Remaining Professional at Work Even While WFH
The government has officially implemented a Work From Home (WFH) policy for Civil Servants (ASN) every Friday starting from April 2026, aimed at transforming work culture, improving energy efficiency, and adapting to technology. This policy is not a holiday, and employees must remain on standby with a maximum response time of five minutes. WFH has become familiar to society, as it was previously implemented during the Covid-19 period.
In reality, WFH is not as easy or comfortable as imagined. Many challenges are faced when working from home, ranging from difficulties in coordinating with colleagues and teams in the company or office, difficulty concentrating due to having to manage children and household chores, limited facilities at home that are inadequate, and others.
How should one respond to this? WFH is not a choice but a necessity because it serves a good purpose, namely transforming work culture, energy efficiency, and technological adaptation. To continue working professionally and as an act of worship even at home, make working from home motivated by worship. This can provide drive or positive energy in working.
Employees who work with the motivation of worship will achieve good results through good means. Therefore, the work motivation that must always be ingrained in the soul is the motivation to worship. Working becomes a means to worship.
Thus, whatever the work system—WFH or otherwise—if the sense of constant supervision is ingrained in the soul, a worker will work as best as possible (professionally, sincerely, to completion). Because what underlies a person’s work is not just because of their superior who might be negligent, but more importantly, because of their God.
Story of constant supervision
Every night, Caliph Umar bin Khattab used to patrol, observing the condition of the people he led up close. When Umar passed through an alley, suddenly his steps stopped. From a small house, Umar heard a mother talking to her child.
“Aren’t you mixing your milk? The day is approaching dawn,” said the mother to her child. “How could I mix it? The Commander of the Faithful has forbidden that,” replied the child. “People also mix it. Mix it! The Commander of the Faithful doesn’t know,” countered the mother.
“If Umar doesn’t see it, Umar’s God sees it. I don’t want to do it because it’s forbidden,” replied the child, which truly touched Umar’s heart.