Blanket return to office driven by ‘broligarchs’ in US makes no sense

Ireland went into lockdown in March 2020, and it changed the employment landscape. Five years on, Karen O’Reilly offers a post-pandemic perspective

Elon Musk speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference. The cancellation of equity, diversity, and inclusion policies and a blanket return to office driven by the ‘broligarchs’ in the US is very worrying, particularly for Irish people working in multinationals. Picture: AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

Before the pandemic, it was a struggle to explain flexible work and how it could allow companies to access untapped talent. Despite the competitive advantage that it could afford organisations, they pushed back, either through ignorance or misinformation, and were afraid to embrace flexible work.

The pandemic did us a favour in that respect, and companies are now more open to flexible work. Most office-based organisations were abruptly forced into a remote work landscape five years ago and learned that flexible work, despite the pre-pandemic reluctance, could be a game changer.