Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has made it very publicly known that he is leading the charge to enforce a full work from home (WFH) policy following the implementation of the Emergency Enforcement of Restriction on Public Activities (Emergency PPKM), as many offices in the capital remain open when they shouldn’t.
On his Instagram, Anies posted stories of him carrying out unannounced inspections at an office building in Central Jakarta, where he found that the offices of real estate agency Ray White and insurance firm Equity Life remained open in apparent violation of Emergency PPKM, which mandates that all workplaces in non-essential sectors must close and implement a full WFH policy.
“Your company is not being responsible. This isn’t about profit or loss, this is about people’s lives. People like you are so selfish,” Anies reprimanded the woman in the video, who is a human resources staff at Ray White.
The governor also reserved some harsh words for an office manager at Equity Life.
“We are burying people everyday, sir. You take responsibility. We are all stumped. Especially as there’s a pregnant woman here. Going into labor is really difficult for pregnant women during COVID-19. This morning I was told that one pregnant woman died. Why? Because she gave birth while she had COVID-19,” he said.
Anies said employees at both offices were told to go home and that the police will sanction those responsible with possible violations of the Health Quarantine Law and the Criminal Code (KUHP).
Equity Life is not taking the public beating lying down. The insurance company said it should be exempted from the full WFH policy, which gives concessions to companies in the finance and banking sector to enforce a 50 percent WFH policy.
As for the pregnant employee, Equity Life said she only came to the office briefly to sort out her maternity leave.
As things stand, both offices have been ordered to close for the entire duration of Emergency PPKM, which is set to last until at least July 20.
There have been concerns that many companies in Jakarta are not fully complying with the WFH policy, with one indicator being the traffic gridlocks on some of the capital’s major roads on Monday. Employees in non-essential sectors who are forced to work at the office are encouraged to report their employers through the smart city mobile app JAKI.
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