Whether we call it remote working, work from anywhere, or more simply, work from home, the move away from the office as the primary place for labour is here to stay. For that reason, it’s more important than ever to focus on making it an effective and streamlined model of working.
We have written about some of the people management aspects of it before: the importance of keeping contact with employees, offering an abundance of support, and promoting proper disconnect. However, there is also the more operational side of things, especially when the workers are internationally remote: understanding and complying with local regulations, complying with Health & Safety rules from a distance, keeping track of all existing WFH tax breaks and allowances, and many others.
It’s those operational things that we devote our local work from home guides to. For this guide to Ireland, we have gathered all the rules and regulations employers and employees need to comply with, and compiled the latest tax breaks and allowances that are in place. (You can read about all other employment, payroll, tax and legal regulations in our comprehensive Ireland country guide).
Even before Covid-19, Ireland was on a path to becoming a more remote work-friendly location. It needed to as big cities are overpopulated and unaffordable. According to the latest Census, which took place in 2016, 18% of the working population, worked from home, mostly one or two days per week. Several things have been happening since to make the country better equipped for remote work.
For starters, over the last number of years, there has been an increase in co-working hubs in rural areas, which are currently at nearly 300 in number. Meanwhile, broadband, which has historically been a problem in remote areas, has been improving. Large scale stories of remote work success have surfaced such as Shopify Ireland, which has been fully remote since 2015. (We spoke to John Riordan at the start of the year, who is the engine behind the scale to nearly 400 employees.) Last and not least, there is Grow Remote, a grassroots organisation that started in 2018 as a WhatsApp group between remote people across Ireland, which has since grown to an organisation with over 60 chapters spread around the country, most of which operate monthly in-person events under normal circumstances.
As a result of all these things, the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation published a Remote Work in Ireland report in December 2019. It uncovered different remote working practices in Ireland, how often people practised them, and discovered some of the factors which determined whether people worked remotely or not.
Much has changed since it was published and follow-up surveys have ensued. The most recent one from October 2020 found that 94% of respondents were in favour of continuing to work remotely. The majority of those, 54%, said they would like to work remotely several times a week, 27% said five days a week. The last number is double what it was in the original Remote Work in Ireland study.
Many initiatives have been put in place in the months since the pandemic, starting with several training programs:
All these initiatives, alongside spectacular nature and an inherent knack for community and readiness to help out even from a distance, make Ireland a great place for remote work. Let’s look into what is required from employees and employers to make it work.
The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) is the body responsible for health and safety in the workplace in Ireland. According to the HSA, employers have the same responsibility for the health & safety of employees who work from home. This includes psychosocial aspects of work, such as bullying and work-related stress. Their duties include:
Employees, on the other hand, are also responsible for taking care of themselves. Their responsibilities include:
People working from home may feel reluctant to tell their employer that they are unwell. It is important to note that the same sick leave rules apply.
Employers have to carry out a risk assessment for the home office of employees, which includes all hazards and identify what steps they need to take to deal with them.
In a work from home context, some of the biggest risks are less to do with the setup and more to do with isolation, working longer hours, and blurring the lines between work and family life. Individually or in combination, these could result in employee burnout. Extending support to employees at all times during working hours is essential.
Employers should consider:
Employers should provide appropriate work from home equipment to employees. This includes laptop, mouse, monitor, keyboard and headset. In addition, employers are advised to take care of the home office furniture such as ergonomic desk and chair, and consider covering expenses for telephone, mobile, broadband, software and any other items necessary for doing the work. When these are predominantly used for professional purposes, they do not trigger benefit in kind taxation.
Sharing a Work from Home questionnaire with the employee is an excellent start before arranging to provide the above. Questions to ask include:
The Irish National Cyber Security Centre has released the Cyber Security Guidance on Working from Home, which provides information on how to avoid some of the most common data breaches to employees working from home. It identifies phishing, vishing, remote access threats and business email compromise as the key challenges when working remotely. The guidance contains advice on how employees working from home can maximise wi-fi security, good practices when using personal or work devices, and remote conferencing.
Since Covid-19 changed the trajectory of remote working from something that some of the more progressive companies implemented, to a recommendation made out to even the most reluctant employers, the government has put in place new tax breaks and allowances and strengthened existing ones.
eWorking is a tax-relief initiative by the Irish government for employers with employees working from home on a part-time or full-time basis. Employers may pay up to €3.20 per employee, per day without deducting taxes (PAYE, PRSI, USC). Any amount over the €3.20 per day that is paid by the employer will be taxed. This tax relief is aimed at covering the additional costs of working from home, such as light and heat, incurred by employees. Employers must retain records of the payments.
When the employer does not contribute to the expenses that the employee has, the worker can claim a tax deduction for utility expenses such as heat and light. They are as follows:
We hope this guide to WFH in Ireland has helped you to understand the lay of the land and the things you will need to comply with if you have an Irish-based employee. Alongside work from home regulations in Ireland, you will also have to comply with all other employment laws, run the local payroll and file taxes. You can read about all those in our comprehensive Ireland country guide. Setting all that up and maintaining it may take upwards of six months and will require a lot of resources.
Alternatively, you can work with Boundless, to help you with all the work related to legal employment. We own and operate an Irish Professional Employer Organisation as part of our multi-country offering and enable you to offer the best possible employment experience to any worker. Through the Employer of Record model, we act as their legal employer and take care of the many obligations that bring equal, fair and secure employment to them and peace of mind to you. Learn more.
