Italy’s coronavirus outbreak continued to spread and it is sparking fear over the country.
In these days, many companies in northern Italy do not know how to deal with this new problem. The recurring thought is whether to keep the company open by putting employees’ health at risk, or to close for a certain period, risking serious turnover losses.
There is probably only one way to avoid loss of turnover and safeguard employee health: smart working!
Smart working is a flexible form of work organization, which aim is reducing the labour costs and consequently increase the businesses’ efficiency and productivity.
The smart working is featured by higher flexibility in terms both of time and place of work, since smart-workers can perform their job tasks at any place equipped with proper internet-connected computer devices, without being necessarily required to follow a standard working hours.
Still, many managers are not in favor of this new type of work, as it is considered uncontrollable and dispersive. However, below we you can find several points in favor of smart working.
The concept of smart working seems to be spreading out fast throughout the European labor markets, although with different names and diverse concepts. It should be based on the common trust between companies and employeers.
The adoption of smart working in Italy has been spreading in large companies better than in small to medium ones (SMEs), the subject has been getting more attention and is being more accepted by Italian companies.
Smart working is not only a method of enhancing the value of the employee, but it is, above all, a new type of work organization. On the one hand it promotes individual productivity and the organization of the employee’s work, on the other hand, allows significant flexibility with respect to the workplace, such as the ability to sit comfortably on the sofa at home.
According to the smart working observatory of Politecnico di Milano if 70% of those who are eligible choose to use smart working in Italy (70% out of 22% of the total working force), the average productivity increase would be around 13.7 billion Euros.
And for every day working remotely a smart worker saves around 60 minutes of traveling time, assuming this happens only once per week, 40 hours can be saved annually. And assuming they travel 40 km to get to work, the carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced up to 135 kg per person. The benefits are too significant to be ignored. (Corso, Crespi, & Gangai, Smart Working: Below the Tip of the Iceberg, 2017).
In light of the above, smart working appears to be the ideal solution to be adopted at this time due to the spread of the coronavirus. Smart working is indeed very important as it avoids future repercussions in terms of turnover and growth for companies in countries affected by the coronavirus.
In addition to this, the positive results brought by this new methodology, could lead even the most skeptical to insert smart working as a permanent methodology in their work context.
