‘Another work routine is possible’: everyday experiences of (unexpected) remote work in Italy
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: The article discusses the opinions and perceptions of knowledge workers in Italy concerning the shift to remote work during the first countrywide lockdown (March–May 2020) imposed to contain the Covid-19 outbreak. Prior to the pandemic, remote work arrangements in the Italian context were not common. Thanks to a set of 35 interviews to workers who experienced significant disruption to their usual working routine because of the health crisis, we show that a marked element of discovery of remote work characterizes their accounts, articulated across 3 dimensions: temporal organization of work and life, technology, and social relations. We argue that this experience was instrumental for many of them to learn that ‘another work routine is possible’, because of the opportunity to try out alternative arrangements in the management of tasks and responsibilities. Yet issues of work-life balance, together with managerial cultures anchored in pre-pandemic forms of organization, considerably affect this perception.
Source: Culture and Organization
Authors: Alessandro Gandini, Emma Garavaglia
Institutions: University of Milan, Politecnico di Milano
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4366347118