LinkedIn Data Shows Smaller Firms Are Leading On Remote Hiring In Ireland

New data from LinkedIn reveals that Ireland continues to lead in flexible working across Europe, ranking second in hybrid and remote job postings in October, just behind the United Kingdom. The analysis, which also examined job hiring patterns over a twelve-month period up to July 2024, found that companies in Ireland with less than 250 staff were more inclined to recruit workers in remote positions, with 12.6% of all people hired by these employers working remotely.

A year prior, large enterprises (5000+ employees) would have accounted for a higher proportion of remote roles, with 13.9% of all hires in the twelve months up to July 2023 accounting for these positions. A year on, however, the proportion of remote hires by large scale companies fell by almost a fifth and only accounts for 11.6% of recruits made up to July 2024.

Combined with hybrid recruiting patterns, there is a trend of larger corporations bringing staff back into the office as big enterprises increased hiring for hybrid positions by almost 10%, with almost half (47.6%) of all roles filled in the twelve months up to July 2024 offering flexible working.

The latest LinkedIn data continues to illustrate that employers in Ireland are promoting flexible working as the new normal compared to other European countries. The latest data from October 2024 revealed that 37.3% of all postings offered hybrid working and 8.1% of jobs ads were for remote roles that month.

While a higher proportion of roles in Ireland offered flexible work opportunities compared to the majority of other countries analysed, there is an overall decline in availability in Europe compared to last year, with a -13.7% year-on-year fall in hybrid job postings and a -18.0% year-on-year decline in remote roles advertised in October. The trend of large remote work “mismatches” – the ratio of share of remote job applications and the share of remote job postings – continued into October, at 2.2x in Ireland.

Commenting on the data, LinkedIn Ireland Country Manager Sue Duke said:

“Despite the decline in the availability of remote and hybrid roles in Ireland compared to last year, flexible work opportunities remain extremely popular with Irish workers. Job seekers are clearly looking for flexibility at work, whether that be remote or hybrid, and this can be a way for organisations to stand out to potential candidates, especially in a tight labour market.

Similarly, employers are able to take advantage of this new way of working by controlling their office costs and widening the pool of talent available to them. We see this with companies in Ireland with less than 250 staff, which are more inclined to recruit workers in remote positions compared to their larger counterparts.

“While there is a lot of discussion around large employers bringing staff back to the office, the data doesn’t tell the complete story. Ireland’s largest companies are offering a higher share of hybrid roles this year and with Ireland continuing to lead the way in offering flexible work, all indications are that flexibility is here to stay.”