Working From Home Megathread

Would you not say that on average someone living in a very rural area would drive a lot more than someone in a town or city? We have a single car and put about €50 a month into it, I wouldn't even think about the cost of fuel.

no absolutely not - I was never driven to school and that isnt a thing still for anyone I know who still lives where I grew up (family or friends). As I said driving to shops is done less - just a larger shop but again people bike more. Travelling to events - especially school events are done by bus. A lot more cycling aswell. Why would you drive to a shop a couple of miles away when you would cycle. There isnt a lot of individual parents driving their kids to gaa training for example. There is a bus.

Again depends where exactly you live and personal choice but remove the whole driving to school thing and that will remove a chunk of driving time for a lot of people.

My own kids are grown and Im very lucky I never had to drive them to school despite living in Dublin. Walked/public transport but I know that isnt an option for everyone. School buses in rural ireland are just for school kids not everyday commuters like Dublin bus. A resource really.

all valid points - nothing is perfect. Remote working doesnt mean or require you to work in rural area. You can continue to live in rural area but remote work from a larger town if needed (like the artcile mentioned a local hub). The variations are endless

Would I want to return to a rural area myself - no. Not for me. But rural doesnt mean isolated or more dependent on a car. Also in respect the schools the scope is wider - I didnt attend school in the same county as where I lived growing up. Why - because we had to. The small local school closed.

I’m not sure it’ll be quite as simple as that - the employee could argue that they are performing their duties - would any employer want that publicity?

I feel the great WFH experiment has changed how these cases could be viewed

The Census data disagrees with you. We have on average, one girl in each secondary school cycling to school. The Census data shows this to be a car bound lifestyle.

People cant just throw their hands up and say i bought a house down the country what can i do. If their place of work is mandated as the office a number of days a week and they dont show then its easy enough to sack them, if they have any integrity they would leave before it came to that.

but people can and will do that, i'm not sure it'll be that easy to sack them

of course it will, you cant just not turn up to the office if required.

Contract? Lol - good one! Civil servants don't get individual contracts. They do get 47 different circulars dating back to the 1920s, but that's not the same.

The person in question should have insisted on something in writing. The public service is talking (slowly) about blended working, which to management apparently means some staff can work from home one day a week, if their job allows it. Yer man needs to request a transfer to a civil service office in Limerick.

An employer acting so vindictively could be open a can of worms - constructive dismissal?

Employer wants to expand. They can: a) pay a load for a new lease; or b) allow staff to WFH at least some of the time, and hotdesk when in the office. Nothing at all to stop them taking on staff in Mumbai, directly, or on contract - except whatever stopped them from doing so before COVID. I know I've certainly stipulated in contracts before that the support being provided had to be based in Ireland. Salary costs are one thing, so also are customer satisfaction, word of mouth, etc.

it means their place of work as defined by their employment contract, nothing at all muddy about it.

As I've said previously, I think Covid is a massive game changer in this whole debate. Employers will have a tough time taking legal / enforcement action assuming the individual has discharged their duties to a high standard over the last 2 years.