Minister PANRB on PNS Working Near Home: Allowed, But...

Minister of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform (PANRB) Rini Widyantini has spoken out regarding the National Civil Service Agency’s (BKN) pilot programme that allows civil servants (ASN) to be placed closer to their domiciles. Rini emphasised that the policy can be implemented as long as it does not sacrifice the quality of service to the public. She reminded that, in principle, ASN must be ready to be placed anywhere according to the needs of their respective agencies. “On principle, ASN must be ready to be placed wherever they are. We will adjust this with the respective personnel development officers. I am certainly pleased if employees are placed closer to their domiciles,” Rini said when met at the Ministry of PANRB office, quoted from Detikcom, Friday (24/7/2026). According to Rini, the authority to regulate employee placement remains in the hands of the Personnel Development Officer (PPK) in each agency. Even so, she admitted that she welcomed the policy if it could allow ASN to work closer to their homes. However, Rini underlined that proximity to domicile must not become a reason for ASN to slacken their public service obligations. She requested that the issue of employee status and domicile be strictly separated from the primary responsibility of ASN to serve the public. “But of course, as ASN, we have an obligation to provide services to the community. So, this must be something that separates our obligation to provide services to the community from the status and domicile,” she said. Going forward, Rini confirmed that the government will continue to pay attention to the welfare aspects of ASN, including ease in carrying out service duties. “We will also continue to pay attention to the welfare and convenience of ASN in providing services, including the balance of ASN,” she added. The programme, titled “Mendekatkan Pada Domisili dan Mendekatkan Pada Keluarga” (Bringing Closer to Domicile and Bringing Closer to Family), is currently being trialled internally by BKN. A number of employees within the Head Office, Regional Offices, and Technical Implementation Units (UPT) of BKN have been placed closer to their domiciles and families. Head of BKN Zudan Arif Fakrulloh previously explained that this policy stems from the belief that work-life balance can encourage more optimal employee performance. Besides the aspect of work motivation, Zudan mentioned that this programme also impacts the household economic efficiency of ASN because employees no longer bear the double burden of transportation and accommodation costs due to living far from their families. “For the initial stage, BKN is conducting a trial of this programme for BKN ASN so that employees can perform better because they feel happier after reuniting with their families. In addition, employees can also manage their economic conditions better because they are no longer burdened by transportation or accommodation costs due to living far from their families,” said Zudan, Thursday (23/7/2026).