New Irish research commissioned by Fórsa trade union , including work by Amárach Research and Ireland Thinks , shows that remote and hybrid work can support productivity, retention, wellbeing and care.

The next question is who gets access.

Remote and hybrid work are often talked about as a concession to employees.

But this research suggests employers may need to look at it differently.

Flexible work is not only a worker preference. It is a retention tool, a productivity issue, a wellbeing measure, and for many parents and caregivers, one of the things that makes staying in work possible.

So before employers rush to pull people back into offices, there is a serious question worth asking:

What might they lose by taking flexibility away?

And maybe just as importantly:

What could they gain by designing work more flexibly in the first place?

The Evidence Employers Should Read Twice

The figures are hard to brush aside, especially for any employer trying to make thoughtful decisions about what the future of work should look like.

Amárach Research surveyed 19,086 Fórsa members and found that 71% had a remote-working arrangement, mostly hybrid, while Ireland Thinks’ nationally representative research found that 61% of workers would prefer hybrid or fully remote work over the next two years.

That already tells us something important about where workers are.

But the more useful part of the research is what it tells us about performance, retention, stress, care and the ordinary logistics of life.

The research found that 7 in 10 remote-working Fórsa members would rather move role than lose or reduce their current remote-working arrangement.

For employers, that is important.

It suggests that flexibility is not a small extra sitting at the edge of the employment offer. For many workers, it has become part of how they make work sustainable.

There is also a strong performance story here.

The Amárach findings challenge one of the most persistent assumptions about remote work: that people are somehow less accountable when they are not sitting where they can be seen.

Only 6% of remote staff cited meeting deadlines as a problem, compared with 23% of on-site staff.

That is a striking gap.

It does not mean every job can be done remotely, or that every workplace should operate in the same way. But it does suggest that visibility and productivity are not the same thing, and that being physically present in a building is not, by itself, evidence that the right work is being done well.

The Ireland Thinks research adds another layer, with 74% of respondents saying remote or hybrid work reduced stress, and 68% saying it improved productivity.

For employers, that should matter.

A less stressed worker is not simply a happier worker. They are often a more sustainable worker, a more focused worker, and a worker less likely to spend Monday morning silently updating their CV because the balance of their life has become impossible again.

Lighting the Way in Practice

And this is where I think the conversation becomes really hopeful.

Because while research can show us why flexibility and inclusion matter, employers like MrPRICE Branded Bargains show us what it can look like when a business decides to take access seriously.

Their #LightTheWay event, hosted with the support of Indeed and led with such warmth and purpose by Edel McSorley and the wider MrPRICE team, feels like exactly the kind of employer leadership Ireland needs more of.

I was not in the room on the day, so I am speaking from the reflections and case studies shared prior, but even from that alone, the message is powerful.

MrPRICE is not simply talking about inclusion as a nice value. They are building it into pathways, programmes, apprenticeships, leadership, reasonable accommodations, and the everyday culture of how people are noticed, supported and given a chance.

That matters because not every role can be remote, and not every workplace will offer flexibility in the same way.

But every employer can ask a better question.

Who are we not seeing?

Whose potential have we missed because their CV does not look traditional, because they have a care gap, because they lack confidence, because they come from a marginalised background, because they were imprisoned, because they are returning after years away, or because nobody has yet created the right doorway in?

That is why the MrPRICE case study is so inspiring.

It shows women moving into leadership through different routes, not because they all followed the same polished path, but because skills were recognised, confidence was nurtured, and people were trusted with responsibility before they necessarily looked perfect on paper.

That is why MrPRICE’s work feels so inspiring.

Their Women @ Work programme points to something very important: when women are welcomed, trained, supported and given practical routes into employment, confidence grows, skills grow, and careers can begin or begin again.

Their wider case study also shows what can happen when employers prioritise skills over credentials, keep barriers low while keeping standards high, and build progression around people’s real potential rather than around the neatness of their CV.

For Mums Hub, that is the connection.

There is talent everywhere, but opportunity is not always evenly distributed.

Some people do not need to be fixed. They need to be seen.

Some people do not lack ability. They lack a pathway.

Some people are not outside work because they have nothing to offer. They are outside because the door was built too narrowly, too rigidly, or too far away from the reality of their life.

That is why Light the Way feels so aptly named.

It is a beacon of hope, not because it pretends inclusion is easy, but because it shows that hiring can be different, and that when employers focus on potential rather than barriers, the benefits are not only for the person hired.

Teams become stronger.

Workplaces become more human.

Leadership becomes more representative.

Communities see what is possible.

And employers gain people whose loyalty, insight, resilience and lived experience may never have appeared in a standard recruitment filter.

That is the kind of employer imagination we need.

Not perfect.

Not performative.

Practical, human, and willing to build the doorway a little wider.

Widening the Inclusion Conversation

There is another layer here too.

Minister Dara Calleary’s contribution to Light the Way matters because it places this conversation where it belongs: between employers, communities and the State.

It is encouraging to hear Government recognise and support employers who are creating inclusive pathways into work. That kind of support matters. It helps employers build partnerships, widen access, take practical steps and see talent that may otherwise be missed.

We absolutely welcome and celebrate that.

This is exactly the kind of joined-up thinking Ireland needs more of: employers willing to open doors, community partners helping people reach those doors, and the State recognising that inclusive hiring does not happen by accident.

For Mums Hub it also opens up a hopeful next question.

How can that same imagination be extended to mothers and primary caregivers returning to work after years of care?

Because mothers have already been working.

They have been raising children, managing homes, supporting families, caring through illness, navigating schools and services, stretching budgets, organising appointments, holding routines together and doing the invisible labour that allows the rest of society to keep moving.

That work may not always appear on a CV.

It may not come with a payslip.

But it is work.

And it builds skills: patience, organisation, emotional intelligence, problem-solving, crisis management, budgeting, communication, responsibility, adaptability and endurance.

So when a mother returns to employment after years of care, the question should not be why she has a gap.

The question should be how we recognise what she has carried through that gap, and how employers and the State can remove the barriers that make return harder than it needs to be.

For many mothers, the barrier is not lack of ability.

It is the mismatch between the structure of work and the structure of care.

They may be ready to work, but only part-time. They may be skilled and motivated, but only available during school hours. They may need confidence rebuilt, training refreshed, childcare made possible, or an employer willing to see beyond a traditional employment history.

That is where inclusive hiring can keep growing.

Mothers available for part-time work are still workers.

Mothers needing school-hour roles are still skilled.

Mothers returning after years of unpaid care are still bringing value.

And employers willing to create care-compatible pathways should be supported, encouraged and recognised too.

That is the next opportunity.

To connect the employer imagination shown by initiatives like Light the Way with a wider public commitment to care-compatible employment, so that mothers and primary caregivers are included in the next chapter of Ireland’s inclusive hiring story.

The Next Step Is Access

The business case for flexible work has just got stronger.

The research shows that remote and hybrid work can support productivity, retention, wellbeing and care.

The examples from employers like MrPRICE show that inclusion becomes real when employers are willing to build pathways, recognise potential and widen the doorway into work.

And the next step is access.

Because flexible work cannot become another advantage held mainly by those already closest to opportunity.

It has to reach the people whose working lives have been shaped by care, by gaps, by part-time availability, by school hours, by confidence knocked after years outside paid employment, and by systems that still struggle to recognise unpaid care as work.

For mothers, this is not an abstract debate about workplace trends.

It is about whether employment is possible.

It is about whether a mother can earn income in her own name, return after years spent caring, take a first step back into work, increase her hours, rebuild confidence, or find a role that does not collapse the rest of family life around her.

That is why Mums Hub keeps talking about care-compatible employment.

Remote and hybrid work matter where they are possible.

But so do school-hour roles, quality part-time jobs, predictable hours, supportive managers, inclusive hiring, progression routes, and partnerships between employers, communities and the State.

The future of work should not be designed around the worker with no caring responsibilities.

It should be designed around real life.

Because when work is designed well, employers gain.

Families gain.

Communities gain.

And mothers who have spent years holding everything together finally get a fairer way back in.

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