"Building a grid isn't just about electricity"

“Is today Sunday?” This is one of the questions that Giovanni Celotto, electrical engineer and team controller in the Italian Transmission Grid Management and Projects division - the Italian Transmission Grid managed by Terna - found himself facing most often in the initial stages of smart working due to COVID-19. It wasn’t his colleagues who were asking, of course, but his two girls, aged four and six: “My daughters, seeing me at home, thought it was always the weekend. Over time they became used to it, but at first I had to make them understand that, even though dad is in the next room, he’s still working”. Celotto and his team were totally new to the idea of remote working, experiencing it for the first time during the pandemic.

“My colleagues and I provide support for the entire managerial and financial aspect of the Italian transmission grid structure. We also train the CEO’s staff at Terna Rete Italia, the group company that deals with the operation, maintenance and the more operational activities of the national transmission grid”, he says. “Each of us has a different specialisation, whether technical or managerial: there are many of us and there are many different roles. Because of this, we always share our work and have a lot of conversations, given our wide range of experiences. That’s the reason we never used the ‘agile working’ tool before; we need to be in constant contact, and with external staff and working remotely, the risk was that it could all become... too complicated”.

Adapting to new processes and working tools, especially in the early days, has therefore required some extra effort: “We did already use some remote teamwork tools, for meetings with departments outside Rome, but going from an occasional use of 20% to an everyday use of 100% in a few days was not easy. But luckily we had the company’s support, which provided us with all the necessary tools,” he says. And we soon got used to recreating the office atmosphere, even at home.

With the numerous meetings needed every day in order to continue with the different projects, Celotto and his colleagues were always connected, even if only to share feedback on this new lifestyle. “In our line of work, we each make our own contribution. Sometimes we work individually on certain projects, where everyone plays their part, but we are always in sync. Now, instead of physical meetings with our supervisor and with each other, we have daily meetings all together to decide what needs doing and update each other on the various areas of progress,” says the engineer. “But in general, we continue to work as a team, and this has made us feel much less isolated, which can happen when working remotely.”

The opinion on this development is, in short, positive: “None of us were really ready, but we learned fast. I was, luckily, even able to recreate a little office in a dedicated room of my home, away from any distractions. Personally, I believe that smart working is another string to our bow. It can help in lots of situations, but I find a mixed, gradual system preferable, as is already happening at Terna, because I like the atmosphere of the office and you do miss that, after a while".

Celotto does not seem particularly concerned about the application of the safety measures now required in all offices and put in place by Terna from the very first phases of the pandemic. “The company briefs us every day with all the new protocols,” explains the engineer. “We are very well informed in that respect. In our department, at the moment, there is a mechanism for gradual return: when we physically go to the office we have to stay a bit further away from each other, protect ourselves with masks and take various precautions, but the rules are clear and we have to obey them”.