Smart working in the public administration can work, it works, but on condition that we move from the logic of control to that of verifying the result. In an intervention on Radio24, the new Minister of Public Administration, Paolo Zangrillo outlined what will be the line / philosophy of the new Meloni executive towards one of the aspects of public work (but not only) which, especially thanks to the Covid health pandemic 19, has come out more in recent years.
Overall, Zangrillo said to save all the work done by his predecessor Renato Brunetta in the public administration – of which he was party mate in Forza Italia, until Brunetta left after the fall of the Draghi government – because he goes in the direction right of modernization, digitization and simplification but – added Zangrillo – opens up to a greater use of smart working there where it is possible, however, to verify the results of agile work.
No step backwards on agile work
The step in this direction has now been taken. Going back is no longer possible. “To think that we can give up this tool – explained the new minister – – would mean confirming that the public administration is different from other organizations”. But to underline the criticalities of agile work in the administration is the same Technical Commission set up by Minister Brunetta according to which there was a “generalized absence of information and training initiatives to train staff in this new way of carrying out work. which goes far beyond the mere change of the workplace ».
Monitor the impact on productivity and quality of services to citizens
According to the guidelines of the ministry, it is the individual administrations that identify the activities that can be carried out in agile work, after comparison with the trade unions. The objective according to the guidelines is to have a discipline “that favors productivity and results orientation and reconciles the needs of workers with the organizational needs of public administrations”. There is widespread satisfaction on the part of the workers involved, writes the Commission, thanks to the improvement of the balance between professional and private life, but the impact on productivity and above all on the services provided and on the response of the ‘user. “Even in the few public institutions that have carried out some form of monitoring a positive effect in terms of productivity – explained the minister – has been reported in a percentage that we cannot consider satisfactory, equal to only 44.8% of cases”.
Switch from a control logic to a result verification logic
Zangrillo stressed the need to verify the results on citizen services in remote work. «I intend to proceed – he said – trying to understand how we can use this tool. It is evident that it involves a different way of managing the relationship between employer and employee. We pass from a control logic to a result verification logic. It takes maturity. If the union claims the possibility of having smart working, it must be aware that smart can be done under certain conditions “.