N. 30 | SMART WORKING · THE WORK FROM HOME THAT DOES GOOD TO THE MAN AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Entered in Italian legislation only in 2017, smart working is a reality that today is a great fortune for companies who have realized in what direction the labor market was going. All is started with the digital revolution that overwhelmed the old paradigms of the 20th century and forced companies and workers to look for more flexible and less expensive working methods.

Today, smart working is rapidly spreading and is considered the key to the work of the future, allowing work from home and living in a healthier way, reducing the emissions that cause global warming. But how?

When we think of the benefits of flexible work, we think that it allows us to have a better relationship between life and work, more time with the family, less hours spent driving and moving; but this is only a small part, in fact smart working is also proving a considerable saving of time and resources for companies.

Work agility makes the workforce much happier, inevitably raising productivity. A study carried out by the Hsbc English, shows that 87% of men and 90% of women consider work at home one of the main drivers of the increase in their production levels. The food consumed outside always requires a greater amount of energy and is packed in paper, aluminum or plastic containers, and energy saving and therefore emissions, are generally always much simpler to carry out in a contained space such as home, compared to a large office. Banally, in the home if we do not use a room we turn off the light, which is not always possible in a work space that is constantly crossed by people.

If we consider that instead the offices will have higher management costs and that the prices of the real estate market are skyrocketing, it is easy to imagine that the future will be very different from the past.

The house is no longer just a nest, but a point of intersection of numerous systems that can lead to change (According to a study entitled Added Value of Flexible Workingcommissioned by Regus, a large-scale deployment of flexible labor would reduce carbon dioxide levels by 214 million tons per year by 2030, in practice the same amount of CO2 would be subtracted from the 5.5 billion tree atmosphere.)

There are also smart workers with different stories, such as those that tells us a very successful company like WeWork, which in a few years has put flags in almost the whole world and raised billionaires. WeWork offers coworking spaces that can accommodate around 250 thousand people who cover a varied range of workers: from employees of large multinational companies to young freelancers. Professionals who have done their own work from home, but who need a little space to meet their customers around the world. The format proposed by WeWork seems to be winning: large sizes that offer private offices, but also shared spaces, stylish furnishings, affordable rental prices and short-term contracts.

In our small way, even Regenesi has chosen to implement the smart working policy for its collaborators, a company goal that has always been pursuing and which fits perfectly with the philosophy of circular economy, sustainable luxury, ethical fashion and eco-design, a important piece that is added to all the research aimed at pursuing the idea of a completely eco-sustainable product.

To conclude, at 30 October 2018 the Observatory Smart Working of the School of Management of the Politecnico di Milano has experienced a real boom among large companies. The so-called smart workers are up 20%, and they are more satisfied with the traditional workers both for the organization of work and in the relationships with colleagues and superiors.

The numbers indicate a strong renewal drive within large companies with some reticence of small and medium-sized companies, among which, however, there is still ample room for improvement. Just think of the great convenience for companies in terms of both savings and increased productivity. And the environment is healthier!