Once again, this year Fastweb is taking part in the Smart Working Week organised by the City of Milan from 21 to 25 May, bearing witness to the company's commitment to adopting policies based on flexibility and autonomy at work to support a better balance between personal life and the office for its employees. As last time, this year Fastweb will once again be "adopting" a company interested in getting a closer look at the new methods of smart working with which it will be sharing its own experience in this way of working.
The aim of the City initiative is to increase awareness in public opinion in relation to the advantages that Smart Working brings to companies and the community, in terms of increase in flexibility and productivity, reduction of urban traffic, reduction of travelling time and stress, contributing to an improvement in quality of life and the reduction of air pollution.
Fastweb launched the Smart Working pilot project in 2015. The results were so positive, both in terms of participation and in terms of productivity, that in 2016, the company decided end the trial phase to make Smart Working an effective working method, fully integrated in the company. With the introduction of smart working, the employees can choose mobile working, better reconciling work commitments with those of their private lives, reducing costs and commuting times, but with greater accountability for business results.
Specifically, in 2017, 1,750 employees (68% of the company population) took advantage of Smart Working days, equipped with smartphones, VPNs (Virtual private networks) and company laptop computers, who had the chance to work remotely up to four days a month. The participation rate was 82% with an average of 2.8 days per month per employee and about two hours a day saved on commuting between home and workplace. Above all, employees appreciate the fact that they can work from home: motivation and the feeling of belonging has improved and more than 50% of managers affirm that company productivity has increased.
"Technology will support the development of ways of working together that are increasingly rapid and innovative; the concept of the traditional office will therefore tend to disappear and be replaced by a flexible use of space", noted Alberto Calcagno, CEO of Fastweb. "Smart working at Fastweb has been a reality for some time and enables new methods of cooperation and organisation of work. For us, the philosophy of smart working means achieving objectives by taking on responsibility or identifying as the occasion arises not only the activities but also the most suitable spaces to perform them, using more suitable technological tools. We are convinced that technology is the enabling factor to incentivise the dissemination of digital technology as an element of modernity and innovation in the world of work."