Getting the balance right between remote, hybrid and a return to the office is still a problem for many businesses, writes John Cradden.
Ever since the Covid 19 pandemic thrust the options of remote and hybrid working to the forefront of many companies’ HR policies, the challenge for many employers has been trying to get the balance right.
There was a bit of pushback a few months ago from a number of big corporate employers who wanted staff to return to the office, the response from employees and trade unions was equally strong: remote and hybrid working is here to stay.
“Employees are gathering together more often in person to learn, to develop a learning culture, to share expertise both formally and informally, and collaborate”
It’s also true that active support for hybrid working is emanating from certain business sectors and professions.
A recent survey from the Irish chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI) shows that more than half (56%) of project managers believe remote or hybrid working has a positive impact on project success rates. Furthermore, the survey showed that remote or hybrid working was among the leading sustainability practices within the sector.
Talent retention
But even as a steady stream of research and evidence in Ireland has shown that employers risk losing or missing out on the best talent by insisting staff spend all or most of their working week in the office, part of what has prompted some firms’ hardline stance on the issue may be their struggle to put into practice the process of hybrid working in a way that meets customer, employee and business needs.
A recent survey by the professional body for HR, the CIPD (Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development), found that more respondents considered hybrid working to have a positive impact on productivity above other ways of working, but that lower productivity levels were associated with fully remote working.
Reviewing the ground rules
What this means is that expectations and ground rules about what should happen on site are being re-established, says CIPD Ireland director Mary Connaughton. For example, the process of inducting new employees is now more likely to be done face-to-face rather than remotely in order “to support getting to know the organisation, building up relationships, understanding the culture and how things get done around here”, she said. In addition, established employees are gathering together more often in person “to learn, to develop a learning culture, to share expertise both formally and informally, and collaborate”.
So while there is nothing resembling a wholesale return to office working five days a week, the CIPD’s HR Practices in Ireland 2025 survey found that 25% of organisations were increasing the number of days on site over 2024 and 2025.
Employers organisation IBEC has said that firms are shifting the “rhythm of attendance” in terms of what days people come in and how teams collaborate. This may involve co-ordinating things so that there are other people in the office on similar days to engage with, allowing more opportunities for training, mentoring and social interaction.
Kevin Empey of corporate insurance brokers Lockton Ireland suggests that the widening gap between employee expectations and employer priorities goes well beyond hybrid working and that the real challenge for employers is to develop “a refreshed, transparent, and future-fit employer proposition that recognises the realities of changing business and employee priorities”.
He adds that organisations must also challenge their employees to shape the employment proposition for themselves.
Legislative support
It’s worth noting that there is now also a degree of legislative support for remote or hybrid working, although opinions differ as to its effectiveness.
In March 2024, employees in Ireland were granted the legal right to request remote or flexible working under the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act.
Since then, over 40 cases have been taken to the Workplace Relations Commission under the Act since the code came into effect. The seven cases decided by the commission’s adjudication officers to date have all been rejected, according to data from the Department of Enterprise.
Of the other cases brought to the WRC, two were resolved by mediation and eight were withdrawn before being dealt with. While some say the statistics prove the legislation is toothless because it only supports the right to request remote work rather than the right to remote work itself, others suggest it indicates that matters are being resolved in workplaces rather in the courts.
Main image: Photo by Parabol | The Agile Meeting Tool on Unsplash
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