Employer concerns about worker productivity are helping to drive a return to the office as the number of Dublin companies offering complete flexibility to staff around remote working has fallen this year, according to a new survey from Dublin Chamber and estate agent Savills Ireland.
Consequently, reported office occupancy levels have been ticking upwards throughout the year, Dublin Chamber and Savills said. One in four firms survey said their employees are working in the office three days a week, up from 21 per cent at the end of 2022. “While just over a third of Dublin firms report it as a concern, productivity is a growing factor being associated with hybrid and remote working, up from 30 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 35 per cent in the third quarter of 2023,” Mr Cunningham said.
Nevertheless, the future of hybrid working “is clear”, said Dublin Chamber chief executive Mary Rose Burke, with fewer than one in ten businesses reporting five-day office attendance from staff.