Bank of Ireland UK has announced that it will be fully embracing hybrid work models, offering all employees highly flexible work-from-home options by the end of the year.
The pandemic has caused problems for a lot of businesses across Northern Ireland, but it's also challenged long-held beliefs on the efficacy of working from home. Millions of businesses worldwide have been forced to move to remote work now for over a year, and many discovered that productivity didn't suffer -- in fact, it increased.
Some of the world's biggest tech and financial firms have announced plans to offer permanent remote work options to staff even after the pandemic, ranging from fully remote positions to hybrid models with part time in the office. Bank of Ireland has now officially announced plans to embrace a hybrid work model by the end of 2021.
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The bank will be offering staff work from home options and will be launching four new agile hubs across the UK to support hybrid work. These hubs will function like co-working spaces typically do, offering meeting spaces and bookable desks for staff for when they need it.
Bank of Ireland Group was already planning to offer increased working flexibility at the start of 2020, but the plans were brought forward rapidly by the Covid-19 pandemic. In a recent survey of staff, 77% said they would rather work from home for part of their working week, spending between a quarter and three quarters of their time in the office.
In order to prepare for hybrid working, the bank has also put in place schemes to support those working at home, including providing equipment that meets safety and ergonomic requirements and investing in digital solutions to help teams collaborate remotely.
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Matt Elliott, Chief People Officer, commented: "Rethinking the traditional office model has been a key part of our vision for the future of work at Bank of Ireland. [...] Things won’t go back to how they were at the start of 2020. We are going to see less of the old way of doing things, like travelling through rush hour to do something at the office that could easily have been done from home."
"Our network of remote working hubs will provide a real alternative to time and energy sapping commutes. The central office still has an important but different role to play – with large office buildings being redesigned to facilitate meetings and collaboration. The introduction of a hybrid model also increases accessibility to employees or applicants for roles based around the country and outside urban centres and to those who have caring responsibilities in the home."
Source: Written based on press release
