The Rise of Homeworking

According to Ireland’s Central Statistics Office, the most common location when working remotely is to work from home.

The propensity to exchange commuting for home working has increased post-pandemic, particularly among full-time professionals and managers aged 35 to 44 years old, and those employed in ICT or Finance. Nearly half of staff at medium-sized enterprises (those with between 50-249 employees) worked from home in 2021. (CSOa and CSOb, 2022)

By the time of the 2022 Census, nearly a third of Irish workers worked from home at least once a week and nearly a quarter “mainly work from home” (Central Statistics Office, 2023 a and d). This is a significant level of growth from the 2016 Census figure of 16%—the biggest rise in Europe. (Gleeson, 2023)

This shift in Irish workplace dynamics is likely to consolidate given:

• new legislation granting Irish residents the legal right to request to work from home (Citizensinformation.ie; Walsh, 2024b)
• a continuing high level of hybrid/remote-working job advertisements (Walsh, 2024a)
• a higher-than-EU average of desk-based employment (Gleeson, 2024). These jobs are typically in digitally intensive industries (Baringa Partners LLP, 2022) that rely on information and communication technology (ICT). Specifically, the provision of software as a service over the internet, otherwise known as ‘cloud computing’ (Giordanelli and Mastroianni, 2010).

The Carbon Footprint of Working From Home

There are multiple online calculators for assessing an individual’s carbon footprint. Typically, these calculators capture:

• Direct fuel consumption (e.g. for heating)
• Electricity consumption
• Waste volume (Landfill, recyclable, compostable)
• Water usage
• Business travel and commuting type/mileage
• Broad diet preferences (for individuals)

• Only one of the six calculators reviewed for this project considered that many people now work from home. None of the calculators reviewed calculated what the carbon footprint of working from home might be.

  This is particularly important in Ireland, as the average Irish household is an outlier by European standards, due to  our reliance on the direct burning of fossil fuels (coal, peat and heating oil/ kerosene) to heating living spaces.(SEAI, 2022)