Not a remote possibility of us all going back to office
IT looks like we’re not returning to the office full-time any time soon, as new data shows employees are calling the shots and want the option of staying at home.
The popularity of remote and hybrid working remains high in Ireland, with employers offering more such opportunities than many other countries.
Despite some predictions of a return to the office, around 15% of job postings in Ireland advertise remote or hybrid work opportunities, ranking the country ahead of Germany, France and the US, but behind the UK, Austria, Spain and Poland.
Meanwhile, the proportion of searches for remote or hybrid work is at or near historically high levels in most countries including Ireland, the Indeed job website has reported.
Software development, IT operations and mathematics are the three job categories with the highest proportion of Irish ads offering remote or hybrid work, followed by media and communications, arts and entertainment, banking and finance, civil engineering, marketing, insurance and legal.
Jack Kennedy, senior economist at Indeed, said: ‘Remote or hybrid working became a more standard practice during the pandemic.
‘There was doubt among some as to whether it would remain in place post-pandemic, but our findings show it is still a significant part of modern labour markets. It has been tried and tested and it is clear that it is something employees want, and employers are offering either by choice or by necessity.’
As of the end of January of this year, a total of 15.4% of Irish jobs postings contained one or both terms, ranking the country ahead of Germany (14.9%), Switzerland (10.5%) and France (9.6%).
Poland featured the highest proportion of remote ads (21.6%), followed by Spain (18.7%), Austria (18.1%) and the UK (16.1%).
Mr Kennedy noted that while some employers have found remote or hybrid working an effective way to offer more flexibility to staff without compromising output, others have expressed dissatisfaction with the organisational and managerial challenges it creates.
‘In a tight labour market, however, many employers believe that it can help attract the right talent for the right roles in industries and job categories where it is possible to offer it,’ he said.
‘Irish employees faced with a high cost of living and housing clearly value the flexibility of remote or hybrid work if their chosen role allows it.
‘Some may also be intentionally choosing certain types of jobs over others in order to avoid having to return to the workplace full-time.’
Tom Curran, head of wellbeing at the Dublin-based insurance specialist Lockton People Solutions, told the Irish Daily Mail last night: ‘The world of work has changed dramatically... these statistics confirm that hybrid or remote working is here to stay.’