The Ups and Downs of Arisha Working from Home as a Civil Servant Mother: Longer Working Hours but No Traffic Jams

For some workers, the work-from-home (WFH) policy is seen as making jobs feel lighter because it avoids long commutes to the office. However, for Arisha (31), a civil servant (ASN) and mother of two children, WFH presents challenges that are far from simple. Since the Friday WFH policy for central ASN was implemented on 1 April, Arisha has had to work from home while still taking care of her two toddlers. Instead of being able to work leisurely, she is required to skilfully divide her focus between office work, domestic affairs, and the children’s needs. “Usually while taking care of the children too, like Zoom meetings while watching the children play or feeding the child,” Arisha told Kompas.com recently. Often, office work is done alongside other household activities, from waiting for food to cook to tidying up the children’s needs. Nevertheless, Arisha acknowledges that WFH still offers significant advantages, especially because she no longer has to face long journeys and Jakarta’s traffic jams every day. According to her, the commute to the office has always been quite draining in terms of energy and time. Not to mention the dense traffic conditions, flooding during the rainy season, and overcrowded public transport. “WFH sufficiently reduces the burden of travel fatigue,” she said. For workers in big cities like Jakarta, the round-trip travel time often becomes a source of exhaustion in itself. Therefore, working from home gives Arisha space to save energy while having more time with her children. She also feels more at ease because she can directly monitor her children’s growth and development at home. As a mother with young children, she must divide her attention between office work and the children’s needs that can arise at any time. According to Arisha, this situation quite affects her concentration and emotions while working.