New research shows that 67% of companies anticipate that employees will work two or three days on-site in the future and the remainder at home.
CIPD Ireland, the professional body for HR and learning and development, today released its latest HR Practices in Ireland research to coincide with its annual conference taking place today at the RDS in Dublin.
The research shows that 46% of organisations are planning to increase hybrid working options, while 26% are planning to increase flexible working options and 12% expect to offer the option of fully-remote working to their staff.
The study, carried out in conjunction with the Kemmy Business School at UL, also reveals that 43% of companies have a system in place where the team decides how the remote and flexible working arrangement will work for them while 71% said they had implemented an online wellbeing or health initiative for staff.
CIPD Ireland's annual conference is returning as an in-person event for the first time in three years at Dublin's RDS today, with the theme of 'Leading Workplace Transformation’.
Among the speakers are Jim Meade, CEO of Iarnród Éireann, John Horan, former President of the GAA and CEO of CIPD, Peter Cheese.
Mary Connaughton, the Director of CIPD Ireland, noted that companies with a higher number of staff working remotely recorded a decrease in absenteeism, while those with a predominantly onsite workforce saw an increase in absenteeism.
"After Covid-19-related issues, the next most common cause of absence related to work-related stress and mental health. For this reason, our message is that effective interventions and culture change to address stress and mental health are of increasing importance," Ms Connaughton said.
Mary Connaughton says today's figures around productivity help explain organisations’ growing commitment to remote and flexible working.
"Almost 80% of respondents said that productivity had either increased or remained unchanged in 2021. Given the upheaval caused by Covid-19 once again last year, it's testament to the efforts from workers and businesses to keep enterprise on track in the face of significant adversity," she said.
"It's little wonder then, that confidence is growing among employers that remote, flexible or hybrid strategies can provide solutions that work for all levels of an organisation," she said.
"The key is to design a system that works for your organisation and I welcome the figure showing over 40% of employers are bringing teams together on that," she added.
