Indonesia Joins the Flexible Working Revolution

Taking a positive step towards revolutionizing traditional modes of working to encourage more female participation, the Manpower Ministry of Indonesia has planned to make more flexible working hours available to enable more women to work. This regulation will seek to increase their participation in the labour market by working suitable hours; the aim is to break the existing restrictive pattern of working that prevents women from taking up employment due to familial and other responsibilities.

Manpower Minister Hanif Dhakiri said that as of August 2018, the percentage of women in employment in the Indonesian labour market was only 51.88, considerably lower than that of men (82.69%). He opined that women found it difficult to juggle family and career, and were unable to dedicate sufficient quality time to either. The current system of working would eventually force women to make a decision, choosing between the two. He believes that altering the current regulation can enable more women to continue their careers and even become financially independent whilst giving equal attention to their families.

Additionally, the Minister is also of the belief that allowing flexible working hours is the best way for Indonesia to keep up with the ever-evolving and constantly expanding industrial world. For instance, an employee can work remotely on the weekends or even from a co-working space closer by to his/her accommodation to cut the commute time during urgent projects or tight deadlines. It would also improve quality of life as more people would be willing to work for at least a few hours on days they can’t come in to work, and have the freedom of managing their own work schedules.

This is certainly good news not only for the smart working industry, but for the entire workforce of a country. If a whole nation can pledge to join the smart working revolution, then you should too.

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