CIPD Ireland has released research showing a large majority of Irish organisations are expanding their employee offering when it comes to new ways of working. The research, carried out in conjunction with the Kemmy Business School at UL, found that 46% of organisations are planning to increase hybrid working options and 26% are planning to increase flexible working options.

Twelve percent of organisations in Ireland expect to offer the option of fully-remote working to their teams while 67% anticipate that employees will work 2 or 3 days on-site in the future. Furthermore, 43% of organisations have a system in place where the team decides how the remote and flexible working arrangement will work for them. The study was carried out in Nov/Dec 2021. Of the 341 responses received the majority, 68%, operated in the private sector, with 25% in the public sector and the remaining in the not-for-profit sector. 

CIPD released the research in full, to coincide with its annual conference, which 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 Chief Executive at Iarnród Éireann, Jim Meade, former President of the GAA, John Horan and CEO of CIPD, Peter Cheese. 

Speaking ahead of today's conference, Director of CIPD Ireland, Mary Connaughton said, "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 added, "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. 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."

Source: www.businessworld.ie