James Cox
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has asked the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) to consider a phased return to offices in August, rather than September.
Mr Varadkar said remote and blended work should become a much bigger feature of life after Covid.
A spokesperson for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment told BreakingNews.ie: “The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment wants remote and blended working to become a much bigger feature of life after Covid as he asks NPHET to consider a phased return to offices in August, rather than September.”
A recent survey found that more than 95 per cent of working people in Ireland want to continue with some form of remote employment once the coronavirus pandemic ends.
The survey also found that employees prefer remote working more than managers and team leaders.
Working from home
The study, carried out by NUI Galway, revealed that among those who could work remotely, 95 per cent were in favour of working from home on an ongoing basis.
A total of 53 per cent said they would like to work remotely several times a week, 32 per cent said they would like to work fully remotely and one in ten said they would like to work from home several times a month.
This is the second such survey of its kind, and the number of people who said they would like to work fully remotely has increased substantially from the first national survey conducted in April 2020, rising from 12 per cent to 32 per cent.
