Lawyer Monthly Magazine -December 2019 Edition

productivity of workers through an increase in their corporate welfare and reducing the requests for time off), and even to the environment, if we consider the harmful emissions saved from the reduction of transport to work. Smart working, therefore, tries to leave behind the ancient idea of employees being obliged to spend at least eight hours of their day within the walls of the company, and, instead, allows the employer and their employees to reconcile their interests, with a view of improving the competitiveness of the former and to make the work commitment of the latter less burdensome. Thisexplainswhysmartworking is increasingly developing, taking various and often innovative forms and why companies are increasingly asking their consultants to assist them in the development of articulate, complex and sometimes innovative individual and collective agreements for the introduction of this modality. Being assisted by a legal adviser is often indispensable: the law has, in some ways, limited the opportunities that smart working intrinsically offered and in other ways, has left some unclear areas. What is ‘smart working’? Smart working is a mode of execution of dependent employment relationships characterized by the absence of hourly or spatial constraints and by an organisation by phases, cycles, and objectives, established by agreement between employee and employer. It is a notion that helps employees’ work-life balance and, at the same time, helps their efficiency grow. The definition of smart working, laid down in Law no. 81/2017, focuses on organisational flexibility, the will of the parties who sign the individual agreement, and the use of equipment that allows for working remotely (via laptops, tablets, and smartphones). Who benefits from smart working in their company? Smart working is a typical “win-win” tool, since it brings benefits both to workers (acting positively on their work-life balance, helping to solve personal or family organisational problems and saving in terms of transport, gasoline, etc.), and to companies (increasing the LEGISLATION Smart Working: Does Legislation Contradict Itself? Regulations for smart working were introduced in Italy only in 2017 albeit, as a phenomenon, as it already existed for some time, especially in multinational companies. An innovative and increasingly desired tool, smart working allows companies to save money and allows employees to meet a better work-life balance. However, the path to an agile conception of work seems far from plain, because the legislation is not always completely clear. 72 WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM | DEC 2019 Expert Insight By Luca Daffra and Sergio Passerini, Ichino Brugnatelli e Associati