It was mainly businesses in the North East (70%) that used smart working, much more than those in the North West (53%) and the Center (57%). Although the Mezzogiorno is setting pace, it reaches a share of 30%. This is what emerges from the report “Current events and perspectives of smart working. Towards a new model of work organization? ”, Presented on the occasion of the study day on smart working organized in Benevento by INAP (National Institute for the analysis of public policies). The survey analyzes over 15 thousand interviews with employees (aged 18 and over) and with 5 thousand local units / companies in the non-agricultural private sector.
Companies and workers promote smart working
In general, the overall picture is that of a smart working that pleases companies and workers. For two out of three employers (66%) it increases productivity and saves the costs of managing physical spaces, especially for small businesses. Not only that, for 72% of employers smart working increases organizational well-being and improves the work-life balance of employees. On the workers’ side, however, it is the improvement in the quality of working life that is particularly appreciated. For 80% it improves the organization and management of private-family commitments, for 72% it favors greater autonomy with respect to methods, schedules, rhythms, and workplaces and above all, the saving of time when traveling (90% ).
31% of micro enterprises have invested in technology and software
Medium (63%) and large enterprises (78%) record the highest values in the use of this way of working, but even half of the micro enterprises have used it look ahead: 31% of those with up to 5 employees have invested in technologies and software to support smart activities and 28% of those with 6-9 employees, have changed to traditional workspaces.
The crux of relationships between colleagues and with managers
Potential criticalities are recorded on the human relations front: smart working does not facilitate relationships between colleagues and managers (for 62% of smartworkers and for 43% of smart companies) and increases isolation (for 65 % of smart workers and 49% of smart companies).
Fadda (Inapp): marked territorial imbalances in the use of this solution
“This review of the past two years – underlines Sebastiano Fadda, president of INAP – leads us to take into account the polarizations that have emerged between public and private, the types of companies, but also the marked territorial imbalances with, for example, an almost total lack in the south and in the islands of smart working as a performance indicator in company bargaining relating to the performance bonus of companies, which affects only 3% of companies in the South compared to almost 50% of companies in the north-west and 29% of North East. Yet, the South could benefit significantly from the spread of smart working, both in terms of work performed in the south for companies in the North (the so-called “southworking”), and in terms of repopulation of inland areas. “