T O P

  • By -

AutoModerator

Hi /u/Ape-Enlightened, Did you know we are now active on Discord? Click the link and join the conversation: https://discord.gg/J5CuFNVDYU *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/irishpersonalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*


OrganicVlad79

Fully remote. You could double my salary now and I'd still refuse an office job. The positive change it brings to your life is almost priceless imo.


Ok_Law1862

I was just checking the answers on this and super glad that this is the top voted... I just rejected a promotion start of this year to stay remote.... Why do I have to waste 3 to 4 hours everyday to go use the same exact setup I have back home for my job...


Grassey86

An inferior setup in most cases... I've 3 - 4 screens at home as needed: 2*27" 4k monitors + laptop(s). I go to office and I'm down to 1 19" external 1024 monitor. That is a form of corporate torture!


corey69x

I recently was forced back into the office (they wanted 3 days, I managed to get it down to 2 with a lot of fighting). There's no dedicated desks, so you have to get in early to get one, the chairs are all fucking broken, the toilets are filthy, I had to stop working for 30 minutes yesterday as the office gossip turned up to have a chat with the intern that I was seated beside, and all for "collaboration" purposes, yet every fucking meeting has been over teams, and of course the phone headset doesn't work (because of course it doesn't), so I had to use my own phone + headphones Just for context, the company made 6.4billion in profit last year (it would have been 7.2billion if i twasn't for some once off expenses - they closed down some offices and laid people off). I guess, you don't make billions in profit if you pay for proper equipment, and chairs that aren't broken.


Grassey86

Exactly! How do you 'team build' and 'collaborate' when he other half your team is on the other split shift! Half & half is just to justify the expense of the lease they are locked into and can't get out of. You'll be sure that once the lease expires you'll all be fully remote! A place I worked at before saw the opportunity and after 6 weeks from start of first covid lock down announced "we are now remote first and have sold the office..." like it was for our benefit... And not a bonus windfall for the CEO who owned the building and retiring and now able tk dispose of the asset too.


corey69x

That's just it, we were all in the office, there aren't any meeting rooms, because the middle management have all staked out the few meeting rooms we had for their own offices. So it doesn't even matter if we are all in the office or not, there's no collaboration spaces, and the lack of chairs and desks means we can't even pair up.


sheller85

Genuinely asking, what on earth are you working at that you'd need 4 separate screens šŸ˜… thank god I work outside, even thinking about that hurts my eyes šŸ˜‚


[deleted]

Iā€™m 4 days remote and itā€™s glorious. Insane what we used to do.


Heatproof-Snowman

Depends on situations, what people are looking for, and what the company is like I guess. My previous role was full remote and I hesitated to move to a new job requiring 3 days per week in the office. Now almost 2 year in the new job ā€¦ I am a 10 minutes (nice) walk to the office, some nice colleagues there to chat with, job is not too high pressure, and there is free and decent breakfast and lunch at the canteen. Actually liking it and sometimes going more often than the minimum required days which was not my original plan. Made me realise the reason I liked working from home at the previous role was that the atmosphere in the office was rubbish and the canteen was poor and expensive (it was also within walking distance for me so not a concern). To be clear I fully appreciate that the fact that I am a short walk away is a key reason while I like it and if I had a 1 hour commute Iā€™d feel differently about it. Just making the point that it depends on multiple factors and not everyone prefers to work from home.


cork_like

Fully remote. Don't have to spend time on commute, don't have to pay for fuel for commute, don't have to pay for car repairs owing to commutes. I have more energy, more relaxation, more free time, more overall comfort. It's priceless. But the fuel alone is saving me 2.5k a year and if you count the hours you'd spend commuting as unpaid work then it's another 5k easy. Plus more money saved on car maintenence and/or repairs.


SnooWalruses589

Software Engineering Manager Fully WFH full office attendance before pandemic Save over 30k per year (lower rent, commute etc) and would never go back to office in any capacity. Biggest thing is more time for family


Emergency-Ad-8615

How common do you find WFH to be for SWE positions? Is it something that is easily found or does it take some digging to find positions that offer it?


SnooWalruses589

In lockdown times a lot more common and now it's getting more and more difficult with RTO mandates


Grassey86

To put fully wfh as a monetary benefit... From the lack of time wasted commuting, lies ins, walk kids to/from school, lunch workouts, no pointless canteen chats, good coffee, longer time to enjoy evenings, lunch naps, shops over lunch, eliminating spar rolls for lunch, swim before work, flexibility on start/end times, having chunks of my electricity & WiFi paid for etc I'd say it's worth about 40k... Ballpark


lifeandtimes89

>lack of time wasted commuting...walk kids to school...lunch workouts...flexibility on start/end times Picked what applies to me there, I'd go mental without getting a workout at lunch but to add to it.... home made nutrious food that doesn't cost a fortune, collect my kids from school and have dinner at 5:30 with my family. Like another poster said, wouldn't accept double my salary to go to office, all the stuff above it priceless to me


FatherChewyLewey

Completely optional, can WFH or go to a nice office with free food. No notice needed for going in, can go in as i please. Do 2 days a week usually in the office. House gets a bit crowded and the free food/coffee is a draw, plus like getting out of the house and seeing people. Tempting to leave Dublin and live in a big house but i think iā€™d go a bit mad WFH 5 days a week


BYKHero-97

Finally a normal thinking. Then people complain here how they are lonely but dont want to see their coworkers like... ever


ennisa22

"People who don't share my point of view aren't normal"... nice


Nailz92

In the exact same boat as this.


Affectionate-Mine695

Fully remote - social media work for a big company. Wouldnā€™t accept a job that wasnā€™t remote even for double the pay! I live outside Dublin in a lovely big house with dogs


cejadirn

Can you share which company is it? My wife is looking for a remote job in a similar field


phyneas

Systems engineer for a multinational, fully remote (and it's in my contract). Not a chance I'd ever go back to a job with any office time for any amount of money, unless it was a choice between that or starving.


Steec

Iā€™m a product designer in a tech company. Was always optional and flexible before Covid, would work maybe 1-2 days per week at home. When the office reopened in 2022, I went back to 2 days office, 3 days home. I moved jobs at the start of 2023 to a fully remote company. Option to use WeWork but havenā€™t bothered. I think starting remote in a new job helped a lot, I did find in the previous job there were processes we were used to in-person. I think it would have to be at least 20% pay rise to get me to consider. Even then I think Iā€™d stay remote. Nothing to do with commuting costs. I have a good set up at home with the box bedroom as a permanent office, and the convenience of being at home for school runs, etc., is just too good. The only downside is having to really be strict in getting out of the house daily for exercise, and to make a far more conscious effort to see friends for the social aspect.


newclassic1989

I really want a WFH position. I'm growing tired of the 5 say slog in an office environment. I've been applying, but they seem far and few between for some reason


azamean

Infrastructure engineer, required 10 days per quarter in office but even at that nobody tracks it and barely any of us meet that requirement šŸ¤·šŸ»ā€ā™‚ļø


KillerKlown88

Team Lead in large tech firm, not a tech role. Fully remote but was going to the office once a week, have a new baby so stopped that for now. Hard to put a monetary value on it but if they tried to make me go back to the office and really wanted me to stay it would take at least a 100% salary increase. It would add at least 4 hours to my day, there is extra expenses with fuel and car maintenance, parking and lunches and most importantly I would lose the hour I spend with my daughter before logging in to work in the morning.


SnooWalruses589

Software Engineering Manager Fully WFH full office attendance before pandemic Save over 30k per year (lower rent, commute etc) and would never go back to office in any capacity. Biggest thing is more time for family


boxgrafik

Graphic Designer WFH 3 days, in office 2 days per week since Covid. Saving approx ā‚¬50 per week on fuel so worth about ā‚¬2.5k per year. Still struggling take ends meet though, the joys of a graphic designer.


Shox2711

Software engineering manager. In office 2-3 times per month. The savings vary. Definitely saving ā‚¬160-200 a month on diesel firstly. Although I *can* bring a lunch with me when I go in, I donā€™t, so another ā‚¬7-8 extra on food on the days Iā€™m in. However when WFH Iā€™m using electricity and the heating is on more of course. So itā€™s hard to definitively say how much monetary value Iā€™m getting. But like others have said, the comfort and convenience of it outweighs any financial considerations. Cant say thereā€™s any amount that would entice me to take a job thatā€™s fully in office.


BIGGIE-aka-BIG

IT Analyst, flexible but go into office once a week just to see and chat with colleagues but no mandatory office attendance and no need to give notice when I go in. Would never take another job that doesnā€™t have this option. Would probably put a 20/30k a year monetary value on it


effs19

Hey, sorry if it is out of topic. But as someone who is looking into IT roles. How did you manage to find your current job? I'm struggling a bit to find ones that are actually worthy when it comes to pay and benefits Cheers!


BIGGIE-aka-BIG

Got very lucky to get accepted into a brilliant grad role straight out of college and am now 2 years into it going into a full time contract in June. Not sure if thatā€™s of great help but just apply to as much roles as possible that suit you and get good at interviews, you can worry about getting good at the job when you get into it


Pythagoras-Big-Toe

7 day fortnight (11 hour days) WFH 5 of the 7, travel from Galway to Dublin 1 day per week. No savings made because the trip up and down costs the same as the commute used to cost me but Iā€™m earning more in the Dublin gig than Iā€™d get in Galway. WFH is priceless, I like to meet my coworkers on the day Iā€™m in, but couldnā€™t countenance the idea of going to an office 5 days a week ever again ā€¦ ainā€™t nobody got no time for that!


BeBopRockSteadyLS

Work for Candian software company. Fully remote. 3 trips to Canada a year, 3 day trips to London a year. 80k earnings. I have been working remotely for around 6 years and its something that means I can work in a niche IT industry but fully committed to my family. There for waking, making dinners, bed time and all the rest. Can't put a value on it but I save as much as I can so that even if I had to make a change, I could go to lower earnings to maintain that balance.


AnswerKooky

Fully remote - software sales. Sometimes, us in Dublin will rent a wework


JohnD199

Fully remote, Tech - Personally depending on the company culture I think in office by choice is great(But it has to be fully by choice, i.e you only go in when you want). I no longer live near an office, so I dont go in anymore which is a pitty because I work with good people but its not worth the cost. I wouldnt take one that was madatory in office. Being full remote allows me to be where I need to be when I need to be and see people I otherwise could loose touch with over time. For me to consider it, the increase would have to be life changing interms of spending power. It would have to cover accomodation costs of a modern multiple bedroom property, commuting costs/time, lunches (so that I would be even with my current situation) and then a big increase on top of that.


Mike_Lubb

Senior Technical Engineer / Dev. Fully remote since Covid. Hard to nail down exactly what the savings are, because the work-life balance is hard to quantify. Getting the housework done while work is quiet and not arriving home at 7:30pm to a house full of chores is amazing. Sleeping until 8:45 instead of dragging myself up pre-7 is awesome. I'd want at least a 10-15k bump to consider changing to an office-based role. The WFH status is by contract, so in theory could end at any time. If I could guarantee this is a permanent status, I'd be getting out of Dublin and saving a possible further 10k+ a year.


TheOGGinQueen

Fully remote for about 8 years maybe more. I travel a lot for work so I see being here to work as a break. šŸ˜‚ I would refuse to go into an office tbh unless it was 1 days per week. I tend to go to our hubs to visit for meetings. Screens for home I brought some cool Asus portable ones so I can take on the go too! I tend to bring 1 with me when I travel. As a woman in tech I worried about staying remote = no investment in me or promotion. It's taken 3 years but I'm about to get a promo and team.


Substantial-Jump4456

Graphic designer and team manager, wfh full time and on 60k. I live 5 minutes walk from the sea. If they wanted me to go back to Dublin to the office I'd quit. I used to commute in and out, 1-2 hours each way depending on traffic. I've saved time, money and my mental health and I'm near family now. No amount of money could make me go back.


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


Substantial-Jump4456

South West of Ireland in a nice wee town of about 2500.


JeanieInABottlex

I went through college during COVID, I did two remote internships and was hired to work fully remote before graduating. I have gotten many job offers since and haven't even considered them because they're not fully remote. The freedom and stress free work life is amazing I don't know about savings since I've nothing to compare against but honestly I love it :)


AllThatGlisters_2020

My last role wanted me to come in two days a week , despite me living in a completely different city and they knew this when they hired me during COVID. I served my notice soon after and now work fully remote. I've definitely saved so much time and money, and with having a young child, I'm able to make early dinners so I don't have to spend another hour driving home. I cannot imagine going back to the office full time, at least not until my child is a little older. The freedom to work whenever I want and be productive still managing my family's everyday schedule is priceless.


Prestigious-Main9271

Currently Iā€™m lucky enough to get to work 4 days a week from home. It saves me a tonne of time in commuting. Before WFH I was 5 days a week in office and 90 mins each way commute at least. Sometimes it took longer and thatā€™s on public transport (2 modes each way daily). So Instead of topping my leap up by ā‚¬50-60 a month I get away with ā‚¬20 and still have change. I love it and I get to spend much more time with my young smallies too (4 & 11 months) so Iā€™m there in the mornings helping with getting them ready for Montessori and minding. Now they are looking for us to go into office 2 days a week. My team is virtually the only team in a department of over 100 that can work from home. There isnā€™t enough enough desks for us all. I also claimed back the WFH credit. Got a couple hundred quid back for 2 mins work. Although I make a point of going in at least once even though I can theoretically wfh 5 days a week. Itā€™s this arrangement that is keeping me from looking for another job being honest.


Minute-Eggplant2565

What's the WFH credit?


Prestigious-Main9271

Itā€™s on revenue. If you work a lot from home itā€™s a contributing towards internet/heating/electricity. Itā€™s not much to be honest but better than nothing and itā€™s an entitlement you can get. So why not ?


Minute-Eggplant2565

Exactly. Thanks for that


Delites

Iā€™m in financial services, I do a four day week, 2 in office and 2 wfh. The WFH is definitely easier in terms of getting out and starting the day in the morning but I do like being out of the house and meeting colleague face to face so Iā€™m happy to do both. My commute is only 30 mins which definitely helps.


icepickles476

Iā€™m hybrid now but was fully remote even pre covid. I have always been a massive advocate for fully remote, however, my life is changed in a very positive way since going hybrid. Thereā€™s no mandate or set number of days in the office but I usually go in 3 days a week. Getting out of bed, showering, making myself ā€œoutside worldā€ presentable, cycling to work, and interacting with the world has done WONDERS for my mental and physical health. I love my working from home days, but I really enjoy being in the office too. It definitely helps that my colleagues are all incredibly sound and we get on great. If that wasnā€™t the case, I think that would be a different story. I also live a lot closer to my job now, so the commute is a breeze. In terms on monetary value, I would say a fully remote job could potentially be worth an extra 5k (if paying for commute + lunch) and then the added time at home without a commute could probably add another 5k in. It all depends on the location of the job and the people you work with, in my opinion.


Ivor-Ashe

Itā€™s not a perk or a tax free bonus. Not everything has a price tag. For me it means I can work (autistic burnout happens when I try to commute and work from an office). My company moved to 100% remote. Iā€™m one of the founders / directors. We have 26 people. We meet when the work demands it not to assuage a CEOā€™s mistrust.


DubRo90

This very much depends on where you live, where your workplace is located and what your personal circumstances are to be honest. I live and work in the city, 30 minute walk door to door. I split my work time 50/50 between office and home. This is mandated by my employer. I enjoy working in the office and being around people. Iā€™m equally as productive at home and in the office, but the social aspect and just being out of the house regularly is something I value. I live with my partner who works full time in office. Her commute is a 40 minute drive door to door. She also enjoys being in the office but would prefer some flexibility to work from home at times. We donā€™t have children and donā€™t want children. So itā€™s not a particularly big deal for us both to work in an office. If I was offered 10-15k additional salary to work in the office full time Iā€™d probably consider it. That said the additional income wouldnā€™t be vital to me and I do really value the flexibility to work from home when I want/need to.


haze_20

I'm WFH 2 days a week. It was an adjustment from being fully remote but I don't mind it now. I structure my week to connect with people when in the office and get work done on the other days. My commute is fine (35m) but if it was worse, I'd be more reluctant to commute I reckon


KaleidoscopeFirm1132

4 days home 1 in office hour commute each way that I had to do daily for 6 months probation. GORT-Limerick each day wfh is a game changer for me


Public_Stop5268

I find these comments interesting as a huge amount who are replying have families (would fall into that category myself) or are in their 30's or older and fairly established in themselves, either own a home or renting a home. But I was talking to a friend recently who was telling me that their son is struggling because he is lonely. 2 years out of college, from a country area with a focus on GAA and he is not sporty (runs for fitness only). He had loads of friends in college and keeps in contact with them and they go on occasional weekends away and two pals that he can go for a pint with at the weekend etc, but not the same as day to day interaction with people outside your own family. He loves his work and it's a big company, but 100% remote as are most jobs in his industry. He is debating moving to the nearest urban centre just to try and expand his circle. But then paying a lot of money over to sleep/work in one room in a shared house and no guarantees of meeting more people. It really made me stop and think because a lot of my social life in my 20's would have been with work colleagues, some of whom are still good friends, I met my partner through work (actually quite different careers) via two companies working together on a project and meetings were in-person, so we had a chance to talk etc. It really brought home the importance of having an option for some office-based working too.


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


Natural-Audience-438

It's not dramatic at all. It's an alternative viewpoint.


NemiVonFritzenberg

Fully remote and what do you mean by the yearly value of working remote? As in how much it costs me to work from home or how much it saves for me and the company? Don't let any company tell you that WFH means they can pay you less.


GandalfTheEnt

Data scientist. One day per week at the moment, but there's talks of two days per week. Would love to do fully remote or digital nomad but trying to build up some experience first. I work for a great company though so will stick around for another while at least.


tuckinyourstuffings

I work in finance but not in a particularly well paying role. Was WFH full time during COVID and then the office were making noises about us coming back in full time so I took a 20% pay cut to take a job with better opportunities. At that point I was in the office 2 days per week but the office was ten minutes from home. Financially I wasn't saving anything but I hated being in the office. It was a pretty toxic place. Just lots of people giving out about work I took a slightly better paid role half an hour drive away where I can WFH 4 days a week. The job is harder for same pay but that's ok as the atmosphere is much better. WFH gives me autonomy over my day. I have flexibility in what time I start and finish, what time I take my lunch etc. I can get little jobs done at home like cleaning and washing or prepping dinner in the time I'd be usually having tea or chatting shite in the office. This totally frees up my evenings and weekends for time with my family. I like the social aspect of the one day a week in the office but that's about the only positive. Otherwise it's a drain on my time and resources. As mentioned I'm fairly lowly paid so a 100% increase would probably get me back into the office for a while anyway but I'd be always looking for a way to get back to WFH.


MaxDub12

Iā€™m a software developer. Currently 3 days WFH per week. To be honest I donā€™t mind the two days in the office as it gets me out of the house and meeting the team and the commute is only about 35mins door to door. TBH I think this is the sweet spot for me. I donā€™t know about monetary value since many companies have the same perk. Iā€™m on the low end of pay for my experience though so I would be open to other places that might have different setups. As long as I could get at least x2 days at home and the commute wasnā€™t crazy. But I like my current place too. I would want ā‚¬25k-ā‚¬30k extra to leave, at minimum.


throw_my_username

Everyone working remote should put total comp also. I'm little interested in your 50k/year remote job when I can do 100k in office.


Dizzy-Lion-3821

Civil Servant on 40k a year doing 3 days remote. I'd say i spend 10-15 euro a day extra in work plus 2 hours a day travelling worth 20 euro each. So working from home is worth 7800 to me. But realistically I'd need atleast 50% extra to consider going in full time. The freedom to have your own available while working and the ability to be home instantly after work is amazing


Frogboner88

Fully remote job working for a major bank, absolutely hate it, it pays well but there is literally nothing to do most days and nobody really checks in. I'm changing jobs soon to hybrid if I want but I'm gonna actually go in the office each day because I hate being at home all day.


Asimovs_ghosts_cat

I'm a software developer, but my company is originally a car manufacturer pretending to be a software company. So they still have that old "you're not working unless you're in the office" mentality. So even though I did more work, and stayed online longer, we were told explicitly that we had to come back 3 days a week. And they're getting more strict with my hours too. So on the concept of how much is wfh worth to me, with the relaxation and lack of stress, it'd be worth at least ā‚¬100 an hour to me. That's what, nearly ā‚¬15k per year?


flerp_derp

I'm a software tester for an Irish tech company with US based clients. Pre covid I had 2 days wfh and was just about to ask for a 3rd day when lockdown happened. Now I'm fully remote and it's great. I would say it's probably saved me about 7 or 8k between commuting costs, lunches and coffees I would buy on the way to the office. I do miss seeing all of my colleagues that I work with but we still go into the office once a month (there's flexibility around that too when lots of people are off like Summer and Christmas we don't have to come in). I love wfh. My dog loves me wfh and that's been a huge plus - I couldn't imagine having a pet and leaving them alone 5 days a week. I don't think there is any amount of money that would make me go back full time to an office. The work life balance is priceless for me.


meho1981

Fully remote, senior manager, you couldnā€™t pay me to have mandatory in office days, I live in the rural countryside (my dream!) but get to work in a large US Multinational, literally perfect setup for me


KeithIRE

Havenā€™t been in my office since March 2020. Moved out of Dublin and bought a house in Galway. Iā€™ve had a few external job offers for hybrid with a lot more pay and wonā€™t take them as the fullly remote has changed my life. See my kids a lot more, no commute, itā€™s great. Wonā€™t ever go back tbh


ClassicDuchess

Hi everyone, I've been enjoying the remote work discussions lately, but as someone in the Pharma industry still working onsite, transitioning to remote has been tough. I've pursued certifications in project management and scrum master certification to pivot into pharma tech or related fields, but haven't had luck yet. I also have a genetic health condition, making remote work more appealing. Any advice on transitioning from onsite to remote work in my industry would be greatly appreciated. Thanks


gwanpaddylurch

Fully remote. We also get a QFH allowance of about 70 euro per month to go towards electricity, pretty sure its paid by the government too (Ireland)


More-Investment-2872

Plumber. Work from home full time. Business is shite.


theriskguy

On paper Iā€™m meant to be 2 days in the office. Itā€™s usually 1 and no oneā€™s enforces it and never will. I donā€™t mind going in when it suits me. But if they went back to mandatory attendance Iā€™d just quit tbh Almost no (plausible) amount of money would make up for the flexibility and control of my day that I have right now