Remote working - the future?

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119459044#Comment_119459044

Dublin students...

"...24.8% - The percentage of primary students who walked or cycled to school.

59.8% - The percentage of primary students who were driven to school..."

HartsHat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119459440#Comment_119459440

1/4? Not where it should be but I'd say a hell of a lot higher than most of the country?

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119459155#Comment_119459155

What about all the other links...

That's more about top % of wealth than historic general trends of location though.

Which is healthier ...being as rich as possible is really the answer to a different question in fairness.

I don’t know why there’s the attempts at ‘one upmanship’, even animosity between urban and rural dwellers on this thread. I choose to live rurally, hit the office in Dublin every 2nd week for a couple of days. But I’ve colleagues who go in to the office every day and hate working from home and can’t imagine living how I do.

similarly, from a social perspective, I live on the side of a hill on the distant outskirts of a small village, cycling distance to a GAA club (was at a very well attended age group match last night), a hall that does art classes and music sessions. Loads of young groups of friends there last night having the craic

But I know others that want the city and convenience (especially for parents) and amenities and broader range of activities that come with that.

Great thing is that, post-Covid, an increasing number of us can choose what is best for ourselves and our families, based on our interests and preferences. It has introduced more choice into how we each individually choose to live, and that’s a great thing

But instead there’s just sniping about whether rural or city living is better

HartsHat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119459622#Comment_119459622

Fully agree with this. Great that people can make their own choices and better for everyone.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119459651#Comment_119459651

Agree with you both.

Each to their own. It's interesting to discuss the merits of both in the context of remote working.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119459454#Comment_119459454

How are the majority managing to be driven to school without a car... I'm being facetious I suspect we don't really have accurate stats on any of this.

It would be interesting to see how the changes since lockdown in terms of roads and traffic management have changed people habits.

HartsHat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119460102#Comment_119460102

The first set of stats is for Dublin city centre.

Your stats are for all of Dublin.

Young_gunner

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119459622#Comment_119459622

Great post and exactly correct, the pandemic and advent of remote work gives us greater choice to live and build a life where and how we want.

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119460102#Comment_119460102

Because households with children are a lot more likely to have a car, than singles or even coupled DOODs (don't own or drive).

Also I suspect the measures are numbers of household's with a car, vs numbers of children.

Flinty997

I don't get what you're saying.

People roll out that statistic about car ownership in the city center as if it's something everyone can aspire to.

But I don't think it useful metric for anything other than the city center. Which most people live in. Never mind for people who want to move out of the city and work remotely.

Young_gunner

From what I can observe, the great return to the office isn't really materialising as some envisaged / feared / hoped. Most offices seem to be <50% capacity on Tues - Thurs and <10% capacity on Mondays and Fridays.

ILikeBoats

We're definitely 75%+ Tues, Wed and Thurs. I'd say ~40% on a Monday and skeleton crew on a Friday

Sunny Disposition

Spoke to a recruitment consultant last week socially, he said some very interesting things. A lot of companies saw a huge improvement when remote work started, but things have gone back to normal now, there's no long term boost from it.

However, he feels it is here to stay because almost all workers who can do their job remotely want that. As well as that people are not as career minded as they were just a few years ago, and just won't stay with companies that don't offer it to them. He says from employers there's no push for remote working to end because too many people would quit. Also, he says that one of the first things anyone looking to change jobs says to him is that they want remote work.

It's providing a headache for companies who want to train staff, but it is what it is. He says there might be a bit of a swing if the jobs market got tighter, but even if that was the case anyone who doesn't offer remote work will be caught out again when the economy improves.

I'd be very interested to know the impact on town centres. There must be tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of people working at home today who would have been in an office every Friday up until March of 2020. There must have been a big boost to suburban businesses and a dip in city and town centres. That's on top of a large growth in online shopping over the last decade.

difficult to see any greater return to the office. This is likely where we will stabilise other than the small number of companies in which the CEO is particularly belligerent on the issue. It’s been long enough that if you want to go back, then you’ll have gone back, and if HR want to have a fight, they’ll have had it

Sunny Disposition

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119595843#Comment_119595843

Yeah, I'd say it's largely played out now. Restrictions have been over for more than six months, so if people haven't already gone back it'd be strange to look for them to do so now.

Many people have moved to either hybrid or fully remote work, I don't have any statistics at all, but I'd say few people with office jobs do five days a week in an office now. It's a big shift, even if the level of office work was down 20%, and it's likely greater than that, it's enough to have a big economic impact.

GoldFour4

September and October will be where we see the new normal trend I’d imagine. I know I’m our place we were very relaxed over summer due to AL and school holidays but they want people in more now that summer is over.

I’ve certainly noticed an uptick in Dublin traffic in the city centre centre the last week which I don’t think is fully explained by schools.

markpb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119596177#Comment_119596177

I’m not so sure about that. There are plenty of companies warming staff up to a greater return to the office. Maybe it will happen, maybe it won’t. Only time will tell.

I don’t believe we’ll ever see a full return to the office like before but it’ll be interesting to see what happens if a few major employers like Apple in IT and Citi in Finance order their staff back 3 days a week.

Sunny Disposition

Apple are bringing everyone back three days a week. A guy I know there isn’t happy with it, has a drive of about an hour into Cork daily, but he’s hoping it’ll be cut to two.

Companies are not going to get new information after two and a half years, either remote/hybrid work suits your company or not. At this stage it’d be a bit much to have left your workers not knowing what’s happening long term, but I suppose some people are going to be reluctant to make any decision.

Young_gunner

Yeah I'm inclined to agree, we've already had a 2+ year real-world experiment.

Also, as per a previous poster, I think if firms aren't forcing a return to the office now, I get it hard to see them doing so over the next few months.

Personally, I'm delighted about this - it has changed my life hugely for the better.

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119594090#Comment_119594090

Sounds like many of your colleagues are TWaTs 😉

Young_gunner

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/work/2022/10/05/varadkar-signals-major-overhaul-of-planned-law-on-right-to-request-remote-working/

thoughts on this?

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119707653#Comment_119707653

Well there is not much in it is there.

Just that the bill will be different from what was published in January, but there is little or no detail on how it will differ.

Sunny Disposition

I think it's very hard to legislate for it, and tbh possibly unfair on employers. I closed my own offices, but some people might genuinely believe that in-office work is in their best interests. And I do think they should have the right to insist on people coming in if that's the case. In reality most of them will want to close or downsize offices anyway and get people working remotely, but if there's a contrary view that should be accepted.

UsBus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119599573#Comment_119599573

I'd kill for three days a week in the office. Am currently doing 4 with an hour's commute each way. Office has been practically empty for a couple of years but there is now a push from the top to get people back to at least 3 days a week.

Am getting ready to bail out as it's not worth it anymore. Shame because I could do my job from home much more effectively but management won't budge.

Sunny Disposition

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119707752#Comment_119707752

Why won't they? If they lose staff it might wake them up, but I guess a few just won't change at all.

Young_gunner

I think the general thrust of the changes are in making remote work a right, rather than having a right to ask for it, i.e. stronger legislation to make remote work possible.

I think that's a good thing.

UsBus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119707780#Comment_119707780

Probably the belief that people onsite can be monitored more effectively. There is definitely an old school of thought that you need to be clocked in and doing the time to get the work done. It will cost them but employees are just a number and nothing more. If they leave, HR just get another role to fill and the wheel keeps turning.

Sunny Disposition

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119707810#Comment_119707810

I think that's a very poor way to approach it. Things just have changed, you just have to accept that or be left behind really. Some people will be left behind.

Young_gunner

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2022/1021/1330561-linkedins-dublin-offices/