Work

Smart working, evolution and organisational models of large enterprises

Smart working in large companies is evolving and organisational models are adapting to the needs of companies. The decisions of giants such as Amazon should not be seen as a sign of disaffection towards smart working, but as a need for balanced working models. In Italy, the number of smart workers is constantly growing and many companies are improving and refining their organisational models

by Cristina Casadei

19 September 2024

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After Amazon's decision to turn back on smart working, the game in large companies remains open. The smart working site is going through a phase of evolution, but for Professor Mariano Corso, scientific head of the Smart Working Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano, the decision of the e-commerce giant cannot be considered "in itself a sign of disaffection towards smart working at a global level. Rather, it is the sign of a need for working models that are more balanced and consistent with the needs of organisations". In our country, the number of smart workers is over 3.6 million and "in 2024 it will grow again in both large and medium-sized companies", Corso explains. There seems to be confirmation from many companies that the models are evolving.

The evolution of models

As a preliminary remark, it should be noted that in our country everything is moving much more cautiously than in the United States and more generally in the Anglo-Saxon world in terms of work. The approach to smart working has been very slow, through pilot projects, agreements with trade unions, and the revision of premises and real estate assets in many cases, and this is giving greater stability. However, it is not known what will happen in the future. Those who have embarked on the path of smart working, at least for now, at least in Italy, are adjusting their focus but do not seem to be thinking of returning to the five-day office model, at least officially.

After all, if we take Intesa Sanpaolo as an example, over the last decade it has invested and implemented a fairly unique flexibility package that covers entry and exit times, smart working for up to 120 days a year, and hourly rescheduling over four days a week. A package that is now fully confirmed and seems to be consistent with the bank's digital development path. At Unicredit, if you ask about their approach to smart working, they answer stable, two days a week, not for client facing functions. In both cases, there is a theme of continuous refinement and improvement of organisational models.

The meetings

This can be seen in the evolution of many companies, often dictated by specific needs and on specific topics such as meetings. The insurance company Generali is working on a pilot project that provides a time slot free of meetings to allow people to concentrate on their own activities. Widening the view, the company is experiencing an evolution of its model, which has gone from the New normal to the Next new normal to Red working, all steps that have led to a consolidation and greater awareness of the potential of working by objectives, even remotely up to three days a week, one of which is always Friday, when the office is closed.

As well as the month of August, one can always work from home. However, there are two days a week that the company asks to spend in the office that it considers very important to work on the sense of belonging, on the relationships between workers, but also to stimulate creativity and innovation through teamwork. Thus, the in-presence days become an opportunity to maximise the benefits of being together, the remote days to carry out habitual activities.

The thousand faces of smart working

Eni embarked on the path in 2017 with a welfare trial, which was followed by the 2021 agreement, still valid today, providing 8 remote days per month for offices and 4 days for operational sites. The latest evolution has provided for additional days and further flexibility to protect the disability and specific health conditions of the employee or children or family members, as well as parenthood so much so that the 'pink' smart working for mothers-to-be, the 'welcome kid' for the birth of children, the new parental kid up to three years of age of the children, and the summer kid for school closure periods have all come into being.

Similarly, Enel confirms its model that provides up to a maximum of nine smart working days per month for those who carry out fully remote activities, with the possibility of requesting additional days for special situations. Enel's model, the company explains, seeks to guarantee a fair balance between on-site and remote work, combining organisational flexibility with the need to create environments that encourage collaboration and socialisation between teams.

The Frontier Project

Sace is moving forward with the experimentation of a much more borderline path, based on three pillars: a new leadership style, totally flexible working and a skill-driven organisation. Thus in the company there is no limit to the number of days in smart working, the timetable is flexible and clocking-in controls have been eliminated for everyone. There is also a four-day week trial on a voluntary basis. For the company, the Flex for Future model is win-win, because it gives people complete freedom, empowers them, and improves their well-being, leading them to be more productive and generate more value for the company and stakeholders.

The Bnl Bnp Paribas Building Site

At Bnl Bnp Paribas, new models and ways of working have been designed to increase the effectiveness of individual contribution, increasing individual empowerment and extending flexibility to everyone, including the network. After a phase of positive experimentation, smart working was in fact launched in 400 branches, over 70% of the commercial network, for 1 day a week of flexible working. The same strategy also includes the launch shortly of forms of flexibility and simplification on the stamping of professional areas, also in this case after a pilot project that had excellent results in management terms.

The search for new balances

As Professor Corso interprets it, 'the most virtuous organisations are trying to evolve towards intelligent hybrid models in which remote and in-presence work alternate responsibly according to the needs of the teams, so as to balance flexibility and individual well-being, goal orientation and quality of collaboration'. "Attempts to return to totally in-presence working models are instead destined to find strong resistance from workers, especially those of the new generations, and to lead to heavy losses in performance," adds Corso. The research of the Milan Polytechnic Observatory highlights how organisations that offer smart working perform better not only from the point of view of talent attractiveness, but also in terms of productivity and drive towards innovation". On attempts to return to presence and reduce smart working looms the Panini effect, where the halving of remote days has triggered garrisons and worker protests.