Monroe Consulting Group Indonesia has become the first company focused on middle- to senior-level recruitment to be issued with a permanent business license under the category of recruitment. Indonesia’s Ministry of Manpower had previously only recognised blue-collar recruitment and was unaware of the growing industry of senior permanent recruitment agencies (head-hunters).
While many recruitment companies in Indonesia took the step of registering their businesses as a consulting company as a work around to the problem, Monroe worked with the Manpower Ministry and the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) to recognise senior-level recruitment services as an Industry.
“We took the decision to take the tougher path as a core part of our mission statement is to be honest, ethical and highly professional,” said Bagus Hendrayono, managing director for Monroe Consulting Group Indonesia. “We just felt that not registering as a recruitment business would go against these values. The other reason is because we felt that it was important for our sector to be recognised and, more importantly, regulated.”
Bagus said the process to help develop and obtain the Permanent Licence in Domestic Placement (Penempatan Tenaga Kerja Dalam Negeri (Ijin Usaha PTKDN)) took just over 5 years, with productive discussions starting about 18 months ago.
“Once we started to enter into discussions it was clear that there was some initial reservations from the Ministry and BKPM about ‘headhunting’ services,” Bagus said. “There were concerns raised by them that moving somebody from one company to another company could cause industrial relations problems and have a negative impact on Indonesian business.”
Bagus said that during a series of productive discussions with Manpower and BKPM, Monroe shared its knowledge and best practices for senior-level professional recruitment services. “With each meeting, Manpower and BKPM became more comfortable as we shared more information. Finally, they could see the benefits of the recruitment sector to Indonesia and the need to have regulatory oversight.”
Andrew Hairs, group managing director for Monroe Consulting Group, which operates in emerging recruitment markets in the Asia-Pacific, said the real catalyst for change came from a meeting with Thomas Lembong, the recently appointed head of BKPM, who supported Monroe’s desire to have the recruitment industry officially recognised and regulated.
“We owe him a big thank you as previously the appeals and letters seeking clarification were resulting in very little progress. When the appointment of Pak Lembong was announced, we decided to write a letter detailing our case and asking for him to look into the matter. We received a positive response to our letter and everything progressed smoothly from then on in.”
Andrew said Monroe was “the first, and therefore the only headhunting company to be registered under the category of recruitment in Indonesia.”
“Although it has not been an easy process I think the tenacity and persistent demonstrated by our team in Indonesia throughout this process is a great reflection for what we stand for as a business.”