Forcing people to return to the office instead of continuing with agreed remote working arrangements could be hurting businesses instead of helping them, an expert has said.
Emeritus Professor of Work and Employment Studies at the University of Limerick, Kevin Murphy believes the option to work remotely is a win-win for everybody.
“I think in most situations it works out well for everyone,” he said.
“For employees, the evidence is absolutely clear – people are more satisfied when they do it.
“They don’t have to put up with so many of the hassles (such as) commuting, dressing up for work, office politics (and) meetings.”
‘They’ve got options’
Prof Murphy said there is also strong evidence that “people get more done in less time working remotely.”
He said forcing people to come back to the office post-Covid can have unexpected consequences.
“You can force your worst workers to come back, because they don’t have any alternative,” he said.
“But if you try to coerce your best workers, the people who can really get things accomplished, to come back and they don’t want to do it – they’ve got options.
“I think we’re seeing increasing evidence that organisations who try to force people back to the office are losing their top employees.
“This is just not a winning formula.”
Prof Murphy said forcing people to return to work “is really a powerplay.”
“People put return to work policies in place not because they help the organisation, but because they have the power to do it.”
Since March 2024, all Irish employees have had a legal right to request remote working.
Prof Murphy believes there may be greater demand in Ireland going forward.
“A lot of this will depend on how this plays out over the next few years,” he said.
“Suppose that organisations come to accept that their employees who really strongly want this are going to push back against being pushed to come back to work … and that everyone might be better off, including them as an organisation, if you don’t do that.
“I think that that could create a sea change”.
You can listen to Behind the Story on the RTÉ Radio Player.
You can also find episodes on Apple here, or on Spotify here.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
