Remote work raises question of identity
As someone who has worked remotely for many years – I can count the number of weeks I’ve spent in an office in that time on one hand – it’s no surprise to me that it has proved so popular with a large number of workers since it became the enforced norm during the Covid lockdown(s).
It’s also no shock to me that so many people are reluctant to return to full-time office working nor, for that matter, that so many businesses with expensive office space lying empty are keen to force their workers to return to the company premises. The hybrid working compromise is something that more enlightened employers are adopting but this can sometimes be a source of friction for both parties because, for workers, it goes too far while, for employers, it doesn’t go far enough. It also leaves the door open for the employer to push for more days in the office going forward.
While there appear to be signs of a shift to companies commanding employees to return to the office, this is not necessarily a widespread or popular trend. Recent figures in the Accenture Talent Tracker, for instance, suggest that remote working is, if anything, gaining traction. At least when it comes to IT.
According to Accenture, the number of remote-only IT roles increased by a third in the first six months of this year. It’s worth stressing that those are not hybrid roles, they’re remote-only. The figures also reveal that the percentage is higher than the national average in Dublin at just over 39%. This shouldn’t be too surprising given the very high costs that employees have to bear to work in an office in Dublin. On a side note, can we say those jobs are “in Dublin” when, as remote-only roles, they can be located outside the city and its environs?
The tracker also found increases of around 40% for tech professionals in Galway and Waterford. Wendy Walsh, talent and organisation lead for Accenture in Ireland described the increase as “encouraging” because it signalled “a more balanced spread of tech opportunities nationwide”.
Abnormal distribution
Again, it might be interesting to see how many of those roles are remote-only and thus, technically, not really located in Galway and Waterford. Which brings up the interesting point of whether the geographical location of remote-only jobs should be assigned to where the employer is based or the employee. If the latter, a lot of small towns and suburbs would be able to record decent increases in employment.
In any case, this would appear to have potentially far-reaching consequences for channel companies that have not fully adapted to remote-only working in terms of recruiting and retaining tech talent. As businesses that are likely to have a higher preponderance of tech professionals than many other companies in Ireland, they will face greater pressure to offer remote-only working as an overall percentage of their workforce than other organisations.
This shouldn’t be too much of an imposition for many, especially as the nature of their business frequently requires them to provide remote service and support to customers. If anything, this might make them better capable of providing remote-only roles.
It is notable that Accenture found the greatest demand in remote roles was for cloud and cyber security professionals, both of which are becoming significant parts of many channel companies’ offerings. Of course, that means they will find themselves competing with other businesses looking to fill roles in those areas which, to be honest, isn’t something completely new to many channel companies that have been in this position for many other in demand tech jobs down through the ages.
One thing we can say with confidence is that the chances of the vast majority of peopler returning to full-time office work are, to put it bluntly, remote.
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