The Irish telecoms firm will let its more than 200 employees in Dublin and Limerick largely work remotely, requiring them to attend the office only once a week.
As companies continue to lay out plans for what working life will look like post-pandemic, Speed Fibre Group has said it is introducing a long-term hybrid working model for more than 200 of its staff.
The Irish telecoms group encompasses companies Enet, AirSpeed Telecom and Magnet Networks, and has offices in Limerick and Dublin.
The group’s new policy, which has been informed by a company-wide survey of all its staff, will enable employees to work from home for up to four days per week.
The policy will come into effect after the Government announces the national phased return of workers to offices and the easing of pandemic restrictions. Currently, the group’s more than 200 staff work from home, unless they are essential workers.
Some essential staff will still be required to attend the office full-time even after the policy has been introduced, but most workers will only have one mandatory in-office day per week – although they can choose to come into the office more frequently if they wish.
Claire Murphy, group general counsel, company secretary and head of shared services at Speed Fibre Group, said the new policy was made possible by the group’s adaptation to remote working during the pandemic. She added that the pandemic gave the company’s departments the chance to focus on communication as it meant staff had to make time to meet virtually on a frequent basis.
“We have adopted a mindset and culture that ‘nothing stands in our way’, and this has resulted in a high-performance culture where teams are solution-focused and extremely agile in meeting the needs of our customers,” Murphy said.
She added that her team’s welfare was also a key reason behind the decision to transition to the new model.
“Equally important is the wellbeing of our team and a recognition that people who are rested and live full lives are happier and more productive at work. This initiative also lends itself to our commitment to supporting sustainable communities and reducing our carbon footprint,” she concluded.
The right to disconnect is also a major theme in the development of the company’s new hybrid working policy. Team members are now being encouraged not to check their work emails outside of office hours unless there is an emergency.
Speed Fibre Group is not the first telecoms company in Ireland to launch a hybrid working strategy. IP Telecom announced earlier this month that “work is something we do, not somewhere we go” as it rolled out its own hybrid work policy, which declared that employees can work up to five days remotely for every five days spent in the office.
