Future of Work

is Hybrid Mix of
Home and Office
01 - Return to Work 2020

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Do we need to Work is no longer defined by the daily commute
into the office. It is not a place we go, but
In what Time magazine has called “the world’s
largest work-from-home experiment”, there is
return to the office? something we do. Thanks to the increasing
availability of cloud-based applications,
clear evidence that the pandemic has accelerated
its adoption and changed company attitudes to
including collaboration and communication facilitating it.
tools, remote working has been a part of the A positive impact on productivity with employees
modern workplace long before Covid-19 struck. achieving much more at home than employers
According to Forbes, almost 10% of European might have expected companies to continue
workers were remote working, while the USA servicing their customers while protecting their
now has 5 million home workers, a 91% increase staff and following Government guidelnes and
over the past 10 years. best practice.

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01 - Return to Work 2020

There are signs too, that it has had a positive there is recognition of a place for on-site work
impact on productivity with employees and occupying a physical space alongside
achieving much more at home than employers colleagues.
might have expected. For the second year running, we set out to
Many workers feel that they are equally, if not collect information from our past and present
more, productive when working from home. pool of over 750 IT Contractors. What makes the
But it’s not the whole story as our 2020 IT 2020 survey different is Covid-19 and the impact
Contractor Survey reveals. Even in a segment the pandemic has had on attitudes to home
of the workforce that is high-tech enabled working that will shape the way the contractor
and very proficient at working remotely, market evolves in the coming months and years.

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What Our Contractors Told Us
02 Major Findings 2020

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85% 75% 44%
Believe that their home environment is Feel their productivity is equal to or greater Said that they work more hours at home.
conducive to remote working. than that of the office with almost half saying
they are more productive.

Many respondents feel they can work effectively from home 3 of every 4 respondents feel that productivity is not adversely There was further evidence that remote working is not an obstacle
despite the distractions of housework and family. In fact, almost affected when working from home and almost half believe that to productivity with almost half of those surveyed saying they
half have children at home with 1 in 4 having young children they are more productive. This is supported by other reports and work more hours when not in the office. An April 2020 survey from
(under 10 years) in the house all the time with no school or surveys, including a two-year study of 500 employees by Stanford IrishJobs.ie revealed that 44% of people currently working from
childcare. For over 80% of respondents, the solution seems to be University. It found that people who worked remotely were more home find they are working longer hours than they would in a
a dedicated workspace where they will not be disturbed, a home productive, took less sick days and tended to stay with their normal working day.
office or quiet corner of a bedroom – not a laptop on the kitchen employer.
table.

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02 Major Findings 2020

How much time would you

wish to work from home?

100% would prefer some form of remote 30%

working going forward.
would like to work from home
Digging down into an apparently emphatic “all the time”
endorsement of home working, reveals a more
nuanced approach to work, with 70% of IT
Contractors saying they would like to work in the
office some of the time. 50%
would like to work from home
2 or 3 days per week

20%
would like to Work from Home
0%
2 or 3 days per month said never / as little as possible

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02 Major Findings 2020

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Remote working is not Most IT Contractors feel they are more
productive working from home and would like it
There will be concern among employers about
the 25% who said that they are less productive
for everyone. to be a long-term option, but our survey revealed
that remote working is not for everyone.
working from home. But even this cohort
recognises some value in working from home at
least some of the time – because 0% wanted to
15% do not feel that their home is an completely rule it out as an option.
environment conducive to effective remote
working. This could be due to the fact that 1 in 5 Some employers are concerned of a ‘Culture
do not have a quiet workspace. Cut’ that may result from large numbers of staff
working offsite. Carefully curated workspaces
Many miss the interaction and social aspects that US companies like Google and Facebook
of a shared office while others struggle to have trailblazed – with bars, gyms, pool tables
successfully achieve a good work/life balance and fully-stocked canteens – are impossible to
when the lines are blurred between home and replicate with a remote workforce. They may
work. still play a part in hybrid combination of the two
environments – home and office – and still count
as a differentiator when trying to attract skilled
talent.

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Benefits
03 - Benefits 2020

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Benefits of
• Less time spent on morning/evening • Research confirms that home working
commutes reduces stress and improves work/ increases productivity and staff retention.
life balance (but home workers need to be • The subsequent lower demand for
Remote Working wary of putting in excess hours and blurring accommodation in places like Dublin and Cork
home/work lines). would result in more affordable town housing
and commuter belts.
• Less commuters means less traffic and
lower carbon emissions, benefitting the • Enlarged talent pool. Ireland is currently
environment and helping Ireland reduce its experiencing a skills shortage in many areas
carbon footprint. of IT, which could be addressed by overseas
talent working remotely. To date, the cost of
• Home working means people can live relocating and living in Dublin has been a
anywhere and find more affordable housing, significant barrier to enticing skilled engineers
which will drive investment in rural Ireland to come here.
while reducing urban congestion and
overcrowding.
•

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03 - Benefits 2020

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Although the pandemic tidal wave brought out over weekends. Our 24x7 helpdesk was
Conclusions many sectors to a complete standstill, advances never busier and our IT Resourcing department
in IT technologies over the last 10 years, was able to supply large numbers of IT
particularly cloud-hosted applications and engineers for short-term projects to ‘get the job
collaboration services, helped many companies done’.
survive. Those who had invested in products
like Microsoft Teams, Azure and Amazon Web The case for digital transformation has been
Services were able to surf the wave while others proven and workers will flock to companies who
were left running for the lifeboats. can facilitate working from home. Employers
will note from our survey that there are
Ergo responded to many calls for help, supplying productivity benefits from home working, so
laptops for home workers and enabling a a move to a hybrid combination of home and
distributed workforce to stay connected to their office should become part of the transformation
colleagues and office systems with Microsoft agenda.
Teams and Windows Virtual Desktop. Projects
that would normally take months were carried What used to be a novel work/life balance

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03 - Benefits 2020

option of employment from many more journey that has started for many businesses
companies. Our survey shows that family with the pandemic. If you would like to discuss
environments are not a barrier to working how we can help, in terms of IT resourcing
productively and the sanctity of the traditional or implementing new remote working
office space may be overrated, particularly if the technologies, get in touch. We will be happy to
adoption of digital technologies is accelerated. set up a virtual meeting while we work from
home.
Ergo can support companies on this journey.
We have helped hundreds of companies prosper Contact ITResourcing@ErgoGroup.ie to find out
through earlier recessions in Ireland and are more information on how you can become a
well placed to provide guidance on the digital contractor for Ergo.

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Thank You