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8
min read
For Millennials like me, work flexibility is just a myth.
Writer
Just call her by the name Mawar.
Published on
One day, an old campus friend sent me a text message. At first, there was indeed some interest, but in the end, it became just small talk.
“Hey, where are you working now?” he asked.
“At ((sensor)). He he.”
“WOW… YOU'RE REALLY ARROGANT, HUH,” this is how he joked. He might be annoyed because I was reluctant to keep in touch, especially to just let him know that I was working at the same parent company as him.
“You're in ((sensor)). I'm in ((sensor)). He he,” I replied. Honestly, I was just lazy to make small talk about work. At that time, I was experiencing acute insecurity.
“IT'S THE SAME. IT'S JUST A DIFFERENT BUILDING. IT'S REALLY CLOSE. When are you going to the office? Let's meet.”
“I never go to the office. He he. I'm a freelancer. I also work remote.
“Wow, that's nice. You get to travel a lot, huh,” he joked again. Maybe he thought I was working as a journalist sent to cover outside the city, not bound by time and place, and could breathe air outside the cubicle desk and computer screen. His response made me even more insecure.
I work as a freelance worker or casual worker. More precisely, a freelancer under the corporate umbrella. At that time, I was still working remote. Maybe because my friend worked full-time and always went to the office, he started to expect that my job was nice. Maybe he was bored with the rigid office routine that stifled his freedom, so when he heard ‘remote work’, suddenly, what came to his mind was heaven. Even though I was overwhelmed with insecurity, I understood his position a little. After all, we were both at a disadvantage.
At least for the current condition, I am part of the millennials group that wants to work at a standard pace—which sometimes sounds ‘conservative’ for this 4.0 era. Like regularly going to the office or being assigned by the office to go out—clearly not staying inside the house. I could go to a cafe to work on my tasks, but that’s still a consideration because I’m actually broke.
Other desires, for example, to be able to meet regularly with office colleagues and build enjoyable friendships—aren't these relationships a healthy work ecosystem? Then, of course, I want to earn a decent income, receive benefits, and various other accesses.
Unfortunately, I have to accept the reality; I spend more time working at home with equipment and internet data that I bear myself, never face-to-face with colleagues even video calls are not happening, an inadequate income, and of course no benefits.
Earnings below the minimum wage, transferred monthly, but if I don't go to work—whether the reason is sick or for any permission—it is still deducted based on the number of absent days. So, I almost never absent even if it’s a public holiday or a great holiday—unless I'm desperate—or I try to find replacement hours by trading schedules with colleagues.
Indeed, some people feel suitable working as freelancers plus remote. A person's living conditions also determine the ideal job type needed within a certain period. These conditions are always fluid and can change at any time. For example, a mother with a toddler might find it difficult to work full-time, thus freelance can be an alternative. But what about my situation as a (back then) fresh graduate, with a mediocre economic background, and starting to feel frustrated after being rejected by companies repeatedly?
This freelance work is my first ‘official’ job in a corporation. Previously, I had only worked as an intern and part-time jobs. Initially, I thought, instead of being unemployed for too long, it’s better to take it. At least the contract says that I can leave whenever if I get a job in another company. After some time, it turned out to be not as easy as I imagined.
I felt stuck in a box and kept spinning inside it. Job applications to other companies went unanswered. On the one hand, I wanted to give up that job—which was toxic to me—but I always hesitated. This is a dilemma. Because if I resign, I would have no income. In the end, I had to extend the contract again (and again?).
The reality is, remote working isn't always as beautiful as many people imagine. Not everyone is suited to this system. Harvard Business Review once released a short review of research on 1,100 workers. They said that 52% of those who remote work at home tend to feel isolated, especially if they never have direct contact with coworkers who stay at the office. This is what I roughly feel.
During nearly a year of remote working, I could count on one hand how many times I went to the office; when training and orientation as new workers, when signing and extending contracts, and when invited to attend the year-end meeting. All forms of telecommunication were only through text messages, and in the chat room, only work-related topics were discussed. There were no regular meetings as if freelancers were merely small crumbs and not part of the company.
After almost a year, the company offered freelancers the chance to work at the office. The reason was that face-to-face interactions were beginning to be seen as a communication necessity (see, I told you. This is very important in a work ecosystem). As an implication, the salary was indeed increased but still not significantly. The mechanism and workload didn’t change—thankfully, the jobdesk didn’t become heavier.
Then the next reason, the company wanted to improve the quality of production. At this point, I started to cringe. Of course, I was happy if the company kept improving ‘quality’ considering its negative image in previous years. But, wait a minute. Wanting to improve production quality but by employing young freelancers, on short-term contracts, and minimal salaries?
The company reasoned that it had financial constraints, as its income was declining that year. Reportedly there was an ‘efficiency’ of permanent workers in the office, some of whom were ‘laid off’—I do not know whether they were transferred to another business unit or truly ‘sent home’.
In the end, I gave in because I had no alternative choices. Moreover, to maintain my mental stability so that I can often engage in activities outside the home. Honestly, during my remote work, my mental health deteriorated.
This experience made me question the touted work flexibility that was said to enhance worker and company productivity. Many say millennials like this type of job. But actually, who are the 'millennials that tend to prefer flexible work'? Which millennials?
If they mean urban millennials who have privileges and stable, even affluent economic backgrounds, such flexible work is probably not a problem. They do not worry about whether the amount of money in their account is enough, whether they can save or not, whether they can buy this or that or not.
I often doubt the surveys and research used as the basis for arguments that ‘flexible work is like a paradise with promises of freedom’, isn’t it biased? For instance, how diverse is the respondent pool used in the sample? This needs to be examined and critiqued further.
Moreover, the media simplifies that narrative concoction in various ways. Just try googling, for example, with the keywords ‘millennials and flexible work’, most results speak in a positive tone. Furthermore, companies legitimize the trend of flexible work among youth purely for production purposes; minimizing expenses as much as possible by employing young people under PKWT.
Well, if work flexibility is accompanied by fulfilling workers' rights and treating them humanely, who wouldn’t want that? But let alone that utopia, even permanent workers' rights are still often ignored.
Moreover, hey… ((remember)) if the Cilaka omnibus law—which is still a hot debate—one day gets approved, what will happen to workers like me? With the Cilaka Bill yet to be passed, I'm already struggling to survive in an imbalanced work-life, let alone if it gets officially enacted?
The Chairwoman of the Media and Creative Industry Workers Union for Democracy (SINDIKASI) Ellena Ekarahendy stated during a discussion at Walhi National, Jakarta, Thursday (20/2) that if the Cilaka Bill is passed, it will allow for a wave where workers become permanently temporary workers. And this is increasingly worrying for young workers, especially fresh graduates, as they are in a difficult position to gain high bargaining power. The relationship of becoming permanent workers becomes increasingly challenging.
The principle of ‘easy hiring, easy firing’ is indeed the spirit advanced by the Cilaka omnibus law. As the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto ‘confirmed’ that this Bill will regulate the flexibility of working hours as well as ease in the recruitment process and termination of employment or layoffs (katadata.co.id).
The image of flexibility perhaps stems from the boredom of a rigid, stagnant work world, like what my friend above experienced. Workers long for freedom, flexibility, and leniency. But what if that 'freedom' turns into another form of prison?
A prison that is subtly built by corporate logic, facilitated by capitalism, reproduced by technology and the digital economy, and… legalized by the government? Work flexibility ultimately becomes a myth in the 4.0 civilization. A myth for the working class who has no power.
Author: let's just say her name is Mawar.
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Angka-angka ini adalah alarm keras. Ketika mayoritas korban merasa lebih aman untuk diam daripada melapor, itu tandanya ada yang salah dengan sistem pendukung di tempat kerja tersebut.
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Tawarkan bantuan pada korban.
Jadi saksi pada pelaporan ke atasan atau HR.
Gunakan hasil dokumentasi untuk bukti pelaporan.
Pantau perkembangan laporan.
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Just Pretend to Be Good: About the Well-being of Lecturers in Indonesia
Lecturers so far seem to have no problems, maybe it’s because we are in denial. We pretend to be okay. So it’s like (we need) awareness that we are not okay, awareness that something needs to change, awareness that we are the working class who are very likely to be oppressed in our work fulfillment relationships.” – Nabiyla Risfa Azzati, representative of the Lecturer Welfare Research Team (2023)
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Survey by the Lecturer Welfare Research Team (UGM-UI-Unram, 2023) shows that 42.9% of lecturers earn below Rp3 million. About 35% of them feel that their monthly income does not match their workload and qualifications as lecturers. Moreover, nearly one-third of respondents reported spending monthly living costs of Rp3-5 million.
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“This speaks about a profession that on one hand requires very high qualifications to enter, therefore its barrier is very high, while on the other hand, this profession also becomes the backbone of knowledge creation,” emphasized Nabiyla when met by the Never Okay Project (NOP) team.
Issues of Lecturer Welfare Rarely Discussed
Nabiyla revealed that the welfare of lecturers is rarely raised. This is why this research was conducted: to make this issue mainstream so that the parties concerned can be more open and acknowledge that there are problems.
“Because if we can acknowledge that there is a problem, we can start from there, we can look for solutions together. If we don’t even admit there’s a problem, it’s very difficult, right?” she said.
Nabiyla realizes that discussions about salaries are still considered taboo, especially for the teaching profession, which is considered noble and carries a certain social status. She also acknowledges that it is not difficult to find prosperous lecturers. However, that does not mean we should turn a blind eye to the 42.9% of respondents who earn less than Rp3 million.
“If my life is used as an example, lecturers are fine. But there are many other lecturers who are not okay,” she said.
Lecturers No Longer an Attractive Career Choice
The results of this research also seem to answer an assumption that being a lecturer is no longer an attractive choice. “How can we attract quality individuals to work in a profession that in its early stages cannot provide welfare. Like it’s impossible,” she said.
Nabiyla also mentioned the high resignation rate from CASN (Civil Service Candidates) lecturers. This indicates that something is wrong.
“This actually shows that there’s something wrong, we do not value people who actually want to dedicate their time to knowledge creation in Indonesia,” she explained.
Read also: Violence Against Journalists: From Sexual to KBGO
Ideal Salary Standards for Lecturers
Discussing ideal salaries for lecturers is quite complicated. This is because the benchmark for fair wages in Indonesia refers to the minimum wage, which in this context is the standard of Decent Living Needs (KHL). However, this context is considered less suitable when talking about lecturer salaries.
“Why? Because first, the barrier to becoming a lecturer is high, so this should be seen as a profession that should not be valued at bare minimum,” explained Nabiyla.
She compared it to other countries that generally do not value lecturer salaries at minimum wage. The reason is that lecturer salaries there are negotiated. In Indonesia, sector-based negotiations are nearly non-existent, so the Lecturer Welfare Research Team cannot answer how to provide an ideal standard for lecturers.
Comparing Lecturer Salaries with Neighboring Countries
The Lecturer Welfare Research Team attempted to compare lecturer salaries in Indonesia with comparable neighboring countries, namely Malaysia and Thailand. The results are quite shocking. The average lecturer salary in Malaysia is Rp 20-25 million and in Thailand is Rp 38-42 million. Nabiyla revealed that initially, the team felt those figures were not suitable for this job because they were too high. However, the main problem is that Indonesia does not have a standard for lecturer salaries.
“The comparison with Malaysia and Thailand should not be a very far comparison, but seeing that we currently do not have a standard, if we were to present at the Ministry of Education and Culture, we’d face ridicule. It’s strange how we don’t have standards; we are even afraid to mention a figure that isn’t too high at all, it’s actually quite normal,” said Nabiyla.
Lecturers are Workers Too: Fighting Not to be Oppressed
The survey results from the Lecturer Welfare Research Team also show that the lecturer profession is a labor profession. Therefore, it is necessary to fight to not be oppressed.
“Call us professional workers, call us white-collar workers, call us knowledge producers, whatever the name, at the end of the day, we are workers, we are laborers,” said Nabiyla.
Source:
Lecturer Welfare Research Team. (2023, May 4). How much do lecturers earn? Here are the results of the first national survey mapping the welfare of academics in Indonesia. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/berapa-gaji-dosen-berikut-hasil-survei-nasional-pertama-yang-memetakan-kesejahteraan-akademisi-di-indonesia-203854 accessed on May 21, 2023.
Interview with the representative of the Lecturer Welfare Research Team, Nabiyla Risfa Azzati. May 17, 2023.
Writer: Yanti Nainggolan
Editor: Imelda
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