They are small numbers, but very significant ones and that push industry analysts to deepen them. We are talking about the 45 workers, mostly young people, who have returned to the South from the Centre-North since the beginning of the pandemic and who continue to work from home. Smart working that becomes South working. Svimez, a specialist in studies on the South, has dealt with them in a report, which will present it on Tuesday 24 November. The work was carried out in collaboration with the organization just founded by one of these remote workers, Elena Militello, a young scholar who has returned to Sicily, from where she continues to work for her university, Bocconi. The movement is called "South working". Will this be the new way of working in our country once the pandemic is over? We talk about it with Gianfranco Viesti, economist, full professor of Applied Economics at the University of Bari, who has made the study of Southern Italy one of the reasons for his academic and professional life.
Professor Viesti, what do you think of this smart working phenomenon that becomes South working?
“That shuffles the cards and it's very interesting. For two reasons. First: because the movements of highly qualified young people are decisive for the development of the country. Second: because Covid will profoundly change our society. Although it is difficult to say what will change, however, if we had to bet, certainly the spread of remote work will be one of the most likely things that can happen".
Can we talk about a new South?
“It can be a small piece of a new South. The numbers are significant, but not huge. So surely overestimating the phenomenon would be wrong. But at the same time, if remote work were to spread permanently, the numbers could grow. And since the phenomenon mainly concerns the advanced tertiary sector, this is particularly interesting for the country's development."
Could it be summed up by saying that the so-called brain drains go home?
“Having people who live in the South but work for outside companies is a hybrid condition because in the old world one stayed where one worked. Let's say that having people who plan their life here in the South, starting a family and everything else, is of great interest. Certainly they work for others, but they live in our places and can make a contribution not only of income, but also of participation in collective life."
Businesses seem to believe it…
“There is a storm of analysis on this issue all over the world. What we can say is that the topic is relevant and that we are seriously thinking about it. There are pros and cons of course. It is very difficult to imagine that you can only work remotely, but it is equally difficult that everything can go back to the way it was before, that is, all together in large offices. It is possible that we will have hybrid solutions. We need to understand whether these hybrid solutions are compatible with the fact that a worker is many kilometers away from his workplace. However, anything can be, the theme certainly deserves attention”.
It's here to stay so according to her…
“What I read of analyzes on companies and workers in all countries, during the first wave of the pandemic and after, leads us to say that it is not a passing phenomenon. It may perhaps not remain with the same share that developed during the pandemic, but a significant share will remain, because if the effects on productivity are uncertain, it is said that productivity will not decrease, indeed it could even increase. As for the effects on costs for businesses, they are clearly minor and therefore significant, as are those on well-being for workers. There may therefore be a convergence of interests which can consolidate.”
Can stop that was called the de-accumulation of human capital that has made the South a desert in these long years, depriving it of its best young people?
“It depends on how big the phenomenon can become. It is very difficult to imagine that one can stay at home all the time. The analyzes of American and European scholars tell us that we are moving towards mixed forms. For example, you can work 1 day or 2 weeks outside your city and then return. However, we need to understand how compatible this is with large distances. This is also what will affect the numbers of the operation.”
The question of questions for a Southern scholar: does all this solve the Southern question?
"Absolutely not. But since the role of these people is particularly important in the contemporary economy, if the numbers become significant it can have a significant impact. One can even imagine going one step further. How is the world today? Advanced service companies have their headquarters where hundreds if not thousands of people work together. One can imagine that this enormous number of workers could be divided and that therefore the large company in question could have 200 in Milan, 500 in Rome, 200 in Naples, etc. Because once the links between people become a way of working ordinary, one can also imagine that the workers are not isolated monads, but that there are decentralized groups in the various cities and that therefore they remain together while working remotely. There are some elements that can influence this phenomenon. The first is certainly regulatory. We need a definition of rules that are fair for both companies and workers. I am referring to the contractual aspects such as meal vouchers, working hours, availability; that is, all these regulatory aspects which, if well designed, favor the phenomenon, and if poorly designed, oppose it. The second is the remuneration element, which is very delicate. We know that the budget law provides for relief from contributions for many years, albeit declining, for workers in the South. It will be necessary to understand whether or not they fall within smart (or South) working and whether the headquarters of the company or the headquarters of the workers prevail. This too can favor the phenomenon, but it can also give rise to cheating and therefore ultimately counter it. The third element calls into question the Municipalities, all the Municipalities, even the smaller ones which could favor this phenomenon through the creation of common work spaces. Coworking, i.e. the use of shared offices with other companies, can be a good mediation between staying at home and staying at the office. I take the example of the Fiera del Levante, where we tested the model several years ago. The pioneers say that the experience is going very well and that, as the demand from companies has grown enormously, they are looking for other spaces.”
An example of a pioneering municipality on this issue is Otranto, which has made its public spaces available to anyone who wants to do smart working by renting them out for 1 euro a day.
“Exactly, just what I meant. Municipalities could combine the assignment of public spaces with useful urban policies, for example, to revitalize some neighborhoods or small villages. And also with mobility policies, if buses and cycle paths are made available to them. This topic of public places can also be interesting for companies located in the South, because we have to deal with them too. In these coworking areas you can bring together, for example, workers from Andria who work in Andria, others from Andria who work for Milan, etc. We have public spaces and some of them are beautiful. But the municipal and regional administrations should move immediately: this is how the future city and the role of those who live in it are designed".
Speaking of the pandemic: in September you had expressed yourself positively on Italy's behavior regarding the control of the pandemic. Has she changed her mind?
"No. Because we must not forget that the new wave of Covid has been very strong, and has affected all of Europe in the same way, not just us. More could have been done, of course; but the truth is that this virus is a biblical plague. I only note that one must not exaggerate by dramatizing and frightening. We need to give hope, tell positive stories with balanced communication. Every day I make my personal bulletin based on the number of hospitalized patients, higher than last spring. And it tells me we've swerved. I use the growth rate of admissions which has long been 6% per day, i.e. after 12/13 days it doubles; in recent days it is well below 2%. Which means that it will take 30/40 days to double, which gives you more breathing space. The fact that in the Regions that were hit earlier, hospitalizations have begun to drop is proof of the calculation. It is happening in Lazio, the lighthouse region, the first to be affected, in September where there have been fewer hospitalizations for a few days. We must be cautious, but the trend is there. I don't want to give anyone discounts, but the speed of contagion has been frightening: see what happened in Austria, Switzerland, France. The thing is that this second pandemic is added to the first and this is hard to bear, of course. But it is also true that compared to spring now the economy is less affected and the vaccine is close. That's why I continue to remain confident in our possibilities."
