Isolamento professionale e inclusione nell'esperienza del lavoro da remoto durante la pandemia in Italia

During the “hard” lockdown, remote work emerged as the “new way” of working.The solutions adopted, abruptly and often without adequate preparation, representa precious opportunity for organizational scholars to explore very relevant issues.In this paper, the themes of inclusion and isolation are addressed. We integrateframeworks focused exclusively on remote work outcomes with those focused onmanagerial practices resulting from its adoption. The focus is on the relationshipsbetween some of the dimensions relating to implementation – coordination andcontrol tools and social support processes – and the employees’ perceptions ofisolation and/or inclusion. Data collected through a quantitative survey, carried outimmediately after the end of the first lockdown (March-May 2020) on a sample of254 remote workers inserted in hierarchically structured contexts, are analyzed. Theresults of the analysis show that both output control and coordination tools, as wellas organizational and co-workers’ support, reinforce the sense of belonging, thuspositively orienting the relationship between remote work experience and theperception of inclusion. The research reaffirms the criticality of the design choicesof the coordination and control systems in favoring high levels of inclusion, but atthe same time highlights the limits of the design action, which needs to be integratedby an effort aimed at promoting social support at work.