Smart working, 56% of large companies practice it

A little over a year after the approval of the Smart Working law, Smart Working continues to grow in Italy, experiencing a real boom among large companies and starting to make its way into Public Administrations as well. In 2018, the Smart Workers - those employees who enjoy flexibility and autonomy in choosing the time and place of work, having digital tools suitable for working on the move - are now 480 thousand, up by 20%, and are considered more satisfied with traditional workers both in terms of work organization (39% against 18%) and in relations with colleagues and superiors (40% against 23%).

More than one large company out of two (56% of the sample) has launched structured Smart Working projects, adopting work models that introduce flexibility of place and time and promoting accountability for results (there were 36% a year ago). To these, we must add a further 2% who have carried out some informal initiative and 8% who plan to introduce projects in the next year, so overall about two out of three large companies are already experimenting with some form of Smart Working. Among SMEs, however, Smart Working is substantially stable compared to 2017: 8% have structured projects and 16% informal ones. However, unlike other types of organizations, there is still a high number of organizations that declare they are completely uninterested in the introduction of this new way of working (38%).

The Public Administration - after the first impetus given by the Madia reform - is finally taking its first steps forward, but we are still at the beginning of the journey. 8% of public bodies have launched structured Smart Working projects (up from 5% a year ago), 1% have done so informally, another 8% are planning initiatives next year. But the majority has not yet moved: in 36% of Public Administrations Smart Working is absent but likely to be introduced, in 38% it is uncertain, 7% are not interested.

One year after the approval of the Smart Work law, its effects are much more evident in the public sector than in the private sector. 82% of large companies had already introduced or thought about starting Smart Working initiatives before the legislation came into force and only for 17% was it a stimulus to activate projects. In the PA, on the other hand, as many as 60% of the entities with smart working projects found stimulus in the law and only 40% had foreseen it before.

These are some of the results of the research ofSmart Working Observatory of the Polytechnic School of Management from Milan, presented today at the Bovisa Campus at the conference “Smart Working: a revolution that cannot be stopped”. “The research reveals how in the private sector Smart Working is an unstoppable phenomenon – declares Fiorella Crespi, Director of the Smart Working Observatory-. Strong growth is noticeable in large companies. Smart Working, on the other hand, is struggling to take off among SMEs, where a hard core of disinformation and cultural resistance remains, and in the PA where, despite the regulatory effort and the deadlines set by the Madia law, smart working remains a niche phenomenon. The publication of the agile work law has in itself had a promotional effect but, at least in the private sector, the formal requirements introduced by the implementing regulations risk counterbalancing the positive effect of a clearer regulatory framework".

“The potential economic and social benefits of adopting agile working models are enormous - Says Mariano Corso, Scientific director of the Smart Working Observatory -. A productivity increase of 15% per worker can be estimated, a reduction in the absenteeism rate of 20%, savings of 30% on the costs of managing physical spaces for those initiatives that lead to a rethinking of work spaces and an improvement work-life balance for around 80% of workers. For this reason, the revolution must not be stopped, but rather it is necessary to accelerate and promote the diffusion of the initiatives in the various organizations present in the area".

RESEARCH

The Smart Workers

In 2018, the number of smart workers in Italy reached 480, equal to 12,6% of the total number of employed people who, based on the type of activity they perform, could do Smart Working. They are mainly male workers (76%), belonging to Generation X (50% are between 38 and 58 years of age) and residents of the North-West of the country (48%).

Smart Workers are happier with the way they can organize their work: 39% of Smart Workers are completely satisfied, against 18% of other workers. Smart Workers are also more satisfied with the relationship with colleagues and their manager, 40% are completely satisfied against 23% of other workers.

The main reasons that lead workers to join Smart Working are linked to the personal sphere and the improvement of well-being. Above all, for 46% of workers there is the possibility of avoiding stress during home-office travel, then for 43% the improvement of their balance between private and professional life. This is followed by some positive consequences on one's work activity, such as an increase in the quality of the results produced (41%), one's efficiency (38%) and professional motivation (36%). Finally, the desire to limit the environmental impact, for example by not polluting during the journey between home and office (33%).

Large companies 

In large companies, the Smart Working phenomenon is widespread and its impact is increasingly evident and pervasive. This is what emerges from the survey on a sample of 183 companies with more than 250 employees. In over one out of two large companies (56%) there are structured Smart Working projects: 16% of them are in the model testing phase and are developing a pilot project which in most cases lasts about 6 months and involves about 14% of the corporate population; 44% are in the phase of extension and participation to a wider audience and the remaining 40% of the projects are fully operational and involve all those who can be included in the initiative. However, there remains a substantial minority (13%) of realities that have not developed and do not intend to develop initiatives in this sense or that do not know if they will do so in the future.

The most widespread model among large companies only includes the possibility of working remotely, a choice adopted by 53% in large companies, while the remaining 47% of structured projects combine remote working with space rethinking initiatives. With regards to the place in which to work, however, 45% of the sample of large companies leave people complete autonomy and freedom of choice. The other organizations prefer to indicate the places allowed in the Smart Working project: the most common are the worker's home (80%), other company offices (74%), coworking spaces (58%) and public places (52 %).

59% of large companies have introduced new digital technologies to support Smart Working projects, while in 27% of companies Smart Workers were already equipped with the necessary technologies. Nearly one in four (23%) have encouraged their employees to use personal devices to adjust the company tools available and 14% have used shared tools between people. Only in a few projects is a budget defined for technological integration (26%), while in most cases it is not foreseen because extra costs are not considered necessary (13%) or because the initiatives implemented were already foreseen in management plans IT (22%) or because the necessary budget will be allocated from time to time on the basis of needs (30%). Lastly, the remaining 9% do not know whether a dedicated budget has been allocated. However, the absence of a budget does not always indicate a lack of attention to the topic of technology, since it is a choice that can be affected by the level of maturity of the project.

The Public Administration

The Observatory analyzed a sample of 358 PAs with more than ten employees, recording a slight growth in the diffusion of Smart Working projects compared to the last survey: 8% who have already started structured projects (against 5% in 2017) , 1% have activated informal initiatives and another 8% expect projects from next year. Eight administrations out of ten, however, are still at a standstill: the 36% have not activated any Smart Working project even if its introduction is probable in the future, 38% are uncertain and 6% are not interested. The main obstacle indicated is the difficult application of the way of working to one's own reality (49%). Other obstacles to starting projects, reported by less than 27% of the sample, include bureaucratic procedures deemed too complex, limited knowledge of the approaches for introducing Smart Working, lack of awareness of the obtainable benefits and little digitised.

The maturity of the initiatives is also limited: most of the structured projects are in the testing phase (57%), while only 20% are being extended and 23% are fully operational, but unlike the private sector, in some cases referring to the achievement of the objective set by the Madia directive or the target envisaged in the design phase. The most widespread Smart Working model in the PAs, adopted by 93% of the sample, only includes the possibility of working remotely, while the remaining 7% also includes the rethinking of spaces. About one in three PAs (30%) allows its employees to freely choose where to work, while among the administrations that indicate a specific place where working in agile mode is allowed, the home of the employee is the most followed by other offices of the institution (73%). 45% of administrations integrate the available technologies with new tools to enable smart working, while in 17% of cases the tools available are already adequate, in 41% the use of personal devices for remote working is favored and 21% % of the sample uses shared tools.

The Law on Smart Work 

One year after the entry into force of the Smart Working law, the Observatory has analyzed the effects of the new legislation as an incentive for Smart Working projects. In the PA, among those who have launched structured Smart Working projects, as many as 60% did so on the stimulus of the legislation, while only 23% of public entities had already planned to introduce Smart Working before the evolution of the legislation and the 17% had introduced Smart Working before the legislation. Among companies, on the other hand, the situation is very different: just 17% of those who do Smart Working consider the legislation a stimulus (same percentage between large and SMEs), while 82% of large companies and 76% of SMEs had already introduced o thought of introducing Smart Working before the law. 

Among large companies, only 6% find the impact of the law positive, 49% do not indicate "no impact" and 45% identify a negative impact in particular due to the complication in the communication transmission processes and the adaptation of individual agreements and policies. The PA is more divided on the issue: 27% see a positive impact, 43% no impact, 30% negative.

Criticalities and benefits of Smart Working

The benefits of agile working are not only in terms of balance and individual satisfaction, but also in terms of performance of people and of the organization as a whole. From an organizational point of view, the survey reveals that Smart Working helps to increase productivity by around 15% and reduce the absenteeism rate by around 20%. According to a survey of Smart Worker managers, this way of working has a very positive impact on responsibility for achieving results (37% of the sample), coordination effectiveness (33%), information sharing (32%) , on motivation and job satisfaction (32%) and the quality of the work performed (31%). 30% of managers, then, also recorded improvements in productivity, in the management of emergencies and in autonomy during the performance of work activities. The only aspect on which few managers (11%) declare a negative impact is information sharing. But the benefits also concern the reduction of management costs of physical spaces in terms of rents, utilities and maintenance, with 30% savings in companies that have rethought the structure of the spaces, and work-life balance, with at least 80% of employees in companies with Smart Working projects that have achieved a better balance between professional life and private.

Among the critical issues of those who do Smart Working, the most frequent is the perception of a sense of isolation regarding the dynamics of the office (18%), followed by the greater effort to plan activities and manage emergencies (16%). Other difficulties are related to external distractions, such as the presence of other people in the workplace (14%), the need for frequent interactions in person (13%) and the limited effectiveness of virtual communication and collaboration (11%). Furthermore, the Smarts are very few Workers who encounter difficulties in using technologies related to smart working. A good percentage of agile workers (14%) do not perceive any critical issues.