The bright and dark side of smart working in the public sector: employees’ experiences before and during COVID-19

Abstract Purpose – The paper aims to understand how the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) influenced public employees’ perception of smart working and how this approach was used during the pandemic. The authors asked about smart working’s positive and negative aspects and how these changed during the pandemic. Design/methodology/approach – The authors explored the strengths and weaknesses of smart working before and after COVID-19. The authors interviewed 27 Italian public employees who had experienced smart working before the pandemic. The questions and discussion aimed to broadly explore the strengths and weaknesses of smart working and smart working’s impact on working performance, work relationships and work–life balance (WLB). Findings – Smart working had a widespread and positive impact on organizational flexibility. Smart working improved the response and resilience of Italian public organizations to the pandemic. However, some critical factors emerged, such as the right to disconnect and the impact on WLB. Research limitations/implications – The authors suggest that the pandemic exposed the need for public administrations to consolidate work flexibility practices, such as smart working, by paying more attention to the impact of these practices on the whole organization and human resources management (HRM) policies and practices. Originality/value – This study makes an important contribution to the literature on the public sector by discussing the positive and negative aspects of smart working. The study also provides managerial and policy implications of the use of smart working in public administrations.