Jurnal Ketenagakerjaan
Vol 21 No 1 (2026)

Four-Day Workweek in Indonesia’s Big Cities: Urgency and Legal Framework for Flexible Work in Labour Law Reform

Ks, Shinta (Unknown)
Girsang, Fredsly Hendra Sardol (Unknown)
Widiyanti, Khairina (Unknown)
Santoso, Sugeng Santoso (Unknown)



Article Info

Publish Date
05 May 2026

Abstract

This article offers normative input for Indonesia’s ongoing labour-law reform agenda by proposing a legal framework to govern a four-day workweek as part of broader flexible-work regulation. Indonesian working-time norms remain largely anchored in a 40-hour standard, while contemporary work arrangements, particularly hybrid (hibrida) and remote (jarak jauh) work, have heightened risks of working-time spillover, hidden overtime, and blurred boundaries between work and rest. Within this reform context, the study assesses the legal urgency and basis for regulating a four-day workweek and formulates a fair and safe implementation model through a proposal to establish a Flexible Work Chapter within a revised/new Labour Law and its implementing regulations. Using a normative-prescriptive legal method, the research applies statutory, conceptual, and comparative approaches, supported by desk-based evidence from published evaluations of four-day workweek trials in the UK and Iceland and scholarship on the European right to disconnect. The findings indicate that a four-day workweek may be operationalized through two legal models, compressed workweeks (40 hours/4 days) and reduced-hour workweeks (32–36 hours/4 days), each carrying distinct legal implications and risks, particularly in sectors and urban contexts where working-time control is difficult. Accordingly, safeguards are required, including wage protection, clear overtime limits and approval, transparent working-time recording (including for hybrid/remote arrangements), strengthened Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) and fatigue-risk management, and a right to disconnect framework. The article concludes that a Flexible Work Chapter is necessary to ensure flexibility remains consistent with worker-protection principles and legal certainty in working-time governance.

Copyrights © 2026






Journal Info

Abbrev

naker

Publisher

Subject

Economics, Econometrics & Finance Law, Crime, Criminology & Criminal Justice Social Sciences

Description

Jurnal Ketenagakerjaan (J-naker/The Indonesian Journal of Manpower) adalah publikasi ilmiah yang diterbitkan oleh Pusat Pengembangan Kebijakan, Kementerian Ketenagakerjaan. J-naker bekerjasama dengan beberapa asosiasi fungsional dan profesi di bidang ketenagakerjaan dalam rangka mengembangkan ...