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In the past 12 months, there was a 12.5 percentage point year-on-year decline in hybrid opportunities. Photo: PA Pressure for a large-scale return to the office is building, with a sharp drop in advertisements for flexible roles and one of the country’s big private sector employers flagging an end for its post-Covid remote-working practices.
Ireland has one of the largest shares of hybrid and remote job opportunities in Europe, with 39pc of all job postings on the LinkedIn platform offering hybrid options, but those opportunities are declining. In the past 12 months, there was a 12.5 percentage point year-on-year decline in hybrid opportunities and a 14.
8pc fall in remote roles, according to analysis by LinkedIn itself. The shift is coming from employers, the data suggest, with demand for positions offering remote work or flexible options outstripping supply with 2.9 times the number of applications for the amount of remote roles available in Ireland.
The general strength of the jobs market here, with workers across most sectors in demand, means employers may be forced to continue offering remote work options simply in order to recruit, whether they want to or not. Tech giant Amazon, however, is among big global players tightening up significantly on remote work. The business, which has around 4,200 employees in Ireland, issued a communication to all of its staff globally late on Monday.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told staff he expects to see a return to working in the office five days a week beginning in January and said the company will seek to reduce management layers. Staff have had the option to work from home two days each week. The new rule is not a blanket ban on remote work but is evidence that the default position for most staff is reverting to pre-Covid norms.
Overall though, the Irish jobs market remains fairly robust. Dublin is the only metropolitan area in the eurozone with positive hiring momentum, according to the research from LinkedIn. “With the Irish economy effectively at full employment, it is no surprise that we are seeing a lot of competition for roles in a tight jobs market,” LinkedIn Ireland country manager Sue Duke said.
“What clearly stands out is that companies that offer flexible work options are attracting more applicants than their peers, so it continues to be a point of differentiation for prospective employers.” The analysis revealed that Dublin recorded the highest upswing in hiring across 50 of the largest metropolitan areas around the world from January to June this year. LinkedIn noted a drop in hiring momentum in other European metropolitan areas, with German and French cities seeing downswings.
Job search intensity is also rising in Ireland, LinkedIn reported. This indicator is measured by the average number of applications made per applicant on the LinkedIn site. Ireland placed sixth in this ranking, with a further spike expected this month with jobseekers returning from holidays.
Singapore held the top spot in the job-seeker intensity ranking and was followed by the US and the UK. Meanwhile, research published by the ESRI also found that the labour market demand in the medium term for candidates suitable for AI, automation and blockchain roles in Ireland is being met. Join the Irish Independent WhatsApp channel Stay up to date with all the latest news.
