WFH Every Friday is the Government's Strategy to Deal with Rising Energy Prices

JAKARTA - The government has decided to immediately implement the work from home (WFH) policy 1 day a week, namely every Friday. This policy is prepared as a precautionary measure against rising world oil prices triggered by tensions in the Middle East region.

Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa revealed the reason for choosing Friday as one of the options for implementing WFH because the working hours were relatively shorter.

"Friday is the shortest working hours. So the loss to productivity is considered the smallest," said Purbaya at the Ministry of Finance's office, Jakarta, Wednesday, March 25.

According to him, the WFH policy will be officially announced by Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto and applies to state civil servants (ASN) in the central and regional governments. Furthermore, it can be expanded to private employees.

The main objective of this policy is to suppress fuel consumption, given the uncertainty of the global situation, while Indonesia's energy reserves are estimated to only last for about 25-26 days. However, Purbaya emphasized that the impact of this policy can not only be seen from the side of energy savings.

"If WFH reduces the burden of employee travel, then household consumption can increase. Business activities continue, and tax revenue also has the potential to increase," he said.

Purbaya added that if the WFH policy actually encouraged the economy to grow faster than expected, then it would be beneficial.

"If the economy slows down, business goes up quickly, consumption goes up, my taxes go up. That is actually beneficial," he said.

He emphasized that the government did not see the WFH policy from only one side. The approach used is a general equilibrium approach, which takes into account the impact of policies on the overall movement of the economy, not just energy savings.

Previously, the government estimated that the WFH policy could reduce fuel consumption by 20 percent. However, Purbaya signaled that the benefits of this policy are much broader, including maintaining consumption, business, and state revenues stable amid global uncertainty.