Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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407. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason his Department seeks to amend the remote/hybrid working arrangements for staff; the evidence that the proposed changes will lead to improved productivity; the source of such evidence; if he intends to revise this proposal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4277/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is supportive of blended working and was one of the first to introduce a blended working policy. This Policy, developed in line with the Blended Working Policy Framework for Civil Service Organizations, offers a varied attendance model, depending on the staff role and business needs.

The ability to effectively meet the needs of each business area and ensuring high-quality delivery of customer service are critical considerations in determining blended working arrangements and the policy is reviewed on an ongoing basis.

In 2024 the minimum number of days for staff to attend the office was one day per week. Of the approximately 7,000 employees of the department, 12% had an arrangement to attend on this basis whilst the remainder attend the office between two and five days per week. Following consideration of the experience of blended working and prior to the commencement of the annual process for staff applications, it was decided to increase the minimum office attendance to two days per week, with effect from February 2025. This change is considered necessary to provide sufficient opportunity for in-person interaction with colleagues in order to sustain organisation knowledge exchange, culture, and provision of support to staff.

The new blended working policy was shared with the unions last November and there was engagement on a number of occasions since, with some revisions to the policy based on the unions’ input. The policy was to take effect from start February but the unions advised very shortly in advance that they would now be directing non-co-operation by members. We are pleased that the union has, at our request, now agreed to enter a formal dispute resolution process and will defer implementation of the new policy pending the outcome of this process.