Expert Proposes SOP for Civil Servants' WFH to Maintain Optimal Performance

Jakarta - A public policy expert from Gadjah Mada University, Agustinus Subarsono, is urging the government to establish standard operating procedures (SOP) and performance monitoring mechanisms for the Work From Home (WFH) policy for civil servants (ASN) every Friday. According to Subarsono, without SOP prepared by the government, the implementation of WFH has the potential to be suboptimal due to the lack of technical guidelines or a measurable control system. “Therefore, if there are no implementation guidelines and a monitoring system for WFH or Work From Anywhere (WFA), the consequence will be that productivity and performance will not be optimal,” said Subarsono when contacted on Wednesday (1/4/2026). He emphasised that bureaucratic productivity can still be achieved if the government has clear key performance indicators (KPI), uses output-based assessments, and leverages the e-performance system or digital Employee Performance Targets (SKP). Output-based assessments, he continued, are key to ensuring ASN performance remains measurable, for example, through the number of documents or public services successfully completed within a certain period. On the other hand, Subarsono warns that the WFH policy on Fridays has the potential to reduce the quality of public services, particularly those requiring physical presence. “Because the public cannot obtain services or products from the bureaucracy that are physical in nature,” he said. Services requiring physical checks, such as land measurements for land certificate issuance or vehicle inspections, are also seen as potentially affected. In addition, the digital access gap between urban areas and underdeveloped, frontier, and outermost regions (3T) poses a particular challenge in implementing online-based public services. “I think not all people are ready for digital services for various reasons,” said Subarsono. Meanwhile, for lower-ranking ASN, this policy has the potential to be used to seek additional work to supplement income amid economic conditions that are not yet fully stable. To ensure WFH remains performance-based, he suggests the government implement a measurable monitoring system, including daily or weekly output targets, key performance indicators, and monitoring of time tracking such as timesheets or screenshots of work activities.