Smart working is a working model that has emerged as the natural -and improved- evolution of what has been known as remote working. From this perspective, it is no longer enough to have the possibility of not going to the office to perform tasks. Nor is it enough to limit remote work to the simple fact of having a computer and a good Internet connection to be able to work remotely.
Therefore, smart working advocates an intelligent work methodology thanks to the use of the latest technology, and also more beneficial for both the well-being of the employee and the company. It, therefore, transcends the idea of non-presential work and focuses on maximizing its advantages.
In addition to the use of this technology and the ability to not be physically in an office, the smart working model emphasizes two fundamental ideas for proper work performance. One is autonomy, the other is flexibility.
As mentioned above, both autonomy and flexibility are closely linked to the performance of any employee, just as they are associated with the technological concept of smart: technology, when it is sufficiently intelligent, makes us less dependent on other people and spaces -although perhaps more dependent on that same technology- and this facilitates access to new ways of working that do not necessarily involve traditional schedules or work attendance.
However, just as true autonomy and flexibility facilitate true smart working, it is important not to distort their meaning. When this is not achieved, disproportionate or poorly designed demands or expectations are sent to the employee, which ends up harming not only their productivity level but also their psychological well-being.
If you have any responsibility in team management, or even if you are an ordinary employee with no one under you, you will certainly agree with the ideas of flexibility and autonomy that we define below, as well as with the distortions outlined.
What authentic smart working looks like
Real and fake autonomy
Labor autonomy: is the ability of an employee to make decisions and perform tasks taking into account not only their responsibilities but also their own needs and maintaining a high level of efficiency. It generates psychological well-being.
Labor neglect: the worker lacks clear guidelines, has no supervision, is not provided with the training they need, the company does not care about their work and only expects unconditional involvement from them without taking into account their particular reality. It generates psychological discomfort.
Real and fake flexibility
Labor flexibility: the organization’s ability to adapt to the needs of an employee and the real requirements of their job, changing the work methodology when necessary without reducing effectiveness or efficiency. It generates psychological well-being.
Labor chaos: a total absence of order, strategy, and operational definition of objectives. Agreements are not reformulated according to circumstances but are unjustifiably lacking in validity, changing unpredictably and inexplicably. It generates psychological discomfort.
Autonomy and flexibility must be at the service of the employee’s genuine ability to balance the various aspects of their life, while genuinely improving their well-being and that of the company they work for. This is truly smart working.
Adapting to the new needs of everyone in today’s labor market is not easy. To facilitate the process, ifeel has designed an emotional well-being program for companies, designed by its team of expert psychologists to help companies place genuine smart working at the heart of their corporate culture as a key tool to improve productivity by taking care of the employees’ health.
Thanks to this partnership, HR managers can receive personalized, data-driven advice on how to implement and generate autonomy, flexibility, work-life balance, and technology within their teams.
On the other hand, ifeel‘s emotional well-being program for companies offers employees a mental health care service structured at different levels depending on what they need at any given time. This means they can access various mental health care tools with ifeel‘s app. On the second level, they can receive emotional support through a chat with one of our platform’s registered psychologists. If continuous support is needed they can access the third level of the program: online psychological therapy with a psychologist specialized in cases such as theirs.
Get in touch with us and request more information about our emotional well-being program for companies.
