It has become increasingly apparent all over the world that work, as opposed to a place to go, is increasingly moving online with the use of technology like our platform in order to increase communication and collaboration among people and groups, thus making work less of a place to go and more of a thing to do.

The pandemic was a catalyst for an unprecedented shift in working patterns in Ireland, which had been occurring already before the pandemic, but was only accelerated by the outbreak of the disease. Due to the fact that many business owners as well as employees have been forced to absorb and adjust to the reality of remote work due to the fact that they were left no other option than to do so, it has been a positive experience for both parties, resulting in both parties receiving considerable rewards as a result of remote working. According to a recent study by the Washington University, millions of business owners and employees have found that remote working has become a necessity and that they have no choice but to do so. As an industry leader when it comes to embracing hybrid and remote working styles, Ireland has taken a leading position in the field, and that is a matter of great pride for me. In a few short years after adopting the first hybrid and remote working models, Ireland has established a reputation for boosting productivity while giving employees the freedom and flexibility that they now demand.

Remote and hybrid working have been proven to have a positive impact on employee productivity and retention, and this is being recognized by organizations looking to widen their pool of applicants for recruitment. There has been a recent report released by FRS Recruitment, a Dublin-based recruitment company, which has taken a look at how the expectations employees have concerning the type of work they wish to do, when it should be done, and where it should be done, have changed significantly over recent years. There has also been a change in the hiring practices of employers as a result of these changes.

How work in Ireland is changing

It was the responsibility of a team of experts to analyze anonymous data on job ads posted by FRS Recruitment from October 2021 to October 2022 in order to find out how employers’ needs have changed and how they have adjusted in the past year to the new world of work, employing the information collected by FRS Recruitment. Results of the study revealed the following:

• In job advertisements that offer remote or hybrid work, the number of applicants is significantly higher.

• In the last year, the number of job advertisements offering hybrid or remote work has doubled and now accounts for one in three job advertisements.

• There are mainly three sectors that are responsible for such roles: the information technology (IT) sector, accounting/finance and the commercial/business sector.

• As the result of this, over 50% of such positions in Ireland are offered by employers based in Dublin and Cork, Ireland’s two largest cities, where average salaries are 17% higher than in other parts of the country.

Bridging Ireland’s urban-rural divide

As a result, the average salary of jobs in cities within the Irish economy is $60,814 per year whereas it is $21,349 for jobs in rural firms, and closing this gap has long been a public policy priority within the Irish government. During the past twelve months, FRS Recruitment has posted a total of 41% of its jobs offering remote working options in Dublin, with another 22% coming from employers in Cork, Limerick, and Galway – Ireland’s next three largest cities in terms of workplace size. In Ireland, this accounts for a large proportion of the growth in remote roles that we have seen in recent years, which indicates that employers are making the most of the flexibility of these roles in terms of attracting and retaining the talent that they need to remain competitive and grow. If employers adopt a more flexible working structure and don’t require their employees to come into the office every day, for example, they will be able to recruit from a wider talent pool rather than being limited to the talent pool in proximity to an office in the city – giving them a wider variety of candidates to choose from for every available position.

There is no doubt that the growth of remote working in Ireland is going to have a disproportionate impact on the local and rural communities, as the trend is expected to continue to grow at an incredibly fast pace. Specifically, we propose that more workers will move back to their hometowns as they find the motivation to leave crowded cities and return to their hometowns, or to purchase a new house, and take their salaries with them so that they can spend the funds locally and reverse what has plagued rural areas of Ireland for a long time, a phenomenon that has plagued the country for generations to come. There is significant potential here for this approach to be a significant contributor to the closing of traditional income disparities between urban and rural Ireland.

Realising Ireland’s full hybrid potential

There has been a substantial increase in the popularity of remote work over the past few years, and the trend looks to continue for quite some time to come as people continue to value the benefits of flexible work, such as being able to spend more time with their families and commuting less, as well as the flexibility of working remotely.  A national remote work strategy, which is Ireland’s flagship initiative, also aims to embed the benefits of remote working into the economy on a long-term basis as a key part of a successful economy. However, more needs to be done to ensure that the benefits are felt equally by all sectors of the country and not just one section.

In order to address regional inequalities on a wider scale, it will be necessary to make more flexible positions available in every sector, from entry-level jobs to more senior positions, in order to help tackle regional inequalities. As part of our recommendation to build on the progress that has been seen over the past year in relation to remote working in Ireland, our report offers a number of steps that Irish employers and leaders in the public sector can take:

• Encourage remote working to be promoted as an economic and social benefit. At a time when European workers are under high levels of competition, organizations that offer flexibility to their workers have demonstrated a higher level of productivity and are able to attract and retain talent.

• As employers, we would like to draw your attention to the fact that there is a correlation between the number of applications they receive when jobs are advertised to be “fully on-site” in relation to the number of jobs advertised as “fully on-site.”  According to the FRS Recruitment data, employers that require full-time on-site work have a higher rate of turnover, and they receive fewer applications than those that allow remote or hybrid working.

• Our goal is to ensure that tomorrow’s job seekers will be able to thrive in today’s job market by providing them with the skills they need. There are a number of tools and training that employees need in order to be able to collaborate and communicate effectively with teams located in different countries and time zones. School curriculums should teach digital skills to students and teachers, such as how to schedule and conduct a successful virtual meeting with multiple participants, so that these skills can be passed on to new hires and are part of the onboarding process for new employees.

• If your employees are not able to work from home, then promote co-working spaces to them so that they can take advantage of the benefits that come from remote work. In Ireland, a remarkable initiative has already been put in place that has resulted in the creation of over 300 “connected hubs” that are accessible for co-working enthusiasts across the country, which Zoom has continued to be a proud partner of. There should be a clear understanding between employers and their employees regarding the use of these facilities, that provide a professional “third space” (beyond a person’s home and workplace) further from the employees’ homes, so that employees can transition to working remotely with ease.

Setting your organisation up to thrive in a hybrid world

Introducing Zoom, a new product line designed to help you embrace a more flexible future and make the most of today’s technology. A Zoom Room offers additional virtual meeting and event options, along with Zoom Team Chat, Zoom Phone, and a number of other tools designed specifically for creating a modern, hybrid workforce. These features are all important to successful virtual meetings and events.

Is there something you would like to know about the recent updates to our platform? If you are interested in learning more about all of the new features that have been released, you can visit our release notes page as well as subscribe to our blog to receive updates with regard to the release.

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