I work, more than one in two Italians wants to change it

One thing is certain: after the pandemic, Italians have a great desire for change. Starting from work. An occupation that is more compatible with the needs of personal life and more satisfying from a professional and economic point of view. More than half of workers in Italy (55%) want a new job because they are dissatisfied with the current one and 15% have taken action to look for another job. To describe the sentiment of Italians and the evolutions underway is the survey of the Foundation for Labor Consultants Studies entitled ‘Italians and work in the year of transition’, conducted in collaboration with SWG. A theme that will be addressed during the Labor Festival from 23 to 25 June in Bologna, at the Palazzo della Cultura e dei Congressi. A transversal phenomenon, widespread not only among young people and certain categories of workers, and rather new for a labor market that has always been characterized by stability and low internal turnover. According to the survey, to weigh on the decision to want to turn the page, dissatisfaction (38.7%) and the desire for novelty (35.4%) rather than the need due to the expiry of the contract (9.8%) or fear of losing their job (11.8%). Low wages (31.9%) and poor career opportunities (40.9%) at the root of dissatisfaction. But it is not only the salary and professional improvement that pushes for change. 49% of Italians indicate a greater personal balance, lower levels of stress and more time to devote to oneself among the essential requirements of the new occupation. Individual well-being, also thanks to the two years of the pandemic, is above all the goal of under 35 and 35-44 year-olds, a priority over economic improvement itself.Smart working, according to the research, has played a decisive role in this regard. If in 2021 the same home workers provided an ambivalent judgment, highlighting the criticalities connected to remote work, in 2022 as many as 84.2% of “agile” workers promote this model with flying colors, because it reconciles work and private life. 31.8% of Italians would not accept to return to work in person, 16.9% would change jobs and 9.3% could even quit. A model, therefore, which is consolidated and which changes not only the work, but also the underlying culture. In fact, 50.2% of employees would prefer to be assessed on results rather than on working hours. But there is not only smart working. The pandemic has triggered a strong technological acceleration, “forcing” even the most resistant workers to deal with the new methods. 61% of respondents say that the technological revolution has changed the job; a minority percentage (13.9%) instead rejected, because it made the work more complicated (14.6%) and inhumane (11.1%), with the loss of value of people and relationships. But the evils of work do not arise only from economic conditions. After too low wages (56.7%) and high taxation (43.9%), the system’s poor meritocracy (33%) is the other critical issue: an issue felt with greater urgency than that of precariousness, especially by young. The idea of ​​the “permanent job” therefore loses appeal. Although a secure job remains an indispensable objective for those looking for a new job (25.3%), the absence of meritocracy limits even more the few existing spaces for growth. “Technological revolution and smart working – states Marina Calderone, president of the National Council of the order of labor consultants – are changing organizational models and defining a new approach to work. Smart working is a method that reconciles work with private life well, but it must be well structured so that it becomes an opportunity for the future “.