Last week, AIB announced that all staff eligible for hybrid working will be required to work from its Dublin headquarters “a minimum of three days each week”, as of January 2026. This follows Bank of Ireland’s Return-To-Office (RTO) decision on 10th July, mandating a minimum of 8 days on-site per month, starting in September.
Hundreds of bankers – who have proved their roles can be delivered remotely – have questioned why they have to work more frequently from the office.
AIB, which reported profits after tax in excess of €2 bn last year, has argued that working from a central office “enables greater collaboration, connection and innovation that supports our customers, the economy and communities in achieving future success”.
Employers are entitled to run their companies as they see fit, but RTO may cost companies in the long run.
RTO is forcing top talent to leave
A major piece of research from McKinsey shows that RTO mandates do not improve innovation or team connection, and in some cases, they actively weaken morale and increase attrition. Recent research by Indeed.com saw that 37% of remote workers would quit if told to return to the office and, in a 2024 study tracking over 3 million finance and tech workers, RTO led to 14% higher staff turnover with high performers especially inclined to leave.
It is clear that distributed models have embedded themselves into the future of work. For several reasons, remote is here to stay.
According to average figures included in the Employee Experience in Ireland 2025 report, 31% of Ireland’s workforce currently work hybrid while 14% work remotely. Last quarter, 24% of open Irish jobs on Linkedin are hybrid and 19% are remote.
Grow Remote’s recent Future of Work pulse report found that nearly two thirds (65%) of Ireland’s best workplaces now operate using hybrid or remote-first models. In Dublin specifically, 27% of businesses are now remote-first and offer full flexibility to employees.
Looking a little deeper at the data can help us understand the widespread transition to remote.
Nine out of ten organisations believe hybrid to be the most impactful tool for recruiting and talent retention, according to a recent CIPD report, while over two-thirds of organisations see hybrid employment as central to building an inclusive workplace. In IBEC’s recent report, 68% of employees said that hybrid or flexible work is key to their wellbeing.
2024 research from Stanford economist, Nick Bloom, found that hybrid employees who work from home two days a week are equally as productive as fully onsite colleagues. They are also more likely to be promoted and less likely to quit their job.
This is backed by research by the Western Development Commission with NUIG, which found 88% of team managers felt remote working had no negative impact on productivity.
Only the largest companies can afford RTO
In short, distributed employment is best for productivity and talent retention. So on what basis are some employers – like AIB and Bank of Ireland – choosing to increase their employees’ office-based days?
It may help to consider recent economic trends.
Many SMEs cannot afford escalating Dublin rents and have adopted remote-first models to avoid prohibitive rental costs. Despite this, there is evidence showing that companies that can afford the expense are still investing in office space.
A report by real estate experts, Colliers, highlighted that office vacancy recently declined for the first time in three years. The reduction of available “grey space” (under-utilised or vacant offices) suggests a pivot in workplace culture away from remote-first employment towards onsite work in the capital city.
The Opportunities for Rural and Regional Ireland
While city centre rents are on the rise, regional office rents remain lower, and many smaller employers outside Dublin remain more open to remote-first models and the benefits for productivity and talent retention.
Grow Remote’s ongoing analysis shows that both supply and demand for remote employment remain high in Ireland.
If you go onto Linkedin right now, you will find roughly 5,000 remote jobs available in Ireland – decent jobs with good salaries. However, there are over 90,000 remote jobs open across Europe. We have been tracking this data for 6 months via LinkedIn with a very simple methodology that takes advantage of LinkedIn’s jobs board and filters. In Q2-25, the percentage of remote jobs is at a 2025 peak with remote and hybrid jobs at 43%.
- Remote = 19%
- Hybrid = 24%
- Remote & Hybrid (Combined) = 43%
- On-Site = 57%
If our government invested in landing even a fraction of these European jobs in Ireland every quarter, the impact would be transformational for local communities nationwide. On top of the business advantages, there are profound social, economic and environmental benefits to remote employment.
More remote jobs landing in Ireland would mean thousands more local people contributing to community projects like Tidy Towns, GAA clubs, arts projects, and other local initiatives. On top of that, rural schools could remain open, rural businesses could thrive as remote workers spend more locally and young people could build a career at home instead of resorting to forced emigration. And every new remote worker who ditches the commute would reduce their carbon footprint by an equivalent of 33 London-Dublin flights per year.
Co-founder and Chair of Grow Remote, Tracy Keogh, recently highlighted the potential impact for the exchequer:
“If we landed 10,000 of the available 100,000 jobs, that would be €130 million for the taxpayer and jobs in the most remote regions of Ireland.”
According to Grow Remote’s ongoing Talk to the Customer programme, involving regular interviews with employers, one of the biggest barriers to employers transitioning to remote is a lack of training for managers. Grow Remote is in the fortunate position to offer fully-funded, industry-led, micro-accredited leadership training via growremote.ie.
Fully locationless employment doesn’t only make business sense for SMEs, start-ups and innovative companies interested in cost-savings. It also provides a huge opportunity for social, economic and environmental change.
At Grow Remote, we see the change it’s making – one company at a time.
