Smart working promoted by asset management companies: improves work and quality of life

Archive image (Ansa)

Share

September 16, 2021Smart working, never without it again.

A useful tool for building inclusive and diverse organizations, to improve business performance, health, the environment and to attract the best talent.

This is what emerges from the research "Smart Working in Savings Management Companies" commissioned by Assogestioni at the Milan Polytechnic and presented at the Salone del Risparmio.

The study analyzes the spread of smart working initiatives within the asset management companies. Between March and May of this year, well beyond the first phase of the pandemic emergency, remote work involved, on average, 87% of the workers of the 18 companies in the sample. It is interesting that almost 1 in 3 (28%) stated that this modality was not present in the organization before the health emergency.

The launch of a smart working project is not so much linked to reasons of increased competitiveness or efficiency, but concerns the pursuit of people's well-being. At the head of the objectives indicated by the participants there are in fact the "improvement of the reconciliation of private and professional life" and the "improvement of organizational well-being / increase in job satisfaction". According to the workers of the asset management companies, in the last year their way of working and living has improved: sector operators have recorded a positive impact on the way they work and live, with 48% improved performance effectiveness (for 47% remained unchanged), efficiency for 52% (41% unchanged), an improved quality of life for 65%.

Remote working had a positive impact on work-scales however it also led to a deterioration in communication between colleagues. Inclusiveness improved for 55% of asset management companies that have digital skills reskilling initiatives. In particular, remote work has had a positive impact on the inclusion of people who live far from the workplace, on parents and on caregivers. On the other hand, the impact on the inclusion of new hires was negative.

Finally, among the critical issues encountered by the survey participants there is the resistance of managers and managers due to the fear of a worsening of work performance and the difficulty in abandoning a culture of control, which can be stemmed, the research emphasizes, through dedicated training. .