Smart working is very comfortable, it increases productivity and it is also the only possible tool in times of the coronavirus. But it too needs to be regulated. Among the first companies to think about it and to prepare a netiquette is Sit Group, the metalworking company in Padua listed on the Stock Exchange which has adopted smart working for 275 employees since the beginning of the health emergency. Just with the employees, the top management shared a list of "good rules" to protect your people from the risk of overworking and stress caused by using too many communication platforms.
"We knew that smart working increases productivity - commented Roberta Fagotto, Chief of Human Capital of SIT - but since work is the only aspect of our lives that has not changed and one of the few forms of socialization during the quarantine, the risk was to work many more hours than allowed. Among the rules, we have indicated the need to take breaks, to have a real and disconnected lunch break, to use professional means of communication such as email and video conferences, trying to exclude others to avoid feeling bombarded by technology".
Sit had started already a September 2019 a pilot project of smart working which has allowed the company to move quickly in bringing into smart working all the figures for which this working method was possible. “The pilot project – added Fagotto – starts from the belief that it is possible to innovate the way of working even in a production sector considered traditional, such as metalworking. The second goal we have set ourselves is to develop a culture of responsibility and sharing, even when the work is done outside the company. We acted in stages: first a assessment on the digital skills of our people, then the launch of the pilot project and at the same time the offer of training aimed at giving colleagues all the useful tools for this type of work methodology".
Smart working therefore responds to different logics from those we are used to in the office or in the company, and according to the interesting approach of Sit it must be rethought toto the approach to the tasks and the mindset with which the activities are carried out. Sit had prepared its staff for this formula by distributing the 30% more laptops (complete with wi-fi connection and secure company network access via VPN) and the 55% more smartphones, while the professional video-conferencing system was already in use by the employees.
