COVID-19 Crazy Makes BUMN Employees Work From Home June 17 - 25, Erick Thohir: Meetings And Business Travels Are Also Not Allowed

Minister of SOEs, Erick Thohir. (Photo: Doc. Ministry of SOEs)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) has implemented a work from home (WFH) policy for state company employees starting from June 17 to 25, 2021. This decision was taken considering the current spike in COVID-19 cases.

The decision was taken based on the Circular Letter (SE) of the Minister of SOEs Number SE-12/S.MBU/06/2021 concerning the Policy for Carrying Out Official Duties from Home issued on June 16, 2021.

"As a measure to anticipate the increasing trend of positive COVID-19 cases within the Ministry of SOEs and nationally, as well as in order to prioritize the health and safety of employees, it is deemed necessary to establish a policy of carrying out official duties from home (Work From Home / WFH)," the letter said the circular, quoted Friday, June 18.

Not only implementing a work from home system, in the circular letter, all employees are also prohibited from taking business trips and meetings or meetings that are face-to-face.

Meanwhile, for employees who need to go on business trips and face-to-face meetings, face-to-face meetings are priority and strategic. They are also required to obtain a letter of assignment from the Minister of SOEs or the Deputy Minister of SOEs as well as from high-ranking officials.

In the circular explained, this step was taken in order to ensure the security of facilities and the availability of critical office services, related units can carry out official duties in the office with strict restrictions and still pay attention to the urgency of work.

In addition, the head of the work unit is asked to supervise the health and safety of employees while carrying out official duties from home. All employees are required to continuously improve clean and healthy living behavior by implementing health protocols.

Not only that, employees are also required to apply the 5M principles, namely wearing masks, washing hands, maintaining distance, staying away from crowds and limiting mobilization and interaction.

"Violations of the policies in this Circular may be subject to disciplinary penalties for the State Civil Apparatus as per the applicable provisions," reads the contents of the circular letter.

As is known, the number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia continues to grow. On June 17, 2021, the number of positive cases increased to 12,624. This brings the total positive cases to 1,950,276. Of that number, 1,771,220 patients were declared cured and 53,753 people died.

While active cases were recorded as many as 125,303 people. While the number of specimens examined was 130,829 and there were 110,472 suspects.

The province with the highest addition of cases was DKI Jakarta 4,144. Then followed by West Java 2,800 cases. Then, Central Java 1,752 cases and East Java 722 cases.