In the first quarter of 2022, more than 8 out of 10 companies active in Milan had at least one employee in smart working, for a number of employees involved equal to 22% of the total. The percentages are higher in services than in industry (91 against 79%) and in the municipality compared to the hinterland (90 against 78%). He writes it the Assolombarda study center in a report which involved more than 250 Milanese manufacturing and advanced services companies. The complete study is published in the Your Next Milano magazine.
The analysis also shows that in 2019 only 3 out of 10 companies used smart working and the percentage of workers in smart working was 15%. Now instead 63% of Milanese companies who responded to the survey plans to activate smart working in a structural way in the future.
“In the last two years, smart working is an organizational model that has seen a strong acceleration and has now become part of the widespread corporate culture - comments Diego Andreis, vice president of Assolombarda with responsibility for Labor Policies, Safety and Welfare - In 2021 Confindustria, together with the trade union organizations, has signed up the National Protocol on working in agile mode with the aim of setting the guidelines for national, corporate and/or territorial collective bargaining. When the emergency period that conditioned the widespread use of smart working ends, therefore, we will not find ourselves unprepared".
At the moment, emergency smart working is extended until 31 August 2022. Among the companies of Assolombarda in the Milan, Monza Brianza, Lodi and Pavia areas that have introduced smart working in a structural way, the share of smart workers reaches 27 %, with peaks of 43% in services compared to 17% in industry: a percentage of workers higher not only than the 15% pre-Covid, but also the 22% in the first months of 2022 (which in part still includes the emergency).
The requirements for smart working
In companies that have structurally introduced remote working, the compatibility of tasks is almost always the priority condition for access to smart working (96%), followed by the adequacy of the connection (62% of companies). Less relevant is belonging to predetermined corporate areas (42%). Finally, one out of four companies links the possibility of smart working to the attendance of a targeted training course.
Investments
Only 19% of companies do not plan to invest in smart working. Almost all companies (81%) report the need for laptops, while investments in company smartphones are limited to 38% of companies. Instead, attention to information security appears to be relevant: in as many as 4 out of 10 companies, physical investments are concentrated on protection tools. Reorganization of spaces and upgrading of ICT infrastructures involved around 30% of the companies.
Smart working and human resource management
Only 40% of companies report the need for changes in the management of resources connected to smart working, a surprisingly small number considering the impact that this organization of work entails: an evaluation system has been introduced in one company out of every 3 based on goal achievement, but only 1% have adopted specific productivity metrics for remote workers.
Risks and benefits of smart working
Most companies believe that the main benefit of smart working concerns the positive effects on workers' lives (31% work-life balance, 17% company loyalty and attractiveness), while the economic factor is the main one for less than a quarter of companies (oriented towards results 13%, improvement of performance 6%, optimization of costs for the use of spaces 4%).
Among the greatest dangers, however, communication problems (29%) and the minor contribution to innovation (15%) are cited.
