By Yohanes Jeffry Johary, President Director & Managing Director, OCS Indonesia
Efficiency is often celebrated as the hallmark of modern business. But beneath the pursuit of streamlined operations lies a stark reality: when cost-cutting prioritizes numbers over people, it erodes the very foundation of organizational success, i.e. human dignity.
Consider the case of a cleaner, earning just above Indonesia’s minimum wage of Rp 3.3 million (approximately $200) per month. Tasked with mentoring a new hire, she later learned the trainee was hired to replace her at a lower salary. No discussion. No acknowledgment of her years of service. Just a quiet exit.
Or take the area supervisor with 15 years of loyalty, abruptly reassigned to night shifts without explanation, under the vague guise of “structural flattening.” No career path offered. No closure provided. Just a shift in schedule designed to push him out.
These are not isolated anecdotes. They reflect a calculated strategy in some organizations: avoid formal terminations by degrading conditions: cancelling leave, increasing workloads, or withdrawing support, until employees “voluntarily” resign. No severance. No headlines. Just a cleaner balance sheet.
This isn’t efficiency. It’s attrition by design.
It’s a deliberate erosion of trust, cloaked as operational necessity.
And it’s a growing trend in emerging economies like Indonesia, where employment is often a lifeline, labour protections are limited, and “resignations” frequently mask coercion.
The truth is clear: when transformation is driven solely by financial metrics, the most vulnerable bear the hidden costs. Efficiency without empathy isn’t leadership; it’s a retreat from responsibility.
The Silent Crisis: Engineered Exits in Indonesia’s Workforce
Indonesia’s labour landscape is precarious. The national minimum wage, averaging Rp 3.3 million monthly, barely sustains a basic standard of living. Unemployment affects over 7 million people, and the World Bank estimates that 171 million Indonesians, nearly 60% of the population live below or near the poverty line. For many, a job is not just income; it’s survival.
In this context, the rise of “voluntary” resignations is alarming. Employees face opaque restructurings, sudden role changes, or intensified workloads, leaving them with little choice but to leave. These exits are engineered to be invisible: no formal layoffs, no public backlash. The result? Financial statements improve, while human capital erodes.
This trend undermines organizational culture, which leaders often tout as their greatest asset. Culture doesn’t collapse in a single crisis; it frays through neglect. When employees feel unseen, their commitment wanes. They disengage long before they depart, taking with them trust, knowledge, and morale.
Data supports this concern. A 2023 Gallup study found that high employee engagement correlates with 23% higher profitability and 66% lower turnover. Conversely, disengagement costs companies globally an estimated $450-550 billion annually. When employees are treated as expendable, the cost isn’t just human; it’s financial.
The Myth of High-Performance Cultures
The term “high-performance culture” is a corporate buzzword, often used to signal excellence. But in practice, many such cultures operate as pressure systems, raising expectations while cutting resources. Fear becomes a motivator. Agility morphs into instability. Resilience is demanded but rarely supported.
True high-performance stems from belief, not coercion. It’s built on investment in people, through training, fair compensation, and transparent communication, not extraction of their labour until they break. Companies that flaunt “values” in marketing materials but abandon them during economic downturns aren’t cultivating culture; they’re curating a brand.
This disconnect is evident in global trends. A 2024 McKinsey report noted that 70% of employees feel their employers fail to deliver on promises of purpose and belonging. Meanwhile, trust in leadership is at historic lows, with Edelman’s 2025 Trust Barometer reporting that only 43% of employees trust their CEOs to make ethical decisions.
The stakes are high. Organizations that prioritize short-term gains over long-term trust risk losing both talent and legitimacy. Leadership today demands accountability not just to shareholders but to the social contract that sustains enterprise.
A Purpose-Driven Alternative: Leadership in Action
At OCS Indonesia, we’ve faced the same relentless economic pressures as any service business: rising costs, tightening margins, the constant push to do more with less. But in those moments of strain, we chose to lean into our humanity, not away from it. Our approach isn’t perfect, but it’s intentional, rooted in the belief that investing in people is the surest path to enduring success.
Take Aisyah, a soft-spoken cleaner who joined us a decade ago as one of our first-generation formal workers. Like many of our 13,000 frontline employees, she carried the weight of her family’s hopes on her shoulders, earning just above Indonesia’s minimum wage. When we saw her quiet determination, we didn’t just see a worker. We saw potential. That’s why the built in-house of The UK and National standard vocational training program is designed to enable and empower people like Aisyah. Through it, she learned new skills, from facility services to digital tools, transforming her from a replaceable cog into a confident leader. Today, Aisyah mentors others, her pride radiating as she helps her team grow. This isn’t charity, it’s strategy. By upskilling our workforce, we’ve built a resilient and trusted team that drives operational excellence and keeps turnover low. Aisyah’s story is proof: when you invest in people, they don’t just stay. They thrive.
Then there’s our commitment to sustainability, which goes beyond buzzwords to create real stability for our people. Meet Budi, a maintenance worker at one of our 1,800 sites across Indonesia. In the past, his job depended on the ebb and flow of contracts, always one budget cut away from uncertainty. But when we embraced circular economy principles: reusing materials, repurposing equipment, and repairing instead of replacing, we didn’t just reduce waste. We created steady, long-term jobs that align with Indonesia’s sustainability goals. Budi now works on projects that save resources and secure his future, knowing his role is built to last. This approach strengthens our workforce’s security and proves that doing right by the planet and our people is a win for everyone.
These choices: Aisyah’s training and Budi’s stable job, weren’t the easy path. They demanded resources, patience, and a willingness to look beyond quarterly pressures. But they’re the choices that define us. At OCS Indonesia, we’re not just running a business; we’re building a legacy where people are the foundation, not the cost.
Culture must be lived, especially when it’s inconvenient. Leadership that endures doesn’t chase efficiency at the expense of purpose. It balances both.
The Leadership Reckoning: A Call to Action
Global headlines tell a troubling story: record profits alongside mass layoffs, declining trust, and disengaged workforces. This isn’t a talent shortage; it’s a leadership crisis.
When employees are reduced to line items, expendable the moment costs rise, organizations cease to be institutions and become extraction systems. Systems built on silent departures are inherently unstable trust, once broken, is costly to rebuild. A 2024 Deloitte study found that organizations with high trust levels see 2.5 times greater revenue growth than low-trust peers. The lesson is clear: neglecting people undermines performance.
I challenge every leader to ask: Is your culture robust enough to weather economic pressure without betraying your people? If it falters under strain, it’s not a culture. It’s a facade.
Conclusion: Redefining Belonging
We must stop using the language of “belonging” if employees can be discarded without warning after years of service. We must stop celebrating scale, hiring thousands, without ensuring dignified exits for those who leave. And we must stop equating efficiency with excellence.
Efficiency without empathy is dehumanizing.
Performance without purpose is oppressive.
Belonging without accountability is a lie.
The organizations that will thrive are those that endure with integrity. They protect dignity in private moments. They measure leadership not by headcount but by how few they abandon.
This is the leadership I commit to.
This is the leadership our future demands.
About the Author:
Yohanes Jeffry Johary is the President Director and Managing Director of OCS Indonesia, a British-owned facility management company serving 1,800+ sites and employing over 13,000 frontliners. He is a recognized advocate of ESG leadership, social equity, and purposeful transformation. He also chairs sustainability and citizenship working groups across Indonesia’s international business community, British and American Chambers Indonesia respectively.
