A new report from Zoom and FRS Recruitment shows Irish job ads offering remote and hybrid work increased by 43% through 2022.

The report, Ireland’s hybrid advantage: How flexible working is empowering Irish society and economy, indicates growing demand for more flexible work options.

FRS Recruitment is Ireland’s only co-operative recruitment consultancy and has 10 offices nationwide.

The survey is based on analysis of c.10,000 work opportunities advertised by the recruitment consultancy between October 2021 and October 2022.

The report findings include:

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•    33% of all job ads across Ireland offered remote or hybrid work options, up from 23%.

•    Remote or hybrid working is primarily concentrated in a few sectors, with 87% of these jobs stemming from the IT, accounting and finance, or commercial sectors.

•    More than 50% of companies offering remote and hybrid work are based in Dublin or Cork, with salaries of city-based roles averaging at €60,800 vs €51,650 for roles within rural-based companies.

•    Roles offering candidates flexibility are attracting a wider range of responses, especially among job seekers looking to move from their current employment.

•    Level of demand for hybrid or remote working roles differs per sector. For example, candidates in IT predominantly look for fully remote while in the commercial sector 80% prefer hybrid work with a mix of remote and in-office each week.

Zoom government relations director for Ireland, Charlotte Holloway, commented: “This report really underlines how employee expectations of how, when and where they want to work have drastically changed, and that employers have changed their hiring practices in response.

“As this data shows, employers are increasingly open to empowering workers with the additional flexibility they want.

“This has the potential to close the salary gap that exists between Ireland’s urban and rural economies and to spread prosperity and opportunity more evenly across the whole country.”

FRS Recruitment general manager Lynne McCormack added: “For the first time we have candidates telling us that salary is less important to them than the ability to do their job remotely.

“In sectors where remote and hybrid options are less available, a greater focus on shifting to a new model of work could potentially help fill key gaps in areas where there are staff shortages.”

Holloway stated that growth in remote working roles originating in the main cities means that people living in communities beyond the major urban centres now have greater access to quality employment opportunities. 

“However, if regional inequality is to be fully tackled, the availability of more flexible roles from entry level to senior positions across a broader scope of sectors will be important,” Holloway stated.

“Focus should be placed on sectors that have been slower to move, especially those that have the capacity to adopt a flexible model of work but choose to require employees to be on-site on a full-time basis.

“There is a huge opportunity to empower certain sectors to embrace the hybrid model of work by highlighting the tools and resources available to them to make the transition.

“For example, many business owners may not be aware of Ireland’s national network of Remote Working Hubs which enable people to work in a professional environment equipped with all the right tools for hybrid working.”