Ireland Lagging Behind EU Counterparts as 9,000 Irish Roles Could Be Made Remote

Approximately 9,000 Irish roles could be made remote if systemic support were implemented, according to research conducted by Grow Remote, the social enterprise that advocates for better remote-working options in Ireland.

The findings come ahead of the Grow Remote Summit 2023, which will bring together the remote working community, leaders in government, business innovators, and employers to explore the future of work and have a frank and open discussion of what remote working means for employers and employees.

The research, which was conducted on LinkedIn during May 2023, found that just 11.5% of all jobs advertised in LinkedIn in Ireland are remote, compared to 70% in Latvia, Estonia and Slovenia respectively.

Approximately 46% of Irish jobs advertised on LinkedIn could potentially be remote jobs, a total of 11,500 jobs, with IT, telecommunications and financial services being sectors identified as having the highest potential to provide more remote and hybrid working roles.

Commenting on the findings, Founder and Board Member of Grow Remote, Tracy Keogh said, “We can confidently say that we are only scratching the surface when it comes to the potential for remote work in Ireland. While the common narrative in the media is that we have reached a ‘steady state’ with remote work, our research shows that we are nowhere near where we could be in terms of unlocking job opportunities from urban areas and making them available to people across the country. We can see that there is still huge potential to increase the number of remote jobs available to people across Ireland, leading to increased employment opportunities for people living in rural and regional locations.

“At an EU level Ireland is lagging behind other countries, particularly those in Eastern Europe, when it comes to the percentage of jobs that are available remotely. This represents a risk for us in terms of attracting inward investment and the best talent,” said Keogh.

The Grow Remote Summit 2023 will take place on June 8th and 9th and will bring together the remote working community, leaders in government, business innovators, and employers to explore the future of work and have a frank and open discussion of what remote working means for employers and employees.

The Summit approaches as recent research conducted around remote work in Ireland found that 25% of employees are now working fully remote. Among the benefits cited; 84% believed their productivity increased, 60% felt better able to ‘switch off’ after work and 61% of 25-35 year olds are considering moving to another part of Ireland.

In the past, people in rural and regional parts of Ireland would be compelled to leave their hometowns and move to cities to find good quality employment or face hours commuting every day. However, with the increase in remote working, this no longer needs to be the case. Every remote worker who stays in the local area generates increased economic activity locally, which in turn leads to increased job creation. With many employers now subsidising their employees to work from their local co-working hubs, the opportunity to revitalise Ireland’s towns and villages is huge.

However, there are challenges preventing remote working opportunities from spreading across the country, which will be tackled head-on at this year’s Summit. Lack of local awareness means that people living regionally are often unaware of international companies that are hiring without location as these companies often don’t advertise roles in regional media. Supply and an adequate number of remote/hybrid roles being made available in Ireland is also an issue as employers are often hesitant to adopt and embrace a remote working model, often preferring that employees return to the office.

Speaking ahead of the Grow Remote Summit, Chairman of Grow Remote, John Riordan said “Recent research found that 25% of Irish workers are now working on a fully remote basis. The number of companies that require full-time attendance at the office has declined from 49 per cent three months ago to just 42 per cent now, according to new data from Scoop Technologies, demonstrating that remote and hybrid working is here to stay. The Grow Remote Summit 2023 will see Ireland’s brightest business minds gather together to have a frank and open discussion on the benefits and challenges of remote working for Irish employers and employees.

“Remote and hybrid working benefits local economies nationwide as employees are no longer required to relocate to major cities and employees benefit from increased productivity and a superior work-life balance. However, we are also aware that there are associated challenges, including general awareness of remote work, finding jobs that provide remote or hybrid options and issues relating to the supply and adequate number of Irish-based remote/hybrid roles being made available to workers. We look forward to discussing these challenges and constructing solutions at this year’s summit, taking place in-person in Portlaoise and online,” added Riordan.

Headline speakers at this year’s Grow Remote Summit include;

—  David McWilliams – Economist and Author

—  Kate Lister – President of Global Workforce Analytics

—  Chris Herd – CEO at Firstbase

—  Siobhán Curtin – Site Director at Ebay (Ireland)

—  John Goulding – CEO at Workvivo

—  Greg Giusti – SVP for Growth at Meetup

—  Shane Evans – CEO at Zyte

—  Laurel Farrer – Head of Workplace at GitLab

Ticket details and the full event schedule for Grow Remote Summit 2023 can be found here.