The West Java provincial administration is set to start a trial run for remote work every Thursday in November and for a hybrid work model in which half of its public employees work from home and the remaining half work in the office in December. The policy is aimed at cutting provincial spending by 20 percent.

The Cilacap regency administration in West Java and the Bengkulu provincial administration are considering reducing the standard five-day workweek to just three or four days, while Surakarta in Central Java is planning to institute a once-weekly remote work day for civil servants who do not work directly with the public.

These administrations think the new work arrangement will not only reduce operational costs but also boost productivity.

Yet, it is reasonable to worry that remote work will disrupt public service performance.

For civil servants, remote work is not as simple as logging onto their laptops with a Wi-Fi connection, as technological gaps and digital illiteracy persist.

In many Indonesian regions, public service still needs physical appearance and in-person coordination. Many processes still require wet signatures, many document verifications are still done manually and not all systems are integrated into digital platforms.