Remote working - the future?

PommieBast

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119405475#Comment_119405475

Spencer Dock developers should be bricking themselves by now...

The_Honeybadger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119175804#Comment_119175804

I’m on the board of one of these hubs in a mid sized rural town. We got a capital grant to refurbish an old building in the middle of town when we started out but the company itself is a not for profit so it’s technically not state run, most others are the same. The shared workspace / rent a desk side of the business requires a lot of marketing, management and staff time for very little return quite honestly. Experience is the same in other hubs I know of as well. This is why connected hubs started providing the vouchers, take up across the country has been very low and it’s not stacking up commercially for operators.

Perhaps that may change in the future as WFH becomes more mainstream and companies strengthen their policies and supports for remote workers.

There is much better demand for the longer term traditional office rental and that keeps our hub going.

PommieBast

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119406904#Comment_119406904

The driving force is going to be what happens to commuting especially when the energy crisis really kicks off later this year. Not sure anyone has really worked out what the micro-office (does that term exist??) of the future will really operate.

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119405475#Comment_119405475

Twitter in Dublin are letting out a floor they never used and had let out previouly... 🙄

The_Honeybadger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119407591#Comment_119407591

Yes, that and employee retention for more forward thinking companies. Making employees commute for hours every day when they can work remotely is crazy given what we have seen in recent years, even if there wasn’t a climate crisis.

PommieBast

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119408063#Comment_119408063

General impression I get is that people don't like their home also being their place of work, especially those who don't have the spare space for a dedicated desk, but waiting for the 66 bus at 7am is even less attractive. Some form of distributed working is the long-term future but I don't think it is full-time WFH.

Young_gunner

https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/remote-working-in-recession-5825295-Aug2022/

good read

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119418051#Comment_119418051

So instead of competing for jobs with people who live in my area, and people who are willing to move here, we are now all completing with people from all over the country? Great (not).

What I've observed in a lot of jobs ads lately is that while they're offering hybrid work arrangements with only 1-2 days per week in the office, they're also saying "must live within a reasonable commute of ABC, or move to this area before starting".

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119426263#Comment_119426263

What I've observed in a lot of jobs ads lately is that while they're offering hybrid work arrangements with only 1-2 days per week in the office, they're also saying "must live within a reasonable commute of ABC, or move to this area before starting".

Got any examples?

Conqueror

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119426263#Comment_119426263

Yes, and now you would be able to compete for jobs in other parts of the country you mightn't have been able to apply for before. Great!

Young_gunner

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119426263#Comment_119426263

Exactly, welcome to the future! It's awesome and a huge positive for rural Ireland.

Sunny Disposition

I read an article this morning about the transfer of footballer Shane Walsh from his home club in Galway to one of the bigger clubs in Dublin. It was interesting how resigned it was about rural decline, it finished up by saying that drift to Dublin was the story of the last century and of this one.

Now, fair enough, there was a lot of it in the past, but surely there has been a bit of a reversal since 2019 and there's likely to be a drift away from Dublin rather than to it? I found it quite surprising. I'm about 70 miles from where Walsh is from and remote work has definitely seen a big increase in demand for property here.

Ottoman_1000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119426884#Comment_119426884

I'm not sure there is ever really going to be a full drift away from Dublin or any major City. I'm from Laois but married and live in Dublin and the only country friends I've seen relocate back home over the last 2 years are the the ones who had never really intended on living in Dublin for the foreseeable anyway. I've yet to encounter any Dublin nativities or international folk with any real interest of getting out of the rat race of Dublin and moving out to rural Ireland as the rat race of the big cities is all they know all their lives.

thats well and good, if living in dublin becomes a choice rather than a necessity then that will suit everyone

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119426318#Comment_119426318

I don't have any examples, but this is what I'm seeing in my hardware engineering jobs.

You can work from home if you want to, but you must work from the office if we want you to.

givyjoe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119426318#Comment_119426318

It seems to be something auto added on roles that I've seen on indeed. It's likely a checkbox somewhere on the employers side as the roles I've seen it in ,were word for word the same.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119426884#Comment_119426884

I think it will take much longer than 3 years to become evident but this is what the future might hold.

Young people like living in cities for the most part.

It's where the fun is etc.

So young people go to college and stay in the city to work.

They meet other young people and settle down and start families.

Then they think that moving out of the city would be better, better for their kids, better for themselves.

So they move out of the city.

At this stage they are well established in their careers and have no problems with remote working etc

Then their kids go off to college and the cycle repeats.

So youth are still leaving for the city but the 40 and 50 something's and the young kids are coming back.

Sunny Disposition

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119449194#Comment_119449194

I dunno, I would have thought so once but not so sure now. With the rise of the internet, home entertainment is way ahead of what it was even seven years ago, online dating has also become very commonplace. All of this is at the same time as living in Dublin became very unaffordable.

While some young people did leave rural areas for the craic etc, in a huge number of cases it was solely for jobs. If forced migration stops happening, many aspects of life will be different, in both rural and urban areas.

Young_gunner

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119449839#Comment_119449839

I really and truly hope you are right

Sunny Disposition

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119449933#Comment_119449933

Surely its inevitable that a lot fewer people will move for work than previously?

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119449839#Comment_119449839

The living in Dublin being unaffordable is only a cycle, it's affordability will return.

And at the end of the day people do need physical contact regardless of how much they live in the online world.

Plus cities offer far more in the way of retail, entertainment, sports, arts etc.

Young people will always be attracted to the crowds and the bright lights.

HGVRHKYY

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119450185#Comment_119450185

Even if I was fully remote I would much prefer to be able to live in a one bedroom apartment in/near the centre of the city if it was actually affordable, for exactly these reasons. Irish cities are just not very livable compared with many European ones, and many of our apartments and the areas they're in aren't very suited to long-term living. All over Europe you have loads of green spaces and parks dotted throughout cities which replace the back garden for people in the apartments nearby, and the public transport and infrastructure is generally much better too, so living in a city is very enjoyable. Ireland's backwards when it comes to this type of thing

Sunny Disposition

There’s no doubt a lot of people do like things you get in cities, anonymity, greater social life etc. And there are bound to be people who will want to move to Dublin because of all that.

But for generations people have also left rural areas for urban solely to take up jobs. For no other reason, they would have stayed put if they could do the job locally. Those people won’t be arriving in the same numbers int he future. It’ll mean something of a resurgence for smaller towns and a gradual decline in Dublin particularly. But it’ll probably be a good thing for Dublin because it has been so gentrified.

Mrs OBumble

I worked in a Galway based MNC for about 8 years. I lost count of the number of local graduates who were hired but left after 2ish years because they wanted to experience Dublin.

I'm guessing that a Dublin based job done from the comfort of their childhood bedroom isn't what they were looking for.

Similarly, my current Irish-owned services firm no longer hires Dubs unless they committ to moving down before they start: We let people WFH up to 4 days/ week, but we now know that if they haven't moved, they are likely to leave the moment they get offered a Dublin based job.

Young_gunner

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119454938#Comment_119454938

I think with the current impossibility of finding rental accommodation in Dublin and then the cost of it if you do find it, many are quite happy to be located somewhere nice outside the capital.

Swings and roundabouts over time, with the advent of online dating and so many other things I can see how young 20-somethings are perfectly happy living outside Dublin.

with the added benefit that they'll be able to afford a home at some stage in their life, whereas if you're renting in Dublin......

manniot2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119449194#Comment_119449194

In general, why is rural Ireland better for kids than a decent Dublin suburb? Genuine question, I hear this all the time but never really hear why.

qba73

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058189044/remote-working-the-future

100% fully remote. 2hr daily commute saved, petrol saved etc. more time for sport, family and less stress. The most important is to keep work and private life separated!

qba73

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117288254#Comment_117288254

Couldn’t agree more! Time with family is priceless, time with coworkers is work, nothing more!

Furze99

Depends what you mean by rural Ireland. Reading around the subject, it seems likely this in reality extends to a commuter belt around major population areas for most. So maybe WFH for couple of days and in office for rest, which means that it still has to be commutable.

So property price pressure in all these areas but not so much for the northern shores of Mayo and far flung Cork/Kerry etc. As for living in the Canaries and WFH...unlikely.

Not sure if the Greens will be very happy with this, as their policy is nucleated settlement rather than wide dispersal of one off commuter houses.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119456127#Comment_119456127

Statistically healthier less sedentary. Not everyone will prefer the same thing obviously.