How to Evaluate an Employee’s “Smartworkability”? Life Stories With Daily Dilemmas in a Double-Mixed Research Design

Companies often face the need to select and train personnel on the basis of their ability to manage remote work in an adequate and responsible manner, thanks to specific soft skills and a specific attitude to work, that, with a neologism, we can define “smarkworkability.” This case study illustrates how a new tool was invented for evaluating this specific ability of the candidates, combining both quantitative with quantitative techniques and the self-evaluation of the workers with the hetero-evaluation by their bosses. The main novelty of the tool consists in the administration of some stories that come from everyday life dilemmas (e.g., behavior in front of a traffic light, choice of a trip for the holiday, etc.) to the candidate and which allows the employer to evaluate his/her aptitude for smartworking on these dimensions: sense of responsibility, proactivity, loyalty, interpersonal skills, stress management, ability to self-organize, result in orientation, ability to work in a team, and focused communication. The case is a step-by-step guide for understanding the methodological choices adopted for the construction of a useful evaluation tool for companies