NEWS #01
The kick-off of WorkingSmart project
On December 20-21st, 2021, a first transnational meeting of the WorkingSmart project, co-funded by the European Commission, took place in Lyon, France. Hosted by IPRA/MEDEF Auvergne Rhone Alpes, 15 people participated in a two-day long meeting (9 people on-site on the MEDEF premises, and 6 people were connected on-line) representing all project partners coming from France, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, and Spain.
The project meeting was dedicated to networking, project management, administrative and financial aspects, the quality evaluation, and reporting obligations of all partners. The kick-off meeting was fundamental to all partners as it allowed to establish a common understanding of project goals and objectives, validate the management of the project work plan, further clarify rules and responsibilities of each partner, and define communication agreements and procedures. Additionally, the meeting aimed at establishing a teambuilding activity, via games, sightseeing and cultural exchanges, brough partners closer and positively impacted the relationship between individual project participants.
WorkingSmart is a two-year long Erasmus+ project (November 2021-October 2023) striving to challenge EU MSMEs, to take into account the culture of empowerment, brought about by new technologies and smart working, with different working approaches and lifestyles, among women and men.
The project aims to train and empower a novel Smart Working Manager/Advisor capable of dealing with resistance to change inside and outside EU organisations, primarily embedded into the resistance not (only) to technical change but social and cultural change (personal relationships) that will accompany the digital shift.
The project seeks participation of indirect beneficiaries (entrepreneurs, managers and executives, workers, and independent professionals) at different stages of the project (focus groups, piloting, multiplier events), so as to better manage their specific concerns and make learners more skilful.
During the project, a number of ICT-based training tools and resources will be developed to support the acquisition of digital and entrepreneurial competences compliant with the EU DigComp and EntreComp frameworks, with a particular focus on problem solving issues. Novel professionals benefiting from this project, will be trained to help organisations and their managers to be capable of planning smart working in a way that is flexible and fit for purpose, dealing with organisational and labour issues, including compliance to the GDPR and performance measurement and management. This will include, both measurable and acceptable modifications in the physical and daily routines of the job, as well as the way flexible working will alter the established hierarchical and control relationships.
At the end of this learning and teaching experience of global smart working competence, the EU workforce, including young professionals will be better prepared and engaged as collaborative problem solvers, regardless of the specific job levels.
If you or your institution are interested in Smart Working and you wish to contribute, benefit, or simply follow up on the development of the WorkingSmart project, please contact the project leader in your respective country for more information:
France, Malgorzata WOCH, mwoch@medef-aura.fr (IPRA/MEDEF AUVERGNE RHONE ALPES)
Greece, Vicky MARATOU, info@daissy.eap.gr (HELLENIC OPEN UNIVERSITY)
Italy, Valentina PIERAGOSTINI, workingsmart@aicomply.it (aiComply)
Slovenia, Mojca CEK, Mojca.Cek@cpu.si (GOSPODARSKA ZBORNICA SLOVENIJE CENTER ZA POSLOVNO USPOSABLJANJE / Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia - Institute for Business Education)
Spain, Eva RIMBAU GILABERT, erimbau@uoc.edu (FUNDACIO PER A LA UNIVERSITAT OBERTA DE CATALUNYA) or Livia PARETTI, lparetti@inmedia.es (INMEDIA SOLUTIONS)
Grant Agreement: 2021-1-FR01-KA220-VET-000025901
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