Adjusting once again to another new normal

With thoughts turning to a return to the office, how will it work, what are the legal obligations for employers, and the rights of employees, asks Niamh Hennessy

The Covid-19 pandemic has transformed how — and where — hundreds of thousands of employees in this country work. File photo

Across the European Union, Ireland had the highest proportion of employees working remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic at 48%, largely due to stricter lockdown measures.

The sudden and forced transition to remote working last year undoubtedly posed huge challenges for employers - with a need to invest in equipment, training, and establish ways of effectively communicating with people who are no longer in the same room. But once these initial challenges were overcome, many employers quickly came to realise that this thing they feared - an entire workforce at home - could actually work. And the statistics back that up. A survey from CartridgePeople.com even found that people who work from home take an average of 2.4 sick days per year compared to the 2.6 taken by those working from an office.