Grow Remote is holding it’s international Summit on Thursday 8th and Friday 9th June in Portlaoise – click here to register.
Given how critical Remote Working could prove to be from the point of view of future HR planning, Midlandjobs.ie sees three compelling reasons to promote and attend this event;
1. Skills shortages in Ireland, now and into the future
2. Accommodation shortages in Ireland, now and into the future
3. Sustainability / ESG Reporting coming into effect in 2024
This may all seem a little counter-intuitive, considering that from our earliest beginnings, Midlandjobs.ie has always been all about promoting the Midlands as a “place” to live and work. So why would we now encourage an initiative that would be so location agnostic as remote working?
The answer to this is quite simple – Everything to do with employment has changed and continues to change. Work is changing radically, job roles are changing and Ireland itself is changing. So the way for us to now look at the resourcing of working in the Midlands of the future, also needs to change. Which is also presumably why organisations such as Enterprise Ireland are supporting this important conference and it’s organisers, Grow Remote.
In case you missed it, Ireland’s rate of unemployment is currently running at 3.9% – the LOWEST rate ever since records began. Meanwhile, Ireland is experiencing the HIGHEST rate of homelessness since records began. And as if this wasn’t all enough of an indication that we’re certainly not dealing circumstances of “business as usual”, the rate of Global Temperature change is also at it’s HIGHEST level since records began.
To be clear, there are obviously certain types of employment which do not lend themselves to remote working. We also fully understand that some employers have had justifiable and grave reservations about remote working. And indeed, if we were dealing with situations of blue-sky employment market conditions, why would employers opt for any break from past norms? However, for the above reasons, we expect things to get even tighter for employers. Leaving us now needing to weigh up, is it better to cling to the dream of having a full team located all back in the office, or would it be safer to expect that we may need to engage remote workers at some time into the future (albeit reluctantly). And could this turn out in fact to be a less bad option than having no-one hired to a given critical role in our organisation? My guess is that in the near future it will be. A case of continuing to “hope for the best, but expect the worst”. The worst being, that either you can’t locate anyone in Ireland to fill a particular specialist role , or that you may be able to locate and hire them, but they in turn may be unable to find local accommodation and therefore would be unable to take up the role.
The Grow Remote Conference will be a very interesting place to be to listen to speakers discussing (in a relaxed environment), how those pioneering companies who, already switching to Remote First, have handled the considerable challenges associated with the management of remote working.