New Ways of Working: Taking Stock of Smart Working in Europe

Smart Working is a topic of interest not just in Italy, but internationally. Looking beyond the Italian borders, we can see that the phenomenon known as Smart Working in Italy is a concept that exists, albeit with different names, characteristics and levels of maturity in numerous European countries: Flexible Working, Mobile Working, Agile Working, Activity-Based Working and New Way of Working are some of the most common names used to describe practices similar to Smart Working.

The European Parliament also expressed that it supports “smart working” (General Principle No. 48) in the Resolution of 13 September 2016

Leading the pioneers of Smart Working we find Great Britain, where the Flexible Working Regulation was approved in 2014, the Netherlands which approved the Flexible Working Act in 2016 and Belgium where, although there is no specific law governing it, there have been Smart Working initiatives since 2005, and not only in the private sector, but also in the public sector.

The Report aims to provide an overview of the existence of initiatives regarding flexibility of place of work and working hours in different European states, with a particular focus on some countries who have more experience with the topic.