25 March 2020

Smart-Working: Work Flexibility without Constraints

In the light of Covid-19 working at home is a mandatory reaction. In the public discussion, it is therefore more important than ever to know how home office working can be used beneficiary. The analysis shows how SMART working increases productivity of workers and improves their well-being and work-life balance. The observed eﬀects are stronger for women and there are no signiﬁcant spillover eﬀects within workers of a team. The results are based on a randomized experiment on a sample of workers in a large Italian company divided into two groups: a traditional working group and a smart working group that engages in ﬂexible space and time.

Key issue

The outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus is threatening the economy worldwide. To contain the spread of the coronavirus and curb the contagion, the only way to continue work is to use “smart-working”, i.e. work outside the company’s physical workplace and with a flexible time schedule, thanks to the use of the technology. Differently from the old practice of telecommuting, there are no specific constraints on the time or location of work.

What are the economic effects of smart-working in normal times? This paper provides causal evidence that smart working is economically desirable.

Approach and methodology

We design a randomized experiment on a large Italian company. We select a sample of 310 workers randomly divided into two groups: workers in the treated group work “smart” (i.e., with no constraints on the place or time) one day per week for 9 months in agreement with their supervisors, while workers in the control group continue to work traditionally. We measure three outcomes: productivity, well-being and work-life balance.

Productivity is measured by an objective measure of workers’ performance, calculated monthly by the firm (e.g., the number of dossiers processed monthly) and by the number of days of Leave. We complement this information with questionnaires administered to each worker and to his/her supervisor both before and after the treatment, which capture several dimensions of self-assessed productivity, well-being and work-life balance.

Key findings and conclusions

Our analysis shows that, for the same number of hours of work, smart-workers increase their productivity compared to that of workers who continue working traditionally: during the 9 months, smart-workers show 6 days less of leave and increase the respect of deadlines by 4%. They are also more satisfied with their social life, free time and life in general. They claim to be more able to focus, make decisions, appreciate their daily activities, overcome problems and experience reduced stress and loss of sleep. The effects are stronger for women, but men increase their time spent in household and care activities.

Our results suggest that promoting smart working is an effective way to increase productivity, improve well-being and work-life balance and reduce the gender gaps. Our study based on smart-working one day per week cannot be generalized to the current situation. However, we suggest that in normal times, i.e. after the crisis, the use of smart-working for a limited period of the work week, can be beneficial.