More than one-in-three workers have never set foot in their office, research suggests

Research carried out for next week’s Talent Summit conference in Dublin found that more than one third of staff at the companies surveyed have never worked in their employer’s office, due to high levels of job switching during the pandemic to remote roles or positions that still being carried out from home.

The Talent Summit Employers Survey, carried out on behalf of Sigmar Recruitment for the event next Thursday in the Convention Centre Dublin, also found that twice as many workers as expected are now in full-time remote roles

Robert Mac Giolla Phadraig, Sigmar's chief commercial officer who helped to found the summit, warned that the having such large numbers of staff working fully remotely over the long term may raise issue in relation to worker isolation and wellbeing: "I don't think we have enough data or evidence on the impact of long-term, deeply individualised, isolated work has on our people and society."

Sigmar’s research comprising interviews with more than 150 human resource managers and business leaders, suggested that one year ago employers expected that 22 per cent of staff would be in full-time remote roles by now.

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However, the actual number is 44 per cent. Mr Mac Giolla Phadraig said this was because the “power dynamic” has shifted back to staff in a jobseekers market, and many of them want to continue working from home.

He said many employers have “softened their rhetoric” around demanding that employees return to the office as the worst of the pandemic has passed.

“I believe as we return to the office (full time or hybrid) that a new suite of unintended workforce biases will emerge on both sides of the workforce, largely around proximity to leadership,” he said.

This might include bias around promotions towards staff for are in the office more regularly than their colleagues. Mr Mac Giolla Phadraig said remote working was “here to stay, but not at its current level”.

Sigmar says the churn in the jobs market is evident in the fact that job placement in the recruitment sector hit a 20 year high last May, and has stayed more or less at that level ever since.

The research for Talent Summit also found that 60 per cent of the employers surveyed have recruited from outside Ireland.

The shortage of talent is leading to higher salaries. About 68 per cent of the employers surveyed expected to increase salaries when hiring, on average by up to 8 per cent.

Meanwhile, about 84 per cent of workers expect a pay rise.

The Talent Summit is expected to draw about 2,000 delegates to the CCD next Thursday. Speakers will include Rosaleen Blair, the founder of Alexander Mann Solutions, and Lynne Oldham, the chief people officer of Zoom.