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RECENT MEDIA HEADLINES have been lighting up with stories and opinions about the ‘great return’ to the office, the message being passed on daily is that remote work is in decline. However, much of this narrative relies on a single data source and does not fully capture the broader job market in Ireland.
The reality is far more nuanced. By widening the scope of data we examine, a different story emerges — one that reflects a sustained and growing demand for remote work opportunities, as well as a supply far above what is in the headlines.
This is an important discussion because the future of work in Ireland should focus on how work is done, not just where. When businesses embrace flexibility, it’s individuals, employers and local communities who will benefit. On-site, hybrid and fully remote models each serve different needs, and a one-size-fits-all approach does not work — nor is anyone calling for it.
Yet, remote employment has always been harder to find and track. Many, if not most remote-first employers do not rely on traditional job boards; instead, they recruit through their own career pages, and talent teams, directly on professional networks such as LinkedIn, or by using dedicated remote job platforms like EU Remote Jobs (co-founded by Irish entrepreneur Rachel Craig).
This hiring approach continues today, and it significantly impacts the remote job data various sources will have access to.
Multiple media reports covering the quarterly Jobs Index from IrishJobs.ie suggest that fully remote job postings accounted for just 2.3% of all job listings in Q4 2024 — close to pre-pandemic levels.
On the surface, this might appear to confirm the idea that remote work is disappearing. However, data from LinkedIn for example tells a very different story.
As of January 2025, 40% of all job listings in Ireland were remote or hybrid:
The February data remains consistent, with circa 5,000+ fully remote jobs out of a total of 35,000+ jobs listed.
So why the discrepancy? As well as methodology, we must also look at which remote jobs are actually being advertised and where.
It’s not just large companies that are hiring remotely. The Shona Project, a national charity dedicated to empowering young Irish women, is currently hiring a Community Manager — a fully remote role. However, this job is not on LinkedIn yet and is also absent from IrishJobs.ie, meaning it isn’t counted in the commonly cited statistics. Beyond Ireland, major global employers like Canonical and Binance also hire remotely across EMEA. Currently, Canonical has 150+ remote roles open across multiple departments. Binance employs 5,000+ people in 100+ locations and is hiring for 20+ remote roles across Europe.
These remote jobs are all available to Irish workers, but again they are not counted in the reported decline of remote or the majority of data sets defining the state of remote.
Part of the issue lies in how job platforms source their data. For example, LinkedIn automatically pulls job postings from company websites, applicant tracking systems (ATS), and job descriptions that mention keywords like “remote” or “work from home” or hashtags like #LI-Remote to classify jobs.
This means LinkedIn may slightly overestimate the number of true remote roles. If scrutinised, the 5,000+ remote jobs listed today might drop to 4,500 or so, but this still represents a double-digit percentage of job listings.
Meanwhile, LinkedIn’s own press releases often highlight a decline in “paid job postings” for remote roles — but this does not reflect the total number of remote jobs available. For example, a recent report noted, “The level of paid job postings in Ireland offering hybrid positions declined by 10.5% year-on-year, with remote positions contracting by 7.7%.”
The key phrase here is “paid job postings” on Linkedin, which does not account for thousands of remote roles advertised through career pages, recruiter networks, or global job boards. So yes — it can be complicated.
So, has the actual number of remote jobs in Ireland dropped to an all-time low or (as alluded to in a Financial Times article published recently entitled “The baffling WFH puzzle”) is it something else? Well, according to Nick Bloom, a global workplace expert and thought leader it is:
“Coverage bias — the old adage ‘If it bleeds, it leads’. Bad news sells, so perhaps only stories about the end of WFH get reported.”
The numbers and data do however paint a clear picture — remote work is not disappearing nor is it at an all-time low — it’s just being measured in a way that doesn’t reflect our new reality.
If jobseekers, policymakers and anyone interested in ‘the state of remote’ were to look beyond traditional sources, they would find a remote job market that is thriving, not declining.
Another piece of the jigsaw is that workers want flexibility and employers know it! According to recruitment firm CPL in its 2025 Salary Guide for Ireland, “A vast majority of Irish employees favour hybrid or remote arrangements, with almost seven in 10 (66%) availing of hybrid working, and 60% of those would turn down a new position if it didn’t meet their hybrid working needs.”
The 2024 Manpower Group Talent Shortage Report found that 81% of Irish companies struggled to attract skilled talent last year. In response, 62% of employers have made hybrid work a key strategy for talent attraction, according to IBEC HR Report 2024 data. Companies offering flexibility see tangible benefits, with CIPD reporting a 25% increase in retention rates and improved employee satisfaction.
A recent Hays Ireland report Salary Guide 2025 stated that “62% of employers are offering hybrid working to staff and 40% offer home or remote working. 74% of employers expect their organisation’s hybrid working offering to stay the same over the next 12 months”.
The conversation about the future of work should not be driven by single source statistics or headlines of doom. Instead, it should focus on how we work, not where we work, and ensuring equitable access to opportunities for all — whether employees are on-site, hybrid, or fully remote.
The demand for remote work is clear, and the supply is not as low as you may think — if you know where to look.
The genie is out of the bottle and, while fully remote work may have the lowest percentage share of the operating models split when compared with on-site and hybrid, it has very much secured its place in the future of work and will command a double-digit share of the market.
Graham Harron is the Impact & Data Lead at Grow Remote.
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