Remote work can sound like a dream come true, especially because it enables so many people to continue to live in, or relocate to, West Cork.
BY MEGAN MULLIGAN
With the rise of remote work and global opportunities, many West Cork residents are navigating foreign corporate cultures while maintaining their West Cork quality of life.
Remote work appears to be a permanent fixture of our society for the foreseeable future.
Sam Dooley, country director of The Stepstone Group Ireland, with responsibility for IrishJobs, argues that hybrid working is here to stay for the long term.
In fact, IrishJobs research shows that nearly half of jobseekers (47%) would be willing to turn down opportunities that do not provide hybrid or fully remote working options.
According to the Central Statistics Office, 35% of the Irish workforce is remote or hybrid, 10% higher than pre-pandemic levels, and still one of the highest rates in Europe.
This could be due to, in part, the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, which was passed in 2023 and took effect on March 7th, 2024.
Consequently, all employees now have a new legal right to request remote working.
Moving to West Cork during Covid, Georgia Bayliss-Brown was working for a Dublin-based company.
But after having a baby and wanting greater flexibility for her work day, she set up her own company in 2022, a dream of hers for over a decade.
She continues to work remotely and highly recommends it.
As for myself, I had already relocated to West Cork when I found my remote job, working for a global company based in Amsterdam.
Remote work can be challenging.
Without the traditional boundaries of an office setting, working remotely often means that work invades every aspect of home life.
With the sitting room or bedroom doubling as an office, working from home makes it harder to maintain those boundaries between the two.
Not having a designated workspace in my home, I frequently work at the kitchen table while my family life goes on around me.
Georgia combats this problem, however, by renting a workspace in Ludgate, a remote working hub based in Skibbereen.
Ludgate is one of many hubs that exist throughout West Cork.
‘Working in the Ludgate…allows me to work in a professional environment with a strong internet connection, with a group of “colleagues” who also work in the shared space, often offering opportunities for collaboration in our contracts and business ventures,’ said Georgia.
Hubs throughout West Cork aren’t just about global business though, and in fact, can operate as a unifying force for their own local communities.
‘Being based in the Hub, allows me to be part of a local community and stay connected and participate in local activities whilst plugging into a corporate world from the comfort of a shared space,’ Georgia argues.
The Ludgate Hub, like many other hubs around West Cork, ‘do a great job in engaging with the local community where we volunteer for stewarding events, raising money for local causes, and even buying presents for disadvantaged children at Christmas and placing them under the “Angel tree”.’
Working remotely inevitably requires non-traditional working hours, which can often be challenging.
Georgia, for example, regularly has to cover social media events based in Australia, South Korea, and the Pacific coast of the US.
I often find myself working well into the night, long after my kids are in bed. I am able to earn a living from the comfort of my own home, but it can be challenging to unplug because there is always more work to do.
Irish habits and values still influence global remote workers that are based here in West Cork.
‘I have had the benefit of working for several Irish organisations that understand the value of work-life balance and value flexibility and friendship in the workplace,’ Georgia said.
‘The Irish value niceties, and even the most stressful of meetings are often sandwiched between informal chatter and warmth.’
Georgia is not alone in taking advantage of remote work in order to relocate to West Cork.
She points out that, ‘a high proportion of Ludgate’s members work for global organisations or they themselves are able to operate their own companies whilst enjoying living in West Cork.’
She only sees this as a good sign for the future of West Cork because, this means there is an ‘ever-growing opportunity for young people in the area to enjoy the benefits of the West Cork culture whilst developing their careers.’
When asked what ‘home’ means to her, Georgia was emphatic: ‘Home is West Cork…On a sunny day, there is no better place to be. The people embrace blow-ins so kindly, and I am so grateful for that. The world, I feel, is in a state of disease currently, and I feel as though we are protected from the madness here.’
