Two in every five workers are happy to stay working from home post-covid
A study compliled by the ESRI found middle aged people want to continue to work remotely while younger staff and people near the end of their careers, would prefer a return to the office.
From the 1,000 people surveyed by Esri Ireland, there’s a clear divide in attitude towards remote working between age groups.
63% of people under the age of 24 and 75% of people over 55 wanted to return to office.
The most popular choice going forward was a mix of working in office and remotely, with half citing that as their preferred option.
Meanwhile almost half of the people in their late twenties and early thirties wanted to stay working from home.
Ruairi Kavanagh from Grad Ireland says younger workers can become isolated:
”Working in isolation for extended periods of time, you know really does cut off some of the key engagement drivers that you find in the workplace and that help graduates develop into leaders really, and that’s something I think we’re going to have to grasp over the coming years.”
The survey also found that 1 in 10 of workers would like to leave larger urban centres in favour of the countryside.
The Hive in Carrick on Shannon County Leitrim provides facilities for remote workers.
General manager Colm Keane says he’s worked with people who have followed lower rent across the Shannon:
”Googled the cheapest rent in Ireland. Carrick-on-Shannon came up near the top of the list. It ticked all his boxes with train line connections back to Dublin for friends and family and all the rest. He’s getting paid the same money and he’s the happiest man I know.”
