Dinamika Makna Waktu Kerja: Studi Kasus Pekerja Kreatif di Bandung dan Yogyakarta dalam Masa Pandemi COVID-19

ELIESTA HANDITYA, Khidir Marsanto Prawirosusanto, S.Ant., MA

2021 | Skripsi | S1 ANTROPOLOGI BUDAYA

Penelitian ini memfokus pada tema mengenai pemaknaan pekerja kreatif atas waktu kerja dalam masa pandemi COVID-19, terutama di tengah situasi work from home. Mengambil studi kasus di Yogyakarta dan Bandung, tulisan ini berusaha membedah berbagai kerentanan yang dialami pekerja kreatif di tengah iklim fleksibilitas tenaga kerja. Selain itu, saya juga berkeinginan menyampaikan kegelisahan dan kritik terkait berbagai eksploitasi 'tersembunyi' yang selama ini dialami oleh para pekerja kreatif di tengah skema pasar tenaga kerja fleksibel. Dalam beberapa tahun terakhir, sektor ekonomi kreatif digadang-gadang sebagai masa depan bagi perekonomian Indonesia. Namun sayangnya, selama ini kajian akademis mengenai pekerja kreatif lebih banyak hanya berfokus untuk melihat pekerja kreatif sebagai moda produksi dan katalisator ekonomi, alih-alih berpikir mengenai hak-hak pekerja, padahal perlindungan dan keamanan ketenagakerjaan mereka masih jarang diperhatikan. Melalui penelitian etnografi, saya mencoba menelaah pemaknaan waktu bagi pekerja kreatif secara komprehensif dan mengakar rumput. Penelitian ini berpatokan pada tiga pertanyaan penelitian utama, yakni a.) Hubungan waktu dan kerja dalam konteks sosiologis dan historis di Indonesia, b.) bagaimana pekerja kreatif di Bandung dan Yogyakarta memaknai diri mereka dalam konteks hubungan kerja di era fleksibilitas pasar tenaga kerja, dan c.) bagaimana pekerja kreatif memaknai waktu kerja di tengah masa pandemi COVID-19. Guna menjawab tiga pertanyaan tersebut, saya membahas makna waktu kerja bagi pekerja kreatif melalui berbagai konteks, mulai dari sejarah makna waktu di tengah masyarakat industri global, kemudian mengerucut pada diskursus perekonomian kreatif di Indonesia dan hubungannya dengan waktu kerja fleksibel, serta bagaimana para informan memaknai waktu secara subjektif dalam masa pandemi COVID-19. Di kalangan pekerja kreatif, aktivitas bekerja yang sebagian besar berpusat di rumah tentu memiliki berbagai implikasi bagi keseharian mereka. Perubahan rutinitas, pelarangan (atau pembatasan) mobilitas, hingga metode work from home yang berdampak pada makna waktu bagi mereka, diakibatkan karena mengaburnya batasan antara waktu kerja dan waktu pribadi. Konsep waktu dalam penelitian ini tidak hanya dimunculkan sebagai fenomena belaka. Alih-alih, waktu menjadi pisau analisis penting untuk membedah bagaimana pekerja kreatif menggunakan agensi mereka terhadap pengelolaan waktu, yang hal tersebut tidak bisa dilepaskan dari kontestasi dan konstruksi sosial, ekonomi, politik, serta budaya dalam keseharian mereka. Harapannya, kajian mengenai dinamika dan makna waktu bagi pekerja kreatif ini dapat memperkaya khasanah studi perburuhan dalam sudut pandang antropologis.

This research focused on the meaning of working time amongst creative workers during the pandemic COVID-19 era, specifically in the middle of the 'work from home' situation. Using Yogyakarta and Bandung as case studies, this writing aims to examine the work vulnerabilities that has been experienced by creative workers in the middle of the labour market flexibility era. Furthermore, from this research I attempt to criticize various forms of 'hidden' exploitations which have been experienced by creative workers in the flexible workforce scheme. In recent years, the creative economy sector is often seen and expected as future economies in Indonesia. Unfortunately, most academic researchers only focus on how creative workers become mode of production and only seen as economical catalysator, instead of being concerned about their rights, whilst their work protection and security that still remains unnoticed. Hence, from this ethnographic research, I analyse the meaning of time among creative workers, and try to investigate it in a comprehensive and grounded way. This research answers three main questions, a.) the relation of work and time in the sociological and historical context in Indonesia, b.) how creative workers in Bandung and Yogyakarta value themselves within the labour market flexibility situation, and c.) how creative workers their working time during COVID-19 pandemic situation. To answer those three questions, I examine the meaning of working time among the creative workers in the various context, from historical meaning of time in the global industrial society, then more specific about the dynamics of creative economy discourses in Indonesia and its relation to flexible work time, and also how each informants value their subjectivity of time during COVID-19 pandemic era. Among creative workers' situations, their daily activities which have centered only at home must impact their daily life. The changes of their routine, mobility restriction (or limitation), and the shifts to work from home situations might impact their meaning of time that is caused by blur boundaries between 'working time' and 'private time'. Therefore, the concept of time in this research is seen not only as a phenomenon, but it is an important analytical tool to examine how creative workers use their agency in managing their time, which could not be separated from social, economic, politics, and cultural construction and contestation. Hopefully, this study about the dynamic and meaning of time within creative workers could enrich labour studies in anthropological point of view.

Kata Kunci : ekonomi kreatif, pekerja kreatif, waktu kerja, work from home, makna waktu.