There’s no going back now.

Life in lockdown during the pandemic has had a transformative effect on how we view work/life balance.

A new survey of Irish workers has found that two out of three people (64%) said they now work in a flexible environment. This is an increase from the same survey in 2019 when 53% said they worked in a flexible environment.

A hybrid working approach is even more important for parents; a quarter of people would like a flexible work policy so they can manage school drop-offs and collections.

All survey respondents said flexible work would give them a better work/life balance while 96% said it would make them more productive. Interestingly, 93% said they would quit their job if they were offered more flexibility in a new role.

‘Flexibility is key to retaining good staff.’

The survey conducted by recruitment firm Employflex found that almost half of people said their company does not have a flexible work policy (48%). Worrying also is that 16% said they have been refused a request for flexible work by their boss.

The survey found that most people would favour hybrid working (29%), reduced or part-time hours (25%) or remote working (23%). Unfortunately however 42% said they would not feel confident asking their employer for flexible work.

The main barrier people believe to employers granting flexible work is a lack of trust (43%) followed by fears about a reduction in productivity (20%).

“Flexibility is key to retaining good staff.” said Employflex founder, Karen O’Reilly

“People shouldn’t be forced out of the workplace because they need flexibility in their working day. Employers must be more open to talking about flexible and remote work and following two years of it we can see that it can work.”