Many Indonesian companies have developed appropriate work guidelines for each employee to implement hybrid work. This is because entrepreneurs believe that a hybrid approach to work can have many positive effects on employee performance and well-being.  

This article will show what business leaders must recognize how, when, and where we work are no longer constrained by traditional notions of time and space in this new hybrid working era. 

What is Hybrid work? 

Hybrid work is an approach that takes into account the individual’s needs, whether they’re at home or at the office. Our platform enables people to work from any location, and move between sites as needed. 

Many organizations see hybrid work as the evolution of remote working, allowing employers to better integrate remote working into overall business processes while providing comparable work experience for remote workers. 

In addition, the Indonesian government may further implement a “work anywhere” (WFA) policy for its employees to support hybrid work. 

What is Work From Anywhere (WFA)?  

The Indonesian government is planning to implement a more flexible work system for civil servants, allowing them to work anywhere in the future, the new approach is named as Work From Anywhere (WFA). 

WFA is not required employees to work in a specific location, such as a home or office, and they don’t have mandatory office hours. This means that employees have flexible work locations and flexible working hours. 

Work From Anywhere in Indonesia

Ministries and government agencies are developing new frameworks to accommodate this new policy. Although the program is still in its preliminary stages and the Indonesian public authorities have not yet announced whether they will allow employees to work outside of the country, there still most employees prefer hybrid work. 

However, there are some jobs that are not suitable for hybrid work, for example, medical staff or firefighters as they cannot be able to work anywhere.

The application of WFA was intended to increase the effectiveness of ASN performance and provide efficiency to government bureaucracy…The important thing is that performance and targets are achieved,

Satya Pratama, the Head of the Legal, Public Relations, and Cooperation Bureau of the Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry.

Hybrid work is preferred across ASEAN markets

The Cisco study highlighted that hybrid work is now preferred by many employees across ASEAN markets:

• Indonesia – 84%
• Singapore – 71%
• Malaysia – 74%
• Vietnam – 76%
• Thailand – 69%
• The Philippines – 60%

The support for hybrid work extends beyond employees as well — with 90% of employees saying their employers have been supportive of hybrid working. In particular, 46% said their employers have been supportive, while 44% said their employers have been very supportive.

(Cisco)

Why do Indonesians prefer hybrid work? 

Microsoft’s report, “Great Expectations: Making Hybrid Work Work ” shows that as many as 48 percent of employees in Indonesia say they prefer to prioritize health and well-being over work.  

As hybrid work allows the employees to work everywhere and work in a flexible work period, this gives them more flexibility to make them balance life and work.  

Why should take care of Indonesian employees’ needs?  

Wahjudi Purnama, Modern Work & Security Business Group Lead of Microsoft Indonesia, pointed out that the challenge for every organization is to be able to meet the expectations of its employees, otherwise, 66% of workers in Indonesia would quit their jobs and more likely to consider switching to remote or hybrid work systems. 

Hybrid work improves employees’ performance 

According to the Cisco report, hybrid work has been able to improve the quality of work of employees in Indonesia by up to 56.4%, and employee productivity also increased by 53.4%. 

Furthermore, the hybrid work method increases the knowledge and work skills of employees by 58.7%. Meanwhile, employee relations and attitudes at work increased 46.8% with the hybrid work method. 

Hybrid work improves employees’ welfare

In the Microsoft study, 62.5% of respondents admitted that adopting a hybrid work approach had improved their well-being. 

More importantly, as many as 87% of respondents are able to save money by working with a hybrid work style because they do not have to go back to the office as often. Even 92% of respondents admit that the hybrid work approach has allowed them to spend more time with their families, improving their relationships with them. 

Then, 85 percent of respondents said the hybrid approach made them happier and motivated them to take on their work roles. There are 64% of respondents felt that the hybrid work approach had a positive impact on their physical health. 

Why employers would like to implement hybrid work? 

Satya Pratama, head of public relations at the Indonesian National Civil Service Agency, says the flexible working program is designed to improve performance and job satisfaction.  

In fact, at least a dozen companies in Indonesia, mainly start-ups, have already adopted at least part of this WFA approach. They all report that hybrid work has many benefits for them. 

Increases the production growth rate of companies   

A survey from the famous consulting firm Accenture found that 83% of workers in Indonesia prefer a hybrid model for work. It also found that over 67% of companies have high business growth after switching to a work-from-anywhere model.  

Meanwhile, the majority of companies remain focused on where people are going to work physically, and they are ‘no-growth’ in their businesses.  

Reduce business operating costs 

Some data suggests that only about 48.9% of startups will survive in 2021. According to data published by the Indonesian Venture Capital Association (Amvesindo) on the IDX channel, up to 10-15% of startups may also face closure due to a lack of competition. 

The Co-Office is a shared office that supports WFA and offers a variety of flexible working facilities (such as desk rotation), lounge areas, and silent cubicles, in addition to any traditional office.

The use of rotating desks reduces the cost of purchasing fixed desks and reduces the need for startups and SMEs to have huge space requirements and pay high rents. 

Increase employees’ emotional and mental well-being 

Based on Cisco’s report, 60.8% say hybrid working makes their stress levels have decreased because a hybrid workplace provides a work environment less pressurized (26.5%) and greater flexibility (25.7%) to them. 

If employees work happier, this can help them to more engage with their work, and then the quality of work would be increased. Moreover, they would not like to resign from their jobs. So, hybrid work also helps companies to retain talent. 

That’s why entrepreneurs believe that a hybrid approach to work can have many positive effects on employee performance and well-being.   

Who has implemented hybrid work in Indonesia? 

Just in Jakarta, there are already 3,964 companies have implemented the WFH policy. Here are some examples of these companies: 

Amar Bank: It is one of the companies that can be said to be the first of companies in implementing WFA. They have a complete hybrid work system to improve the quality of work and employee welfare. 

Blibli: It is a well-known Indonesian e-commerce company that focuses on building good business ecosystems for consumers and organizations. They noticed an increase in productivity after most of their employees worked from home.   

Efishery: It is a company engaged in aquaculture, and they found that hybrid work actually increased the company’s productivity. Therefore, they decided to go to WFA forever.   

Microsoft Indonesia: They have developed different flexible working arrangements for their employees, such as offering virtual meditation sessions and set break time after meetings, to ensure that employees can continue to provide high productivity. 

More companies support hybrid work:10 companies that implemented hybrid working in Indonesia – ONEs Blog 

Challenges to implementing hybrid work 

Currently rebuilding social capital also looks different in the hybrid world. Wahjudi noted that as many as 49% of Indonesian leaders say that relationship building is the biggest challenge in the hybrid work era. 

Furthermore, Microsoft’s survey also found that corporate leaders need to make the office feel worth commuting. Because, as many as 41 percent of hybrid employees in Indonesia said their biggest challenge was knowing when and why they had to come to the office. 

On the other hand, only 40 percent of leaders have made a team agreement to define these new norms. 

Some companies still not prepared for hybrid work due to misunderstanding

Based on Cisco’s survey, only 25% of employees feel their employer is ‘very prepared’ for a hybrid working future. 

Actually, nearly 72% believe their manager trusts them to be productive when working remotely and over 60% believe their colleagues can be trusted to work remotely. 

General hybrid working data 

Opinions for networking Infrastructure  

67% say suffering connectivity issues on a regular basis is career-limiting for remote workers. 

72.1% say their company currently has the right networking infrastructure. 

93.2% say networking Infrastructure is essential for seamless working-from-home experiences. 

(Cisco) 

Opinions for cybersecurity  

85.9% feel cybersecurity is critical for making hybrid working safe. 

72.5% think business leaders are familiar with the cyber risks of hybrid work. 

69.3% believe their organization currently has the right capabilities and protocols in place. 

65.9% think employees in their company understand the cyber risk. 

(Cisco) 

Less commuting expenses and allowances 

86.5% of employees say they saved money in the past 12 months; the average is US$112 a week / US$5,824 a year.

In the same meaning, hybrid work helps their average income increase by 13.3%. Therefore, employers can save lots of travel allowances for their staff. 

(Cisco) 

Employees prefer to work virtually 

In Indonesia, 62% of employees are willing to use digital immersive spaces for meetings, up from 52% globally. 

Leaders consider redesigning their workplace 

54% of leaders are currently redesigning meeting spaces for hybrid work, or plan to in the year ahead.  

 (Microsoft) 

Hybrid work helps to build a new meeting etiquette 

Despite 43% of remote employees and 44% of hybrid employees saying they do not feel included in meetings, just 27% of organizations have established new hybrid work meeting etiquette. 

(Microsoft) 

Gen Z and Millennials seeking for flexible work 

53% of Gen Z and Millennials in Indonesia are likely to consider changing jobs if cannot work flexibly this year. 

(Microsoft) 

Directors are planning to change the work style of their companies 

60 percent of leaders in Indonesia say their companies plan to return to full office work next year, higher than the global figure of 50 percent.

However, 66 percent of workers in Indonesia are more likely to consider switching to remote or hybrid work.

More information for hybrid working 

Stanford economist explains why need hybrid work: Stanford economist tells what can be learned from the winners of hybrid plans – ONEs Blog 

How to optimize your hybrid workplace for 2023: Optimize your hybrid workplace for 2023 – ONEs Blog 

What equipment do hybrid workers need in 2023?: What equipment do hybrid workers need in 2023? – ONEs Blog 

ONES is one of the famous all-in-one smart office systems that can help you to easily implement hybrid working at ease.  You can easily perform virtual meetings, desk hoteling, and digital office management with our Room Booking, Desk Booking, and Visitor Management features.     

Feel free to contact us for more detail to implement your hybrid office!  

Contact us: hello@ones.software, or visit ONES Software official website for more information: https://ones.software/id.   

The post Hybrid work trends in Indonesia a business leader needs to know in 2023 and onward  first appeared on ONEs Blog.

Moreover, the Indonesian government intends to further implement a Work-from-Anywhere (WFA) policy and plans to implement it for civil servants. 

About WFA in Indonesia 

“The application of WFA was intended to increase the effectiveness of ASN performance and provide efficiency to government bureaucracy…The important thing is that performance and targets are achieved,”

Satya Pratama, the Head of the Legal, Public Relations, and Cooperation Bureau of the Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry.

WFA is a more flexible working system, allowing workers to work anywhere in the future. It doesn’t require people to work from a specific place, like home, or with mandatory office hours.

Employees can decide their work location, work hour, and workflow. However, it would not be available for civil servants whose work require to be in direct contact with the public, such as medical staff or firefighters. Just in Jakarta, there are already 3,964 companies have implemented the WFH policy.

The Indonesian government believed that a flexible working model can help employees to increase their productivity. In fact, it has many reasons to implement WFA with some data support. 

Increases the production growth rate of companies  

A survey from the famous consulting firm Accenture found that 83% of workers in Indonesia prefer a hybrid model for work. It also found that over 67% of companies have high business growth after switching to a work-from-anywhere model. 

Meanwhile, the majority of companies remain focused on where people are going to work physically, and they are ‘no-growth’ in their businesses.    

Reducing business operating costs and allowance 

Some leading giant Indonesian companies have already implemented a hybrid working mode, for example, Blibli.com. It is one of the well-known e-commerce sites in Indonesia and has officially implemented the WFA system since January 2022.  

They announced their employees can work from anywhere and changed their office to be coworking office to support the hybrid workers. A coworking office is a shared office, it helps WFA and provides a variety of flexible working facilities (for example hot desking), relaxation zones, and a soundless booth apart from any traditional office. Using hot desks can reduce the cost of buying fixed desks, also reducing the necessity of huge space demand and rent.  

In addition, some data shows only about 48.9% of startups survived higher rents in 2021. According to data published by the Indonesian Venture Capital Association (Amvesindo) on the IDX channel, it is highlighted that up to 10-15% of startups might also be facing closing due to the inability to compete.   

But, if startups and SMEs implement hybrid work and use coworking offices, it can help them to run their businesses with less capital and decrease the chance of closure. This means that the Indonesian government can reduce the total amount of annual subsidies to these companies. 

Sustainable Development Solutions for Office

As mentioned above, a coworking office is just like a mini community, which allows different entrepreneurs and people to work together in a shared environment.

This gives them more opportunities to learn others’ skills and helps to train more talents, therefore it enhances the sustainability of business activities in the future. This approach was agreed upon by Digital Economist Researcher Nailul Huda. 

What do you need for hybrid working 

ONES is one of the famous all-in-one smart office systems that can help you to easily implement hybrid working at ease in Indonesia.  You can easily perform virtual meetings, desk hoteling, and digital office management with our Room Booking, Desk Booking, and Visitor Management features.     

ONES Software now has a dedicated page to introduce a series of hybrid working measures to help you solve problems. You may wish to go to https://ones.software/hybrid-workspace/ for further reference.    

Contact us: hello@ones.software, or visit ONES Software official website for more information: https://ones.software/id. 

The post Why Indonesian government encourages hybrid working now?  first appeared on ONEs Blog.