Page 6 - PR3_Case study_Final version _English

Testimony N°1/Bad practice

Thematic SOCIAL ISOLATION/HYBRID WORK

Name of the worker Anonymous
(it can be
anonymous)
Country
ITALY - Milano
Occupation Software Developer e Data AnalIst

A. Problematic “My company has been operating in Northern Italy in the software development
situation in my sector for many years. With the Covid 19 pandemic, the company's management
job/my changed the organization from the classic form work in presence for 40 hours a
organisation week, to flexible work, everyone in their own home. This change affected all
technicians. The model has been maintained even after the end of the Pandemic
regarding
due to the undoubted savings it entails for the company. In the first phase,
flexible work
employees were required to ensure a constant presence in the city where the
company's headquarters were located. After the first year, this limitation is
effectively lifted and developers can live wherever they want.
The most important problem I encountered is that complete insulation. Working
alone every day has strongly influenced my human relationships with colleagues
and, more generally, has had a negative impact on my ability to socialize. In
addition to my mood, the effectiveness of teamwork has also been affected,
which is fundamental for my work. Understanding each other and sharing
objectives, processes and results is much slower and more tiring from a distance.
Group cohesion and effectiveness are also less performing.
Ultimately, I really miss human relationships and side by side with colleagues. I
feel that I am not growing professionally.”
B. How do you “I believe that my company does not want to go back from the current working
think the model and, on the other hand, I must admit that the results are there anyway. I
situation could would like the introduction of a hybrid form of work in which face-to-face work is
be improved? expected for at least two days a week. At the same time, I believe that the
company should pay more attention to team building, even with special
initiatives of an extra-corporate nature.
Another possible evolution is to let the worker decide how to work in person or
remotely.
It would also be very interesting if the company, beyond the obvious
consideration of cost savings, studied the problem to improve the psychophysical
well-being of the worker. The virtuous experiences of other organizations could
be useful for this.”

References on the
Birkinshaw, J., Mol, M.J., & Hamel, G. (2008). Management
topic
Innovation. Academy of Management Review. 33(4):825-845. DOI:
10.2139/ssrn.1306981

Blackwell, J. (2008). Smart Working - a Definitive Report on Today’s
Smarter Ways of Working. Jossey- Bass.
Bloom, N., Liang, R., & Ying, Z.J. (2015). Does Working from Home
Work? Evidence from a Chinese Experiment. Quarterly Journal of
Economics. 130(1):165-218. DOI: 10.1093/qje/qju032