The New Business As Usual: Inside Indonesian Workplaces in 2026

How would your employees describe their workplace a friend? To find Indonesia’s Best Workplaces in 2026, we asked more than 74,000 employees that exact question.

Indonesia has one of the most dynamic workforces in Southeast Asia and, right now, one of the more compelling workplace stories in the Southeast Asia region.

In 2012, Gallup recorded 8% of Indonesian employees as actively engaged at work. By 2026 that figure has reached 27%, well above the global average of 20%. For a workforce of this scale, that kind of improvement over thirteen years shows a sustained investment from employers and a labour market that has been steadily rewarding it.

How does workplace trust connect to business performance?

At Great Place To Work, we’ve spent decades asking employees around the world what really shapes their day‑to‑day experience. The answer consistently centers around trust – whether people feel heard, treated fairly, and confident their leaders will do what they say.

This year’s Indonesia Best Workplaces are proof of that in action. The organizations being honored on 21 July are averaging a Trust Index score of 89.1%. Certified™ companies overall sit at 82.4%. Typical Indonesian workplaces are back at 71.4%.

Organizations with higher leadership trust retain more people and perform better on the outcomes that show up in the revenue line. Released in February PwC’s Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey showed that in Indonesia, workers with the highest trust in their managers are 72% more motivated.

However, PwC also found a significant perception gap, while 82% of Indonesian leaders say they understand the organization’s long-term goals, only half of staff-level employees believe leadership is capable of delivering on them.Great Place To Work data shows that among typical Indonesian companies, only 56.6% of employees agree that management delivers on its promises, and just over half believe they would get a fair hearing if they raised a grievance. 

In a market where leadership credibility is the primary driver of engagement, that disconnect carries real weight. Trust erodes slowly, usually through the accumulation of small inconsistencies. 

How are health and wellbeing shaping Indonesia’s workplace culture?

Gallup’s data offers both encouragement and a more complicated read. Only 14% of Indonesian employees reported significant daily stress in 2025, the lowest rate in Southeast Asia and well below the global average of 40%. Job market confidence is also solid, with 64% of workers saying it is a good time to find a job locally, well above the global figure of 52%.

But it’s not all good news. The same report showed that daily sadness in Indonesia is at 27%, above the Southeast Asia average of 21% and the global figure of 23%. Daily loneliness reaches 23%, also above regional and global norms. For HR leaders, that pattern points to a workforce where stress is under control but emotional connection to work needs attention. 

While the Gallup research gives the national picture of how Indonesian employees are feeling, this year’s Best Workplaces survey data shows what high-trust employers are doing inside that same context. At Indonesia’s Best Workplaces, 89.4% of employees say they can be themselves at work, against 67.4% at typical companies. That 22-point gap in psychological safety is a useful measure of how differently the experience of belonging plays out across Indonesian organizations.

PwC’s Indonesia found around 90% of Indonesian leaders say they developed new skills at work in the past year, but only 62% of staff-level employees feel supported by their managers to build new skills. Only one in two Gen Z employees say they can speak openly with their manager. 

Taken together, the 2026 data describes a workforce in a truly dynamic era. Engagement has risen significantly over the past decade and labour market confidence is strong. The question is whether leadership is credible and whether the workplace is somewhere people want to stay. The organizations that have answered that question can be found in Indonesia’s Best Workplaces list for 2026, published July 21st.

FAQs

What is the Great Place To Work Trust Index and how does it measure workplace culture?

The Trust Index is Great Place To Work’s confidential employee survey, used across 170+ countries to measure workplace culture from the employee’s perspective. Workers rate their experiences across five dimensions: credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and camaraderie. Companies receive a score based on those responses. In Indonesia in 2026, the average Trust Index score across all certified companies is 82.4%, compared to 71.4% at typical Indonesian organisations.

How do Indonesia’s Best Workplaces compare to typical Indonesian companies?

The performance gap is significant across every measure. At Indonesia’s Best Workplaces, 91% of employees would endorse their employer to friends and family as a great place to work, versus 65% at typical companies. Retention intent (wanting to stay long-term) is 88% versus 70%. Trust in leadership sits at 58% at Best Workplaces, compared to just 35% at typical Indonesian organisations. Customer service excellence rates diverge at 92% versus 76%.

Why is daily stress so low in Indonesia compared to global averages?

Gallup’s 2026 data shows only 14% of Indonesian employees experienced significant daily stress, the lowest in Southeast Asia and well below the global average of 40%. Indonesia’s job market confidence is also high, with 64% of workers believing it is currently a good time to find local employment. That said, 27% of Indonesian employees report daily sadness and 23% report daily loneliness, both above Southeast Asia’s regional norms, suggesting wellbeing is a more layered picture than the stress headline implies.