Report of statutory review on the right to request remote work legislation

The right to request a remote working arrangement came into force for all employees on 6 March 2024. This right is provided for within Part 3 of the Work Life Balance Act. As required by Section 29 of the Act, a legislative review of the operation of the remote working provisions must be carried out not earlier than one year and not later than two years following the commencement of the legislation. The statutory review has now been completed, and the final report of the review has been published.

The purpose of the review was to fulfil the legislative requirement of Section 29 of the Act, which is to conduct a review of the operation of the remote working provisions of the Work Life Balance Act 2023, which are set out in Part 3 of the Act. 

The scope of the review was confined to what was required by the Act - review of the operation of the remote working provisions in Part 3 of the Act. Therefore, the review has not considered broader aspects of remote work such as productivity, retention or competitiveness. 

The review process comprised four key strands of research including a public consultation; a nationally representative employer and employee survey; engagement with the Workplace Relations Commission and employer and employee representatives; and engagement with the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality. 

The department engaged a research consulting firm, Ipsos B&A, to carry out the analysis of the responses to the department’s public consultation and to conduct and analyse the nationally representative employer and employee survey. 

The review process achieved significant engagement from stakeholders, including 8,181 responses to the public consultation, in addition to the completion of a statistically nationally representative employee and employer survey.