia makes the WFH policy implemented by the central government something exclusive to certain groups.