Transforming ART Recruitment to Strengthen Family Security
The recruitment process for domestic workers (ART) in Indonesia is undergoing transformation toward a more modern, safe, and standardised system. The changes are seen as crucial to address issues arising from largely informal recruitment practices, including unclear worker identities, mismatches with employers’ needs, and the risk of fraud. To address these challenges, Cicana has emerged as a digital recruitment platform for domestic workers that integrates screening, training, and matching within a single digital ecosystem. Since its establishment in 2019, Cicana says it has served more than 6,000 customers and attracted over 1 million visits to its official site. The company also notes an average of 2,367 potential new customers per month.
To ensure workforce quality, the platform implements a seven-stage, data-driven screening system. Based on internal data in 2025, of around 3,249 workers applying monthly, only about 40.71% pass the initial registration stage. Next, around 78.66% of those who pass registration pass the background checks. However, only about 42.95% ultimately pass the final verification before matching and placement.
The seven stages include administrative documents validation, verification of worker history, checking digital footprints, profile verification interview, Behavioural Event Interview (BEI), emergency contact verification, and placement consolidation.
One of the main approaches used is the Behavioural Event Interview (BEI), a interviewing technique that probes a candidate’s behavioural experiences based on real past situations.
CEO and Co-Founder Annisa Kartika said the seven-layer recruitment system not only screens candidates but also ensures a balance of expectations between workers and employers. “With the seven-layer recruitment system, Cicana ensures family safety while valuing domestic workers as a worthy profession. The screening is not just about filtering candidates but also understanding their profiles so that employer and worker expectations stay balanced,” she said.
Founder Bagus Dwi Prasetyo added that the use of technology makes the recruitment process more objective and measurable. “With technology support and the workforce that Cicana has, recruitment is standardised and fully data-driven. No more subjective assumptions; every step of the screening is conducted in a measured way so the matching between employers and domestic workers is safer, easier, and more effective,” he said.
Beyond recruitment, Cicana operates the LMS platform “Cicana School of ART” to enhance competencies of domestic workers. The company notes official certification from OSS and the Ministry of Manpower of the Republic of Indonesia as part of strengthening professional service standards.
The services offered include domestic workers, babysitters, caregivers, and drivers with live-in, live-out, or temporary replacement staff options. All recruitment is conducted online with a transparent system, with no wage deductions, and with clear employment agreements between all parties.