More than 61% of millennials – the name given to those in the 25-35-year-old age bracket – are considering a move to live in another part of Ireland due to the increase in remote working.
That’s according to new research from Leitrim County Council which has found that almost a quarter of Irish workers are now working fully remotely.
The local authority has argued that the findings of their research shows the benefit of remote working to people’s mental and financial wellbeing and says people are now considering other parts of the country to live in due to better living standards and cheaper house prices.
In the survey, over half of remote workers reported a very positive impact on their work-life balance and 85% of respondents said remote work had improved their productivity.
The research, which was conducted by Bounce, interviewed 1,000 people and found that 60% of them believe that working remotely has improved their ability to switch off after work.
"There is a benefit to remote working for employees in Ireland, with improvements to mental and financial wellbeing clearly defined in the research," said Lar Power, Chief Executive of Leitrim County Council.
"Four in ten have found that remote work has positively impacted their spending, as there is less need to commute," Mr Power added.
Colm McGrath, President of the Carrick-on-Shannon Chamber of Commerce, said Leitrim has seen an increase in the number of people moving to the county.
"With the increased cost of living, it is no surprise to read that employees are moving across the country," Mr McGrath said.
"It is our view that this trend will increase into 2023 and beyond, as millennials opt to raise families in areas where they can afford housing.
“'I'm living in Leitrim, it must be 17 or 18 years now, and my friends laughed at me when I first said that I was going to move down to that neck of the woods.
“But I suppose it was the best thing we ever did, best thing for family, business etc. You don't have that daily commute where you're sitting in traffic all day long.
Here it's five, ten minutes into work, it's easy to go and meet friends for coffee, go out for lunch, all those different things, and all the other things that we have , on our doorstep , the blueways, the greenways,” said Mr McGrath.
The findings by Leitrim County Council come in the same week as a study from Stockholm University found that commuting over 3km to the office is bad for your health.
The research by Jaana Halonen and Auriba Raza found that commuting more than five hours per week has a number of negative health consequences including being less physically active, being overweight, sleep problems and drinking in excess.
