Private Sector WFH Dilemma: Between Recommendations and Operations

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The government’s work-from-home (WFH) policy is encouraging the private sector to implement WFH outside essential services through Circular Letter M/6/HK.04/III/2026. However, the implementation of WFH in the private sector is a recommendation and non-mandatory. On the other hand, not all private sectors can directly adopt the WFH policy. Researcher from the Centre for Population Research, Human Resources, and Employment at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Triyono, stated that not all private sectors can carry out this WFH recommendation because they have different business typologies or classifications. “If it’s a manufacturing industry type in one location, the impact is certain; even one day off, let alone one hour late, already affects production volume,” he said. Triyono added that the private sector tends to be more cautious in adopting the recommendation to implement WFH. The manufacturing business sector is one that cannot or is very difficult to adopt the WFH working system. Conversely, industrial sectors that rely on internet networks and are digital in nature can relatively adopt the WFH system without significant obstacles. “In fact, this can be more productive because they are not only in one place; people say work from anywhere,” he said. Lecturer in Employment at the Faculty of Law, Universitas Gadjah Mada (FH UGM), and Researcher at the Center of Economics and Law Studies (Celios), Nabiyla Risfa Izzati, stated that basically, the circular letter does not have binding legal force. “Its nature is only a recommendation, so in the private context, the private sector can consider implementing WFH,” she told Kompas.com. She added that nevertheless, there should be no coercion attempts if in the future the private sector does not implement WFH. Nabiyla revealed that the WFH policy for civil servants (ASN) and private employees should not cause social jealousy in the work environment. According to her, both WFH and working from the office are the same activity, namely working. “Only the work location changes, but the work is still done,” she added. Nabiyla explained that basically, WFH is something that has become quite common in Indonesia. “I haven’t seen any articles that can definitively explain the link between WFH and work productivity,” she clarified. Nabiyla stated that this very limited WFH implementation is projected not to have a long-term impact on workforce competitiveness. “I’m not sure there will be a direct link because the WFH is also still very limited,” she revealed. This WFH policy is indeed very different from what happened during the previous Covid-19 pandemic, which was more intensively implemented. However, on the other hand, she said, this WFH policy can actually increase interest in job fields that apply such policies. “That might be the case, because now there is actually a tendency for our workforce to seek more flexible jobs that don’t have to be in the office,” she explained. Thus, the desire or interest of job seekers to enter job fields that adopt WFH policies will be higher.