I’ve just attended two meetings on the theme of worklife integration. The talk-show called “Lavorare per vivere o vivere per lavorare? (To work for a living or to live for working?)” organized by Herman Miller in Milan, where four enthusiastic workaholics, moderator the good coach Roberto d’Incau, related a story of gratifying careers that push life, affections and familiy into the background (the opinion of a few wives or husbands could have been most interesting…).
In short, a clear example of Worklife No-balance by choice!
The second meeting “Smart Working: ripensare il lavoro liberare energia”(Smart Working: to rethink our way of working and give free reign to our energy) presented the results of the study carried out in Italy by Politecnico di Milano- School of Management.
(#2 WOW! webmagazine will deal with this study in depth).
The somewhat discouraging fact is that, despite digital technologies are ever-spreading and allow to work at a distance and motivation and worklife balance are considered as a benefit of smart working by 84% of the workers interviewed, only 5% of workers have a “smart” workstyle, being Distant or Mobile Workers, Flexible Workers, Adaptive Workers. Paradoxically the lower figures concern young people and women, who would rather have a more benefits and a greater facility to an actually integrated model of smart working e smart life.
So, is integration between private life and working life still seen as a sort of status symbol rather than the answer to real requirements?
Does this scenario give an accurate picture of the Italian situation only or is there a similar situation abroad, too?
Is worklife integration a myth?
Are there any case histories proving that worklife integration isn’t utopian?
Interactive editorial by Renata Sias
