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24 July 2021 The pandemic wiped out Italians' dreams of change: in March 2020, 66.4% of families - about 6.5 million - in which at least one of the members had plans to change jobs or activities, had to postpone.
And while a quarter of them decided to take their time, 15% gave up on it.
When will we put the nightmare of the pandemic behind us? Most Italians believe it will take well over a year. And what will remain? Certainly not an affection for digitization, although the use of the Internet and PCs has intensified, also thanks to the lockdowns. This is what can be seen from the latest AGI-Censis report which takes stock of the changes that, starting from March 2020, have characterized the behavior of Italians. The survey, conducted in April 2021, also returns data on interest, satisfaction, resistance and concerns in the face of the prospects for change triggered by the pandemic.
DISAPPOINTED EXPECTATIONS
For example, 65, 0% of households had to review their
real estate investment choices
. It drops to 54.2% for those who were planning to change their residence and had to retrace their steps. 56.3% of those who were actively looking for a job stopped doing it or changed the direction of their searches. It is, explains the Report, a lot of "compressed energy" that can only be deployed with the exit from the pandemic.
Going into detail, the Report shows that in some specific cases the onset of the pandemic has generated a
new project
, substantially of an adaptive type. The definitive renunciation of a project previously put in place involves 15% of families, if we consider those who have given up on a financial investment they had put in place. It goes up to 16.1% for households that have renounced the purchase of a property. Similar percentages concern the renunciation of transfers of residence (13.8%), the active search for a job by at least one family member (13.6%), a change of work activity that had previously been planned (16.6%).
Not very dissimilar percentages are found with regard to families, who have not definitively canceled these activities, but modified them, reshaping their projects or the individual ones of their members. The
change in objectives in the "training" and "work" areas is
particularly significant
, with percentages of 27.7% and 24.6% respectively. Finally, the existence of a segment, albeit a minority one, of families that have developed change projects precisely because of the onset of the health emergency is particularly interesting. 19%, for example, have started a transfer of residence, probably following the need to have a house with different characteristics and more suitable for the new living conditions determined by smartworking and distance learning.
RETURN TO NORMALITY
The return to normalcy, that is to the levels and lifestyles of before the pandemic, does not seem quite within reach. On the contrary. For most Italians it
will take well over a year
. And there are also - between 5% and 15% of those interviewed - who even believe that there will be no return to the previous situation. The Report shows that in the field of health, only 26.6% of citizens are convinced that within a year we will have the possibility of accessing diagnostic tests and surgical interventions without having to postpone them due to Covid. The majority of respondents (58.1%) believe instead that it will take much longer.
Far fewer "pessimists" regarding
consumer behavior
: "only" 36.6% of Italians are convinced that we will continue to use masks and spacing for a long time. To these are added, however all those who believe that these precautions will become a permanent part of our life (7.1%). With reference to
school
and to '
university'
two-thirds (67.2%) of respondents believe that it will take 'less than a year and are therefore optimistic about the next school year and the chance' to hold lessons in attendance. On the other hand, 27.2% believe that much more time will be needed, thus assuming a still complex situation for the resumption of the 2021-2022 school year. Finally, a residual share of 5.5%, but consistent if compared to the absolute values of the universe represented by the sample (2.8 million adult citizens) believes that there will no longer be a return to the pre-pandemic situation. Evaluations on the whole not dissimilar even if with slightly more pessimistic forecasts concern the issue of movements in the territory and purchase of goods and services.
According to the Report, most Italians are convinced that in less than a year they will move without any restrictions and the use of
masks
and the precaution of
interpersonal
distancing
will be filed away
(56.3%). Opinions on the subject of
work are
very different
. Firstly, the share of Italians who believe that it will take much more than a year to return to normal reaches 41.8% of the total. We must then consider that 17.1% of people who are convinced that they will never return to the previous situation (about 8.5 million people). For all of them
the adoption of remote work
(remotely, agile, or smartworking as it is) is evidently considered a process consolidated by experience and therefore in some way
irreversible
.
Overall, the most modest social classes are the most pessimistic. In particular, widespread distrust in the possibility that we can return - sooner or later - to pre-pandemic conditions is greatly increasing. The "signs" of the alarm and its media reverberation evidently remain more deeply etched in the perception of those who have had difficulty in cushioning the blows on an economic level or have not had sufficient tools for analysis and interpretation available.
"RESISTANCE" TO THE DIGITAL TRANSITION
The pandemic has fueled the use of the internet, but there is no lack of doubts and resistance on the digital transition. In other words, the "emergency" use of the network does not seem to have definitively "ferried" the importance of a real digital transition in all sectors of public offer to Italian public opinion. In summary,
32.3% of citizens agree
with
electronic voting
only partially and 34.2% do not want to hear about it. Only 41% of Italians would be happy to see digital sensors affixed to the city in order to increase
urban safety
. 37.3% would welcome them lukewarmly and with reservations while 21.1% are decidedly against. Greater openings are recorded towards
health
which makes full use of new technologies (electronic health records, telemedicine, online prescriptions, teleconsultations, etc.): only 14.5% of the interviewees said they did not like it at all.
The forecasts for the future also incorporate many "conservative" positions. With all due respect to environmental issues, 41.3% of the interviewees are convinced that online publishing will displace print media at all and 43.8% think we will continue to move by car to do the weekly shopping rather than resorting to online purchase systems with the transport of goods at home.
Remote work
deserves a separate discussion
: in this case the Italians who do not show themselves critical of companies or organizations that do not intend to adopt smartworking in their operating schemes are a narrow minority (18.1%). In particular, this is true for the more educated population, where the percentage of those against it drops to 14.6%. Going into detail, however, the greatest resistance is found with reference to the
services of the PA
, where 35% of Italians declare that they do not look favorably on a complete and definitive transition towards setting up "online counters" to replace traditional ones with physical access and with "flesh and blood" operators. Similar percentages are recorded with reference to the distrust of digital voting: 34.2% of citizens are totally opposed to its introduction, 32.3% say they "partially agree" and 33.5% would welcome this solution. The perplexities of such high quotas of citizens, considering that the question was posed at a very particular moment in the life of the country, in a context where the contagion risks of an electoral consultation are added to the traditional perplexitiesregarding the costs of the elections and the temporary closures of schools to allow them to be carried out, arouse some surprise. It seems difficult that these resistances can be attributed to the possible risks for the maintenance of constitutional rights (secrecy and freedom of vote). It is more probable that - as in the previous case - most of the denials can be traced back to the prospect of the transfer of consolidated habits to the network, in the case of voting a real collective rite.It is probable that - as in the previous case - most of the denials can be traced back to the prospect of the transfer of consolidated habits online, in the case of voting a real collective rite.It is probable that - as in the previous case - most of the denials can be traced back to the prospect of the transfer of consolidated habits online, in the case of voting a real collective rite.
Even
the cultural and entertainment offer
, according to 26.2% of Italians, does not need to be made more available online. Even the issue of urban safety, which can certainly be improved through monitoring systems based on new technologies (think of traffic control, incorrect driving behavior or in other behavioral areas) does not convince more than a fifth of Italians.
The two sectors of intervention where resistance is lower are the two "pillars" of national welfare:
school and health.
. In these cases, the "resistant" are reduced to 16.6% and 14.5% respectively. In conclusion, it can be argued that the demand for change in services of collective interest is not as broad and uniquely oriented as one might think. In fact, to the real "resisters" are added the decidedly considerable shares of those people who say they "agree but only partially" with the digitization proposals submitted to their attention, ranging between 30% and 40% of the total. .
It is certainly known to everyone that the digitalization of processes is the real driver of change, but perhaps that is precisely why there is resistance. In part what it is linked to the
weakness of the digital skills of important shares of citizens
. There is certainly some resistance as regards data, privacy, traceability of behavior, etc. But it is also probable that the relationship with public services in our country has not yet been structured around a "virtuous give-and-take circuit", where each person involved must do their part.
But it is not only public services that encounter resistance in their digitization process. Most Italians, for example, do not believe that traditional publishing will be supplanted by digital media. Similarly, most of the interviewees do not agree that it is not very rational to move every weekend with a car to do the weekly shopping in a supermarket, given that there is the possibility of stocking up with products in front of a PC with a few clicks. on a keyboard or through the use of a smartphone. Any good reason based on environmental sensitivity, or simply on comfort or the rationalization of the time available collides with established habits that only a minority seems happy to modify thanks to digital technologies.
Very different opinions on the subject of smartworking. In this case, the majority of Italians are ready to criticize companies or organizations that are not ready to design it and to adopt it in their operational schemes. This is especially true for the more educated population. Only 14.6% of graduates, for example, do not feel like accusing them of obsolescence and inability to seize new opportunities for organizations that do not decide to adopt it.