Stop smart working, let's go back to the office!
The term remote working has become part of our daily vocabulary.
According to a report by Istat, in Italy in 2019 those who practiced remote working were just 0.8% of employees (just under 200 thousand workers). The health emergency has totally changed the playing field and the remote working has been "decisive in preserving employment levels and limiting daily mobility, especially in urban areas" as noted by Istat itself.
Now we find the term remote working not only mentioned in the decrees of the President-in-Office of the Council, but also in entire paragraphs, concerning the public or the private sector.
The benefits of remote working are clear to everyone, but that doesn't mean this practice will completely replace the office work.
Based on flexibility and free organization of time, the choice of where and when to work certainly becomes a determining, and irreplaceable factor, in order to find an excellent balance between private and working life. But let's keep in mind that the spread of remote working has been made possible also thanks to the use of modern digital technologies. It was thanks to the use of these that in the last year the world of work has become more "human". And as things evolve, it will be increasingly important to be able to combine together and make the human factor coexist with the technological factor.
According to statistics, both in Europe and Italy, two out of three employees expect to work remotely more often than usual in what will be the new post-pandemic daily life.
Let’s see now the disadvantages of remote working. Being physically present in the office (especially when it comes to shared spaces or coworking) is priceless for social value; workers need the exchange of ideas, comparison and brainstorming.
It is true that working methodologies were already changing before the health emergency, but continuing to communicate only through video conferences: will companies be able to achieve their goals and generate innovation in the same way? Scientific studies have shown that, while remote working increases autonomy and reduces stress, it decreases the cognitive abilities of the individual and requires greater mental effort causing the so-called zoom fatigue.
It is particularly affected by those who have recently entered in the world of work and who need to be able to take advantage of the valuable learning opportunities, who need to engage with colleagues and managers and interact with them. Or think for example of those who share the house with other people and need an adequate, comfortable and professional space to be able to carry out the activity.
The continuation of remote working can be heavy, reduce employee productivity and make it difficult for them to stay up to date on what is happening in the company.
Most companies have had to adapt and look for alternative solutions to continue to survive, such as remote working. But when most of these will reopen the doors, they will need to be able to adapt the spaces to the rules on compliance with social distancing to ensure the health and safety of their employees on site.
The protracted use of remote working is not welcomed by many managers of major banking companies. On the contrary, they fully support the immediate return to the office of their employees once the health emergency will be over. Just to name a few, among them we find: David Solomon, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, one of the world's largest business banks; Jes Staley, the CEO of Barclays, the British investment multinational and financial services company; and Chuck Robbins, the CEO of Cisco, the multinational company specialized in the supply of networking equipment. Google, aided by the large vaccination campaign in the United States, is supporting the "work at the office” to create a corporate culture. By investing $7 billion in real estate the company will bring its employees back to the office as soon as possible.
Moovit (the app dedicated to mobility and commuting all over the world) published last month the World Report on Public Transport where there are collected all the data related to public transport and urban mobility of 2020, both in Italy and worldwide.
The report is a valuable source of information especially for local governments and local public transport companies that will have to organize the mobility for citizens and workers. The data reported in the report shows all the impact that the spread of covid-19 has had on commuters' choices regarding public mobility.
Almost three-quarters of those surveyed say they are concerned about their health, but above all they do not feel safe using public transport. As far as Italy is concerned, remote working and the closure of commercial activities have seen a sharp decrease in users' daily travel, where many have abandoned it in favour of private and/or alternative means of micro mobility (where possible), especially when public transport does not reach their workplace and feel safer to use them as a means of transport.
In March and April 2020, the decrease was marked and greater than in other countries, recording a 90% decrease. As a result, in July it was noted that the use of public transport is still 40% lower while individual journeys are recovering almost completely.
What does this mean? That users who need to use a means of travelling from their home to their place of work and other destination, during the health emergency have lost confidence in public transport and do not feel safe to use them. Long waits at stops and the fact that local transport companies fail to guarantee social distancing has given rise to people's fear of being infected.
People are demanding safe, infrequent and constantly sanitized means of transport, respect for distancing not only on board, but also at stops, more frequent rides to avoid gatherings and reduced travel times.
How so? There's a way to start again safely. It is the commuting, an innovative intelligent service of company shuttles that allows you to reach your workplace safely and solve, at the same time, one of the thorniest daily problems. Through an online platform, workers book their place in the bus, choosing time and stop, thus avoiding getting on public transport or using their own car.
We had also discussed about Commuting and the problem of gathering on vehicles here:
Commuting at the time post covid, new resolutions
Public transport gatherings? No thanks! Our solutions to the problem of public transport
Do you also believe that the home-work shuttle service can be a useful service? Look here, share the article and talk about it to your contacts!
#WeTheFun #Commuting #InsiemePerRipartire #MaaW #MobilityAsAWelfare
