Smart working and Research: the point of view of the INGV Researchers and Technologists

Research is carried out in the Public Research Institutes and Research needs flexibility and organisational specificity with respect to a prevalently administrative Public Administration. This article represented the possible critical issues of a rough application of Smart Working in Public Research Institutions. We showed how the Researchers and Technologists already carry out research activities independently and that their results are peer-reviewed according to Research Quality Evaluation by the National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities (ANVUR). We focused on pointing out that the evaluation of smart working research activity by the administrative manager does not appear to be correct and that this cannot be the subject of the performance monitoring and evaluation system. We cited the regulations that state how research activities and management activities are separate and that the latter are in support of research. Articles of the National Collective Labour Agreement (CCNL) for the Researchers and Technologists section were cited that already make their work "smart" and "agile." In a survey to 585 INGV Researchers and Technologists, we asked them whether smart working could be the right tool for Research. The 372 responses (64 percent) to the survey, represented in the article, show strong cohesion in claiming the principles of autonomy and freedom of research even challenging some stances of recent years by INGV administrative leadership. Researchers and Technologists want to be part of the decision-making processes that affect them so as not to feed a bureaucratic apparatus that takes away time and energy. The demand that emerges from this survey is the proper application of the National Collective Labour Agreement for Researchers and Technologists, Smart Working, smart working organisational plan and individual agreements for smart working in Public Research Institutes in accordance with the rights of Researchers and Technologists in a working environment where the administration is truly supportive and facilitative of research.