In the words of the Tánaiste (Deputy Head of Government) and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar TD, the strategy implies:

• “Mandating that home and remote work should be the norm for 20 percent of public sector employment
• Reviewing the treatment of remote working for the purposes of tax and expenditure in the next Budget
• Mapping and investing in a network of remote working hubs across Ireland
• Legislating for the right to request remote working
• Developing a code of practice for the right to disconnect
• Doing what we can to accelerate the provision of high-speed broadband to all parts of Ireland”

These changes will take place throughout 2021, with the legislation planned for the 3^rd quarter of the year.

The three pillars of this strategy also include improving the collection of national data on remote working to understand its costs and benefits and promoting remote working amongst businesses.

Among the benefits associated with remote working, the strategy mentions “increasing participation in the labour market, attracting, and retaining talent, enabling balanced regional development, alleviating accommodation pressures, improving work/life balance, improving child and family wellbeing, reducing commuting times and reducing transport-related carbon emissions and air pollution”.

As for the challenges, remote work for workers is reported to possibly “have negative effects on mental health, with employees experiencing increased feelings of isolation, loneliness, and stress, and [...] difficulty with switching off and often feel obliged to work longer hours”.

There are challenges for employers too. “Feedback provided to the Department from employers has highlighted how remote working does not easily support creativity, group dynamics, shared ownership and collegiality. If these obstacles cannot be overcome, it could result in long-term impacts on firms’ productivity. Research has also found that remote working can lead to an innovation deficit due to difficulties in collaborating with colleagues”.

The strategy acknowledges the needs to provide the right training for remote work practices to be successful, in areas such as communications, management skills, leading remote teams, IT skills, performance management, culture change, and building trust.

The strategy has been welcomed by the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC) that considered it “a timely recognition of the accelerating changes in our workplaces”.

Maeve McElwee, IBEC Director of Employer Relations, said: “There has been an increasing trend towards more flexible and remote working in recent years and this pace of change has been vastly accelerated by Covid-19. We are pleased to see Government commitments to invest in necessary infrastructure such as remote working hubs, alignment with childcare facilities, and the National Broadband Plan, as well as reviewing tax arrangements to incentivise remote working”.

IBEC will participate in future development of the strategy, including the legislation that “will require careful development to meet a balance for businesses and employees in order to ensure competitiveness, equality and flexibility considerations are addressed. Allowing time for a full regulatory impact assessment, including the costs of administration of new employment legislation, will be critical”.

This strategy and new piece of legislation are also needed as there currently isn’t a legal framework for such requests, even if employees  can request to work remotely. This right will most probably be similar to other flexible work arrangements. The employer is not obliged to accept the request but must express the reason for refusal. Any controversy will be settled by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).

For instance, on 7^th January 2021, the WRC considered the case of an employee who resigned as a consequence of the employer’s refusal to accept her remote-working request. The WRC’s decision (ADJ-00028293) obliged the employer to pay redress for unfair dismissal, as the employee did not have any alternative but to resign and, above all, because the employer did not clearly explain why they rejected the request to telework in order to reduce the risks of exposure.