The “smart working” procedures introduced by the government during the COVID-19 pandemic expired in Italy at the end of March.
By 2023, the number of Italian teleworkers had risen to 3,585 million, up slightly from 3,570 million in 2022, but 541% higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Smart working enthusiasts will now have to adapt: On March 31, the simplified procedures endorsed in 2021 by trade unions, employers’ federations, and the Italian Ministry of Labor to encourage “agile” working, as it’s known on the other side of the Alps, came to an end.
As of this week, it’s back to the old law of 2017: An individual agreement with one’s company will now be required, and requests for remote working with flexible arrangements will no longer be granted without it.
Hybrid work is no longer a “right”
In other words, intelligent working is no longer an inherent worker’s right, as it was during the pandemic years, but is now just one possible method of carrying out tasks.
During the COVID-19 crisis, many Italian companies resorted to smart working, regulated by collective agreements between the parties at the company level. Through these flexible agreements, companies gained autonomy in determining various aspects, such as the allocation of days for alternating between in-person and remote work, without the need for direct involvement from the Ministry of Labor.
What’s more, inclusion in categories prioritized by the law –such as parents with children under 12 or disabled children, disabled workers, or workers over 55, etc.– no longer assures automatic entitlement to smart working. If the employer is contemplating implementing hybrid work within the company, they are still obligated to prioritize these designated groups. However, if the company has no plans to adopt “agile” working practices, even individuals falling within these priority categories may not have the right to work under this particular model.
But the advantages offered by telecommuting have left their mark, prompting an assumed evolution of this approach. The debate surrounding a shorter workweek is also gaining traction in the Italian Parliament: the opposition’s bill will be scrutinized this Thursday in the Chamber’s Labor Committee representation office.
3.65 million remote workers by 2025
By 2025, the number of smart workers in Italy could reach 3.65 million, according to data provided by Milan Polytechnic University’s Smart Working Observatory. Almost all major Italian companies (96%) have already included smart working initiatives in their organizations. This model of work is also present in 56% of SMEs and 61% of public bodies.
“The first phase of skepticism was followed by a phase of excessive optimism, which in some respects underestimated the need to combine smart working with the ‘organizational style’ of companies,” stresses Francesco Rotondi, an expert in labor law, senior partner at Lablaw, a well-known Milanese law firm, and smart working advocate, interviewed by DIRE.
“The starting point for a mature analysis of smart working should be to rethink the modus operandi, which should increasingly aim to strengthen the link between the method of delivering performance and the results expected by the entrepreneur. In this regard, intelligent working checks many boxes.”
“That is why we are discussing the need for a regulatory overhaul of the pre-COVID law,” adds Rotondi, pointing out that an emerging social trend now considers hybrid working a right.
The Netherlands, champions of smart working
For those who, like Francesco Rotondi, do not want to go back to the office, Remote, a global HR solutions company, has ranked the champion of remote work in the European Union. This might give ideas for relocation…
And it’s the Netherlands that comes out on top, with 65% of the working population working “at least” partially remotely by 2022. Luxembourg comes second with 54.4%, followed by Sweden with 51.8%. By way of comparison, the proportion of remote workers in the Netherlands is four times higher than in the UK or the USA, according to the data.
And with good reason: in 2022, the Dutch parliament approved legislation making working from home a legal right. Under the new law, employers must examine requests for remote work and provide a reason for refusing them.
Remote’s report also points out that the Netherlands already had a relatively high number of remote workers before the pandemic, with 28% working remotely, which was, even then, one of the highest rates in the EU.
