Ten Office Boys Per Foreigner? Indonesia Explains Labor Law
- Indonesia requires 10 locals to be hired per foreign worker
- Non-resident foreign company directors need work permits
A janitor mops the floor at Bungkul Park in Indonesia.
Photographer: Arief Priyono/LightRocket via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
For companies worried about a new Indonesian law requiring 10 locals to be hired for every foreigner, the government has a workaround: stock up on drivers and “office boys” to make tea.
“There is no need to be afraid,” Ruwiyono Septy Priharso, head of the work permit section at the manpower ministry, told an audience of mostly foreign business people at a seminar on the rules. He suggested the quota could be filled by low-paid staff like office boys, a term that refers to mostly young men employed to do routine tasks. “They do not need to be permanent workers, but it is better if they are.”