Covid-19 has not turned us off working from home

The number of people who want to work full-time from home has jumped to more than one in four (27%) since the last survey was conducted at the start of the lockdown in April, up from 12%. File picture

The Covid-19 pandemic has not dampened the appetite for working from home, with 94% of people surveyed wanting the option of remote working for at least some of the week, according to latest research.

And the number of people who want to work full-time from home has jumped to more than one in four (27%) since the last survey was conducted at the start of the lockdown in April, up from 12%.

The National Remote Working Survey, conducted by the Whitaker Institute at NUI Galway and the Western Development Commission, gathered responses from more than 5,600 employees, six months after lockdown, and 23% of respondents also said they would consider relocating if they could work from home, and 7% have already moved.

The most popular relocation choices were the West (Galway, Mayo, Roscommon), the South-West (Cork and Kerry) and the Mid-West (Clare, Limerick, Tipperary).

It was not all positive, however. Employees identified loneliness and isolation, problems staying motivated and difficulties with the physical workspace as the main challenges to working remotely. These challenges had changed since April, when not being able to switch off from work, communication issues with colleagues and poor physical workspace were the main challenges identified.

There was no change to the top three benefits of working remotely, which were no traffic and no commute, greater flexibility in the working day, and reduced costs.

With regards to work/life balance, 36% of respondents said that they did not respond to emails outside of working hours.

One in four people said they responded to emails because they choose to, while another 26% responded because of their workload.

Last week, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said the Government was considering giving people the "legal right" to request to work from home.