Only one-in-10 workers want full-time return to the office

More than a third said they would like to work remotely all the time. File photo

Almost a third of Irish workers would consider moving home now that remote working is increasingly becoming the norm, with a large chunk of those considering the countryside or abroad.

Those are some of the findings of a survey from insurance firm Royal London, which probed 1,000 workers about their plans as the Covid-19 pandemic changes the way we live and work.

Of the 31% of workers in Ireland who said they would consider relocating, some 18% of those would look to the countryside or a town, while 8% would consider moving abroad. A further 5% said they would move to a city in the Republic.

Now that working from home has become a settled practice for swathes of Irish workers, the idea of returning to the office full-time as the effects of the pandemic wanes is unappealing to most, the survey found.

Just 10% said that they would prefer to return to the office full-time, while 34% of people would like to work remotely exclusively. Some 56% would prefer to see a blend of remote and office working.

Propositions lead at Royal London, Barry McCutcheon, said that since the pandemic hit in 2020, previously unthinkable mass scale remote working became a reality in record time.

"Nearly overnight we experienced a remote working revolution. 

"The ‘working from home experiment’, which has presented both challenges and opportunities, has enabled many people to experience working remotely and consider what it would be like as a full-time arrangement in the future."

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He did caution however that working remotely and working from home are not the same. 

"Remote work is a flexible style of working which allows employees to work anywhere outside of the organisation’s usual physical place of business, for example a co-working space or a café, or indeed from home," he said.

The rental crisis and sharp rise in house prices have given people more food for thought when it comes to relocating, according to Mr McCutcheon.

"The opportunity to work remotely full-time due to the pandemic has resulted in a growing number of people considering a move out of the city. 

"Perhaps some have been renting in Dublin and now they plan to move back to their hometowns or maybe people are happy to relocate to somewhere rural in order to avail of more green space and potentially more affordable housing," he said.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said last week that Ireland now has an opportunity to make remote working a major part of working life. He was speaking following the publication of a report ahead of drafting laws to give employees the right to request remote work. 

The report was based on 175 submissions made by workers, private companies, industry bodies and trade unions. The submissions found that most employers believe staff should have served at least 12 months requesting to work remotely.

"We recognise that remote working won’t work for everyone or for every organisation, so the Government will take a balanced approach with the new legislation," said Mr Varadkar.