Tech

Nudging governments to recognise remote work before the window closes

Global Head of People Policy·Remote-First Tech Company (3,000 staff, 40 countries)

Project:WFH Policy & Employee Benefits — Multi-Jurisdiction

The Challenge

Post-COVID, the political consensus that made remote work possible is quietly reversing. Governments are removing temporary measures, public sector employers are mandating returns, and the policy frameworks that remote workers depend on — home office tax relief, broadband subsidies, flexible childcare — were never properly designed for distributed teams. Maya Chen, Global Head of People Policy at a remote-first SaaS company with staff in 40 countries, is trying to change that. Her tools: commissioned research, parliamentary engagement, and tracking the right policy levers before they close.

The Conversation

WFH Policy & Employee Benefits — Multi-Jurisdiction — Chat

What's the actual state of Ireland's right to request remote work? We have 400 people there and I keep hearing the law is weaker than it sounds.

You're right to be sceptical. The Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 gives employees the right to request remote work from day one — but that's a right to ask, not a right to receive. Employers can refuse on 13 statutory grounds, including business needs and the nature of the role, and they only have to consider the request, not grant it. The WRC can review whether the process was followed correctly, but it can't compel an employer to approve remote work on the merits. The appeal mechanism that would have let the WRC assess refusal decisions was dropped before the bill passed. In practice, for a remote-first company like yours, it matters less — you're not refusing anyone. But it affects how you pitch policy engagement: the government thinks this is done.

We want to commission a research piece on the economic case for remote work — childcare costs, commute time, regional development. Who are the right bodies to get this in front of in Ireland and the EU?

In Ireland, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment has been the main forum — they ran hearings on remote work norms in 2023 and are likely to revisit it when the Act comes up for review. Forfás / ESRI are the credible research intermediaries; if your paper cites ESRI data or is done in partnership with them, it carries weight with civil servants. For the EU angle, Eurofound has been the go-to body on remote work — their Work Life Balance reports feed directly into Commission proposals. The European Parliament's Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL) is worth targeting too; MEPs there are already pushing on the right-to-disconnect directive. A Brussels policy event timed to a Eurofound publication is the classic playbook.

What's the status of the EU Right to Disconnect directive? Is it actually going anywhere?

It's stalled. The European Parliament passed a resolution calling for binding legislation in January 2021 — overwhelming majority, cross-party — but the Commission never followed up with a formal proposal. Under the current Commission mandate, it's not on the work programme. The main reason is employer lobbying, particularly from BusinessEurope, which argued that a binding directive would be inflexible across member state contexts. What's moved instead is a voluntary framework negotiated between ETUC and BusinessEurope, which gives member states cover to say the issue is being handled at sectoral level. Ireland, France, and Belgium have national legislation; most others don't. The window for an EU-level push is the 2024–2029 Parliament — if your company wants to be part of that campaign, now is the time to get involved with ETUC or the informal remote work business coalition that's been meeting in Brussels.

Deep Dive Output

high confidence

Overview

Remote work policy sits at the intersection of labour law, tax policy, urban planning, and childcare — which is exactly why it's hard to move. In Ireland, the 2023 Act created a right to request but not a right to work remotely; employer organisations like IBEC successfully resisted stronger provisions. Childcare costs in Ireland are among the highest in the OECD at over €1,100/month on average per child, undermining the economic case for remote workers who moved outside Dublin. The government's National Remote Work Strategy commits to 20% of public servants working remotely but has no binding private sector target. At EU level, the Right to Disconnect directive has stalled despite strong EP support. In the UK, flexible working is a day-one right to request from April 2024 under the Employment Relations Act, but again no duty to grant. The most progressive jurisdiction is Belgium, which has a statutory right to disconnect and mandatory remote work agreements. India's IT sector has informal remote-first norms but no legal framework. The US has a patchwork of state tax nexus rules that create compliance headaches for distributed employers.

Relevant Legislation

Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 (Ireland)

In force · Oireachtas

Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 (UK)

In force · Westminster

EU Right to Disconnect — EP Resolution 2021

No Commission follow-up · European Parliament

National Childcare Scheme (Ireland) — extension

Budget 2025 expansion · Oireachtas

Key Stakeholders

IBEC

Irish Business and Employers Confederation

Opposed stronger remote work obligations; supports voluntary frameworks and employer flexibility

ICTU

Irish Congress of Trade Unions

Pushing for strengthened appeal rights and binding remote work entitlements in Act review

Eurofound

EU Agency for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions

Primary research body on remote work; publications directly inform Commission and EP positions

Peter Burke

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Ireland)

Responsible for Act review; broadly pro-business on employer flexibility arguments

Media Framing

Irish media frames remote work through a Dublin housing and commute lens — regional development angle is underplayed. EU coverage focuses on right-to-disconnect as a worker-rights story, not an economic productivity one. Tech press covers it as a talent and retention issue. The economic research angle — childcare, transport, regional investment — is the least covered and therefore the most available for your commissioned work to own.

Entity Graph

IBEC

Employer body (Ireland)

Eurofound

EU research agency

Peter Burke

Enterprise Minister

ICTU

Trade union federation

What They Track

Ireland Work Life Balance Act reviewEU Right to Disconnect directive progressNational Childcare Scheme funding roundsEurofound remote work publicationsUK flexible working tribunal caselaw

Next →One ingredient, two regulatory regimes — and counting

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