We are here to share some useful advices that might be helpful for the expats who are shifting to Jakarta. We hope this blog will help all those expats who are planning to move to Jakarta for job or business purposes.

Work time is mostly 8-9 hours a day inclusive of an hour long lunch and nap break but depending on the nature of your job the break time is always variable. There are some traffic issues as public transportation is not much reliable and hence you might experience short delays in meeting times, in order to avoid any official warnings make a habit of leaving your place keeping a margin of 30 minutes early arrival at the workplace.

The attire is simple and dress shirts and official dressings; you are not supposed to wear hoods or jeans during the office time. On Friday however there is flexibility as most of the Indonesians for prayers wear batik.

You are probably given 12 days paid leaves a year and is considered legal. Since Indonesians experience some religious festivals as well so you might also get some additional and mandatory off days.

In Indonesia people of certain religions and ethnicity are living with close association, although at the job forms you may be asked for the religions (Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism or Confucianism are the main recognized religions).

As an efficient communication medium, you may be allowed to use WhatsApp or messengers as phone calls may cost much so it is rare to get a phone call. Despite of some traffic and internet concerns, employees are asked to be flexible and keep optimistic approach.

Indonesians are generally tourist friendly people and welcome the foreigners. You can always expect little banters which takes place occasionally among the workers. The mother tongue of Indonesians is Bahasa Indonesia but the locals speak English quite fluently.

Drinking alcohol is not allowed publically as Indonesia is an Islamic state; some Indonesians however take moderate alcohol.

Depending on the nature and kind of job you are doing, you will be given transportation facilities by the companies which include cab reimbursement, petrol and tolls etc. There are some private cab services as well which you can hire at affordable rates.

Apartment life in Jakarta
While living at your hometown you might have observed that living in an apartment is much easier as compared to live in an independent house although it greatly depends on a choice. There are certain benefits of living in apartment especially if you are on job at a place other than your hometown.

• Less maintenance is needed as you live in apartment as the size of apartment is generally smaller.
• You can easily find an apartment near to your work place and this will reduce the travel cost to certain extent
• In apartment, you might also be able to find major facilities at much discounted rates; these facilities include phone line, broadband, satellite dish or cable.
• There is an option of serviced apartments where you will get a maid service comparable to an expensive hotel, at the same time it is much costly.