Almost half of companies believe it makes no difference to productivity whether their employees work from home or come to the office, a survey of businesses in the capital has found.
In the research, carried out by Dublin Chamber, 47 per cent said the location of the worker made no difference while 7 per cent said their workers were actually more productive at home.
However, 38 per cent said they felt more was done in the office.
Public affairs director at Dublin Chamber Aebhric McGibney said the remote and flexible working landscape was still shifting but issues like housing shortages and traffic congestion contributed to a desire on the part of many employers in the capital to make it work.
More than a third of respondents, 37 per cent, said their businesses were “very negatively affected” by traffic congestion with a further 46 per cent saying they were “marginally” affected. The research suggests the scale of this issue has influenced their attitude towards remote and hybrid working.
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“There are obviously concerns about culture, collaboration and wellbeing and a lot of companies are still finding their own solutions … this may take a decade to settle, but we still see two to three days in the office generally being the norm, even if there has [been] something of a shift from two days towards three,” said Mr McGibney.
Accommodation is a key issue for businesses because of ongoing labour shortages and the Dublin Chamber believes half of all new homes built in the State during the coming decade need to be in the Greater Dublin Area.
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The organisation’s survey found 51 per cent of the more than 130 companies, a third of them large employers, said housing should be the next government’s top priority immediately after the election with 39 per cent saying it should be infrastructure and transport. Public safety, business support and migration were among the other issues identified.
“On housing, we want to see more housing built in commuter towns close to public transport routes and investment in that infrastructure,” said Mr McGibney.
“The talk now is of 60,000 new homes a year being the target and we would argue at least half of that needs to be in the Greater Dublin Area,” he said.
“Population projections for Dublin have consistently underestimated the growth of the city. So it is about planning more effectively for the growth we are going to see.”
Elsewhere on Wednesday, when questioned on whether the Tánaiste Micheál Martin was dragging his feet on the Government publishing its revised housing targets in advance of the general election, Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe replied “not at all”. However, Mr Donohoe said he did not know whether the targets would be set out over the coming weeks.
Taoiseach Simon Harris has previously said he wants the targets published in advance of going to the polls. But recent reports suggest Mr Martin has pushed back on setting them before the general election.
“There is a very good engagement under way in Government in relation to it,” said Mr Donohoe. “As to whether they’ll be published in the coming days and weeks, I don’t know the answer to that … the really important thing is that we can point to the progress that we have made in the building of more homes.”
