Remote Working More Appealing to Certain Age Groups

Two in every five workers are happy to continue to work from home post-Covid, according to a new study.

Esri Ireland found middle-aged people want to continue to work remotely while younger staff and people near the end of their careers would prefer a return to the office.

From the 1,000 people surveyed by Esri Ireland, there is a clear divide among age groups, with 63 percent of people under the age of 24 and 75 percent of people over 55 wanted to return to the office.

Meanwhile, almost half of the people in their late twenties and early thirties wanted to stay working from home.

Ruairí Kavanagh from Grad Ireland says younger workers can become isolated.

“Working in isolation for extended periods of time does cut off some of the key engagement drivers that you find in the workplace and that help graduates develop into leaders and that’s something we are going to have to grasp over the coming years,” Kavanagh said.

The survey also found that one in 10 workers would like to leave larger urban centers in favor of the countryside.

Workers said a mix of remote and in-office working would be the best option, with half of the respondents saying they would like the freedom to choose whether they worked remotely or not.