Friday WFH is Not a "Disguised Holiday": Avoid Long Weekends, Stay Away from Cafes

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The government has established a policy for civil servants (ASN) to work from home (WFH) one day per week on Fridays, although it is recommended to implement WFH during midweek instead. The government views Friday as the chosen day because work activities on that day differ from those on Monday to Thursday. Moreover, the four-day workweek policy has previously been applied in several ministries and agencies during the Covid-19 pandemic. Members of the House of Representatives (DPR) have warned ASN not to turn Friday WFH into a long weekend. Rini Widyantini, the Head of the National Civil Service Agency (Menpan-RB), has prohibited ASN from working from cafes while on WFH. “It’s called Work From Home. The mechanism will be outlined in the Minister of PANRB Regulation,” Rini stated when met at the DPR Building in Senayan, Jakarta, on Tuesday (31/3/2026). Rini explained that the core of implementing WFH is to emphasise how ASN can transform governance practices. “Because now the assessment is not based on physical presence, but more on how each individual’s performance is carried out. So the evaluation is no longer like that,” she clarified. “If there’s ‘efficiency’, that’s a side effect. But more importantly, we want to encourage the government’s governance to change now. So digitalisation must be something we start paying attention to, rather than physical presences. That’s the main issue,” Rini added. Muhammad Khozin, a member of DPR Commission II from the PKB faction, expressed his concerns regarding the implementation of WFH for ASN every Friday. However, Khozin acknowledged that the government has discretionary authority to decide on such policies. “Although in our view, this choice of day is not ideal because it is feared it will turn into a long weekend, but the government has discretionary authority in determining WFH as a manifestation of government administration,” Khozin told Kompas.com on Wednesday (1/4/2026).