More than 300,000 Irish office workers unable to effectively work from home

OpenSky, the digital transformation specialist for government organisations and large private enterprises, today announces the results of its survey which found that almost a quarter (22%) of Irish office workers don’t have the necessary tools (including laptop, sufficient internet speeds and secure connection to work systems) to effectively work from home. This translates to more than 300,000 people.

The research – conducted by Censuswide and involving 1,000 adults from across Ireland, including 500 office workers – also revealed which counties are least equipped to work from home during the coronavirus outbreak.  They are Offaly, Clare, Wicklow, Louth and Longford.

Meanwhile, the counties that are best equipped with the necessary tools for remote working are Monaghan, Roscommon, Tipperary, Wexford and Sligo.

In terms of the age group that were keenest to work from home during the current coronavirus outbreak, the 35-44 category came out on top (93%). The over 55s were the least keen to do so (57%).

Furthermore, the survey revealed that more than half (54%) of citizens would prefer to do non-emergency appointments with a doctor online rather than in-person. Some 28% said this was to avoid infections. The most popular reason was to save time.

Michael Cronin, Managing Director, OpenSky, said: “We are living and working in unprecedented times. Businesses across Ireland that had not even considered remote working before are having to facilitate this for entire teams and extended periods of time. As many discovered, it?s not something that can be done overnight as organisations need to ensure access to laptops, fast internet speeds, and secure connections to work systems, applications and resources.

“The fact that more than 300,000 office workers aren’t equipped to adapt to the current situation is quite startling. Furthermore, business leaders are faced with the challenge of continuing to ensure job satisfaction and engage staff of all ages to maintain motivation levels by making the working from home experience as seamless, flexible and productive as possible.

“Of course, the impact of Covid-19 is being felt in every facet of our lives and the crisis has highlighted a number of areas where the approach needs to change both now and for the future – as well as remote working options, our research also found that there is an increasing demand for digital non-emergency health services.

“In general, this option would not only help to prevent the spread of infections and illnesses but also increase the efficiency of health services, saving time for both patients and doctors. While we don’t know what lies ahead, the current situation has demonstrated how vital it is for every organisation to be digitally-ready and agile.”

To help Irish organisations lower operational risk and digitise manual processes during the current crisis, OpenSky is offering free Covid-19 ‘‘operational resilience’ assessments.