Work from home and the effects of the pandemic between private and public

While policemen and doctors in the United Kingdom work from home, public administration (not just in Italy) often seems to be an extreme case. James Hansen’s diplomatic note

COVID-19 pandemic – where “19” stands for the year the virus was identified and the abbreviation “COVID” was applied a bit after the fact of diminutive of its Chinese origin, whatever it actually is They were – became a public fact around March 2020 when the first lockdown decrees and related restrictions began to rain.

It is already difficult to remember clearly the panic and confusion of those months, when – among other things – the WHO initially emphasized the uselessness of masks, convinced that the virus was transmitted through contact only, not the air. can be broadcast. So we had to put on plastic gloves and sterilize everything that came into the house with denatured alcohol and amuchina – when it was found – it cost as much as a good Scotch whisky.

Governments – concerned about the dire economic impacts of enacted forms of segregation – everywhere have discovered the wonderful virtues of working from home, or more commonly, work from home (WFH). The practice, supported by countless news articles about hypothetical increases in personal productivity, ecological benefits from abandonment, and improved work-life balance, has spread to the West in an instant. It looked like a Columbus egg.

It is now a common belief that the worst of the pandemic is largely over. The growing problem is that the same cannot always be said of WFH, especially in situations where employee productivity is not under explicit scrutiny. Public administration in many countries often appears to be an extreme affair. In fact, Western newspapers reported instances of unforgivable bureaucratic delays associated with processes that were already slow when officers and staff were still in office.

Meanwhile, there are cases in which work from home increases rather than decreases. It has recently emerged in England that, in some police departments – in Hampshire, Norfolk and Suffolk – officers have acquired the right to work from home … According to British newspapers, Durham Constabulary recently One report said work from home would have improved the “general well-being” of its agents enough to make it permanent.

Something similar happens in the country’s healthcare service, the NHS-National Health Service, whose medical experts now claim to work from home, thus avoiding annoying contact with patients. While this trend is particularly marked among British civil servants, it is certainly not just a British phenomenon. However, even in Italy, people complain about certificates, licenses, various renewals and permits that have now become practically impossible to obtain.

How it all fits – if it has to – is by no means clear. In the private sector, companies that fail to deal with this phenomenon will go bankrupt, thus fueling the nuisance. It is difficult for public administration to do so. On the other hand, proving and repeating one’s costly uselessness is rarely a winning strategy in the long run.