Away from Paris: half of executives aim for smartworking in quieter places

The status-symbol cities are emptied and an audience of workers exploits the possibilities of smartworking to return to live in more human-sized spaces. It is happening in all Western countries, where the changes introduced to deal with pandemics and lockdowns have paved the way for new working formulas. According to the latest Cadremploi study, a recruitment site aimed at executives, which surveyed the expectations of French managers on post-pandemic work, 77% are satisfied with how the health emergency has been handled by their company, but this does not prevent half of them wanting a change, also glimpsed thanks to the new ways of working. Almost half are contemplating a drastic change, which can contemplate both a different job and, more simply, leave the big cities to continue working, perhaps remotely, from places where the cost and quality of life are more tailored to their needs. ‘man. The least loved is precisely Paris, a tourist’s dream but a citizen’s nightmare. Very high costs of living, stressful rhythms, hours on public transport, noise and pollution: many look to cities traditionally considered minor such as Bordeaux, Nantes and Lyon. And many are also willing to have their salaries lowered or take up different jobs in order to leave the capital. The situation in the United States is no different. Data from a research by the Becker Friedman Institute of Economics in Chicago show that at least one in four workers would be willing to receive a salary in order to continue working from home – without being required to be present in the office or even in the same city as the place of work. inferior. And 36% would seek a job change if forced to return to the office full-time, they look to small and flexible startups rather than large companies, especially in the tech sector. More than the precautions for a resurgence of covid, Apple’s decision to postpone the end of smartworking for its employees, which was scheduled for September, could be hiding behind these numbers. Even in Italy, smartworking is reshaping the geography of work. According to the latest mUP Researche Norstat investigation, six out of ten workers who returned home to the South during the lockdown said they wanted to continue working remotely. With a monthly salary that for one in three is less than 1500 euros, moving from the more expensive northern regions to Sicily, Sardinia or Calabria means a significant improvement in the quality of life. The most abandoned regions, on the other hand, were Lombardy, Piedmont and Lazio. One of the first indicators of the return of over 30,000 Sicilians was the demand for ADSL lines and high-speed connections (+ 11% in Palermo, + 10% in Messina, + 8% in Ragusa), essential for working remotely. A trend that the National Association of Municipalities of Italy intends to exploit with a bill that aims to repopulate beautiful but now depopulated villages by offering incentives and high-speed fiber for anyone who chooses to move to work remotely. However, it will not be possible for public administration employees: everyone will be back in attendance at the end of September, according to Minister Brunetta.