WORKING (FROM HOME) TIRED by NICOLA ZAMPERINI (Castelvecchi; 91 pages; euro 12.50) If the pandemic leaves some temporary disorientation in people once they have regained freedom of movement (and from the mask), it risks changing the ways of working and our social life.
Because smart working, a close relative of teleworking (telecommuting) - which has been rumored for years without anyone ever having the courage to implement it systematically - will become a standard model.
Necessity until today, from tomorrow it will be an opportunity;
for workers and employers.
One of the first to ask questions about this revolution underway is Nicola Zamperini, journalist and digital communication consultant.
The intoxication of freedom that animated the first days of working from home has been replaced by a worried awareness: we stay connected for hours - plung and play - ending up working more than in the office.
Zamperini calls it binge working, a feast of meetings.
And it distinguishes smart working (working from home but with access to servers, documents, applications) from remote working, to which we have adapted forcibly.
Whatever you call it, working from home reduces mobility and its discomforts (commuting), pollution and crowding, but it makes us even more dependent on technology and impoverishes the catering chain where the offices are concentrated.
Phenomenon that does not concern the exploited of the 'gig economy', such as riders and drivers, the only ones to whiz through deserted cities day and night.
An IBM study has shown that if there is no need for a physical presence, many move out of town to less expensive areas.
Avant-garde are the richest, at work in the latter (with the same connection).
There are no geographical limits: as is the case for Indian switchboard operators who respond to US travelers on behalf of airlines, or to Albanian travelers who offer boilers, energy supplies to Italian users, so a computer engineer from Bangalore, Canberra or Rome will not have to travel to work in Silicon Valley.
Right here the upheaval is very strong: the informal, flexible and light-hearted model of those companies aimed to attract employees to the workplace with benefits, gyms, nurseries, convinced that being together - as in front of the coffee machine - enhances the comparison, bring new ideas and loyalty.
There are those who, unable to afford a very expensive rental nearby, live in a camper in the company parking lot.
Well, everyone had to change their minds: Google will let employees work remotely until at least mid-2021, Twitter and Shopify for as long as they want;
half of Facebook's 45,000 workers will work remotely by 2030. How much will myth and corporate culture be affected?
Hard to say today.
Some Californian companies provide virtual places where you can recreate a workspace all together.
On the other hand, OpenText ($ 3 billion in turnover), for example, closes half of the 120 offices around the world.
He is not the only one.
If it is easy to imagine that cybersecurity and the "connections" industry will develop - Zoom went from 10 to 300 million connections per month in less than a year - the unknown factor is the human factor: what will the disappearance of physicality at work mean?
For Zamperini the professional relationship is already attenuating, the houses are a bit of an office and people are more isolated (not only because of the pandemic).
Also from the trade union point of view.
(HANDLE).