WFH is dead and buried. Right to WFH bill is pointless

Nonsense: it's very easy to interrupt people with unplanned Teams (etc) calls . In some ways easier, because you can monitor their presence from your desk. And if the feckers don't answer, or aren't logged in, you complain to their manager. Instead of being able to see at a glance that they're dealing with something at the moment and you'll do better in 15 minutes.

Onboarding is 1970 management speak. Popular with HR department

1970s come on, the first i heard the term was during covid, its a new word definitely not from 1970s. Why would a 1970s manager be needing to "onboard" people sure they were all on board in the workplace all the time? Most people didn't work in offices either back then , they were in industrial jobs

When do you think they invented offices.

I believe in 2026, Many companies will implement Office Attendance into their performance management reviews in relation to paying out bonuses.

A large amount of companies who want RTO will push it in 2026.

Each to their own I guess. People leaving companies saves on company restructuring when transitioning to lower cost countries and redundancy payouts in the end.

Anyone working across different organisations, parts of the country or intentionally will never meet the people they work with.

Even in the public sector they are often working with outside organisations, country wide or internationally and with many contractors who they never meet.

Even in within the same organisation lots of people have never met their colleagues in other parts of the building, but work on the same projects.

The days of needing to be in the same room ended with the wireless and the telephone. Probably before that with postal services.

If someone needs to be the same room as someone to work with them or have a good working relationship. That's entirely that person's dysfunction. It's not a limitation everyone has.

Tbh one of the few times I might prefer an in person meeting is when someone is an especially poor at communicating. They'll be brutal in person as well.

In a small number of companies maybe, in others it makes them bleed expertise and institutional knowledge that they struggle to replace.

Pre-Covid I didn't meet 90% of the people who I was regularly contact with where I work, and that was despite them being in the same country and in the same set of buildings.

I'm someone who understands the need to be in the office for certain functions and reasons - but there's also a lot of corporate BS spouted to rationaise the "need" to be in the office. Especially now that much of it has demonstrated to be redundant.

Many multinationals and transitioning to lower cost countries outside of the EU.

They also no longer need the office space in Dublin and surrounding areas with people refusing to RTO.

Its been made clear to everyone working in the Tech sector that if companies believe work can be done remotely which has all but been confirmed by their employees who refuse to RTO , Then that work can be done remotely from lower cost locations.

You cant blame the companies, employees have argued that their roles in the companies can be done from anywhere.

Its hasnt always been the case.

But now its not the case. companies are not going to be renting office space or expanding operations in ireland if work is done remotely. It wasnt common to work remotely in 2019 and before.

Lots of outsourcing is now going to Eastern Europe. Standards of English are a lot higher im Bulgaria and Romania.

Yes, it's probably honest for a fair number of people, though. I really do have empathy for the position some people are in; employers knowing it's going on could be a reason for some of the return to the office, but no company is going to state that publicly, they would be slated, or in the case of the public service, the unions would get involved.

Couldn't disagree more on the 'getting to know' a person factor tbh, but each to their own. Mainly WFH atm with a dispersed, albeit small trans-continental workforce. I knew more about them in 1/4 of the time versus previous office-based jobs where you sometimes feel a massive pressure to avoid social connection unless it's the managers call. Having said that i do get out and meet clients.

Productivity is higher given the lack of disruption for the most part. The forced remote working terms from the pandemic / lessons landed learned have helped a lot too.

Long term, i think the hybrid model of two or three days a week on-site for desk-based jobs could be the best compromise for a workforce and management structure used to alternative options.