WFH for Civil Servants: Analyst Says It Won't Create Demand Shock in Commercial Office Market

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The policy of working from home (WFH) for one day a week for civil servants (ASN) is assessed as having no direct impact on the occupancy rates of commercial office buildings.

Head of Research at Colliers Indonesia, Ferry Salanto, stated that the policy essentially targets ASN who generally work in government-owned buildings, not tenants in commercial offices.

“This policy does not create a direct demand shock in the commercial office market, either in terms of occupancy or leasing activity,” he said in a written statement on Sunday (5/4/2026).

He explained that the main tenants of commercial office buildings come from private and multinational companies that are not directly bound by this policy.

Nevertheless, Ferry views the policy as having important significance as a signal of the direction of change in work patterns in Indonesia.

According to him, the government’s implementation of WFH has the potential to strengthen the legitimacy of hybrid work systems and encourage companies, particularly state-owned enterprises (BUMN) and local firms, to gradually adopt similar policies.

“In this context, the impact is more of a second-order effect, not a direct one,” said Ferry.

He added that the ASN WFH policy acts more as a catalyst that accelerates the trend of office space efficiency that has been ongoing since the pandemic.

Companies are inclined to optimise space usage through reductions in space requirements, office rearrangements, and the adoption of flexible workspace concepts.

However, Ferry emphasised the importance of distinguishing between occupancy rates and space utilisation rates.

According to him, the WFH policy will not directly affect occupancy because it does not change the number of tenants.

However, in the long term, the hybrid work trend has the potential to reduce office space utilisation rates.

If this trend continues, companies may adjust their space needs based on actual usage, which could ultimately gradually affect demand for office space.

From the building owners’ perspective, Ferry assessed that there is no immediate pressure on asset performance in the short term.