Labour Leader's Harsh Criticism of WFH Policy for Civil Servants and Private Sector, Calls BBM Savings Calculation Mistaken

The government is examining the implementation of a work from home (WFH) policy once a week. This policy will apply to Civil Servants (ASN) and will also be encouraged for private sector employees.

The plan has elicited various reactions, including from workers.

President of the Nusantara Confederation of Workers’ Unions (KSPN) Ristadi has criticised the proposed WFH system. Although he claims to support the government’s efforts to save national fuel consumption, following the escalation of the war between the United States (US) and Israel against Iran, which has triggered rising fuel prices and concerns over potential global oil shortages.

“The government, through the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, has announced plans to implement WFH for ASN one day a week and encourage the private sector as well, after Eid, to improve fuel consumption efficiency. Finance Minister Purbaya stated that a rough calculation shows it could achieve 20% efficiency (with the WFH system),” said Ristadi, quoted on Wednesday (25/3/2026).

“But if they expect WFH for ASN and encouragement to the private sector to achieve 20% fuel consumption efficiency, that calculation is mistaken and could even have counterproductive effects,” he added.

Not without reason, he continued, with the number of ASN (including Government Employees with Work Agreements/PPPK) at around 5.58 million people, compared to the working population of 146 million, meaning the WFH policy would only cover about 3.8% of the working population.

“This rough calculation assumes full-time WFH for ASN for a week, but if it’s just one day, the efficiency drops to about 0.76%,” Ristadi emphasised.

“The largest fuel consumption actually occurs in core production activities of companies and their support, not in workers’ or individuals’ mobility. Therefore, the above rough calculation would be even smaller, below 0.76% efficiency in national fuel consumption,” he continued.

For ASN, he said, WFH is feasible because much of the work is administrative and can be connected via digital systems and done from home.

“There may not be many obstacles to implementation. But for the private sector, the majority of work is in production segments that cannot be done by workers from home. This will be more difficult and rigid, and management could be confused in executing WFH for private workers; it could lead to a decline in work productivity if forced,” he stated.

Another reason Ristadi criticises the one-day-per-week WFH policy is the lack of guarantee of fuel savings.

“Can it be guaranteed that ASN on WFH won’t wander out of the house, which would actually increase fuel consumption? Thus, the ASN WFH programme and encouragement to the private sector for fuel savings will not be effective. Instead, new problems will arise, namely the potential for productivity decline,” he snapped.

If productivity declines, he added, it could trigger a domino effect, including shortages of goods. This situation would cause price surges and could lead to ‘chaos’, economic and social unrest.

Proposal for this policy to save fuel consumption in Indonesia

Therefore, Ristadi proposes several strategies he deems effective for promoting fuel consumption savings in Indonesia.

“If the government is serious about fuel efficiency, we propose more realistic policies. For example, all officials and ASN whose homes are close to the office must use bicycles or non-fuel vehicles. Then, those who are far away and usually use cars should switch to motorbikes or public transport. This can also be applied in the private sector. This is more implementable than moving work to home, so the potential for productivity decline can be avoided,” he said.

“The government should assist in changing production technology to be more fuel-efficient. This can benefit long-term interests if fuel becomes truly scarce one day because it is not renewable,” he stated.

As a note, the plan to implement the WFH system once a week is a directive from the President in the full cabinet meeting before Eid 2026 as an effort to promote efficiency in the work environment, including reducing fuel needs amid escalating tensions in the Middle East war between Iran, the United States, and Israel.

“As conveyed by the President during the full cabinet meeting that we are formulating several policies in order to realise that we all must together start to make ourselves more efficient in working,” said State Secretary Minister Prasetyo Hadi.

On the other hand, he emphasised that this policy is not designed because fuel supplies in Indonesia are disrupted.

“As we continue to state, insyaallah there are no problems with fuel supplies; fuel supplies are safe,” he said.

“So as not to be misunderstood, for example, service, industry, and trade sectors may not be part of this policy,” Prasetyo added.