Growing number of Irish employees now work from home

The notion of the traditional Irish office is changing, with a growing number of workers taking advantage of new technology to work from home, a new survey has found.

The survey, which was carried out by Ignite research on behalf of O2 Ireland, found that about 44 per cent of employees work from home at least one day a month, and a third of those who already enjoy flexible working arrangements said they expected the trend to gather pace in the coming 12 months.

Among the main benefits for such working arrangements are a better work-life balance, which 70 per cent of those surveyed said they enjoyed as a result.

Some 45 per cent of workers who can work remotely said they believed most business communications would be done from outside the office over the next five years.

The survey defined remote workers as those who work at least one day a month from home, a client’s office, coffee shop, on the train or other location outside of the office. Most remote workers still base themselves at home, with 78 per cent working from there. Almost 30 per cent said they had set up a dedicated space for working at home, with more than half considering such a move.

"It is clear that the way we work is changing radically. Today's mobile technology is able to complement and in some cases replace the traditional office and the survey confirms that technology is making it easier for people to work outside the office," said O2's Business Director Alan Brown. We are becoming a nation of not just road warriors but home warriors."

However, there are some down sides to remote working, with lack of direct interaction with colleagues cited as a disadvantage. About 11 per cent said they would be working outside the office less in the coming year, citing company culture, a a mismatch with personality or technical limitations as the main reasons.