More non-pay perks and time in the office – survey reveals what’s in store for workers in 2024

Rising costs are the biggest challenge facing 84.4pc of Irish firms this year, according to the survey of more than 1,000 company bosses by employment advisers Peninsula Ireland. A similar proportion of firms in the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand said the same.

Labour shortages and employee ­retention are the next-biggest ­challenges, cited by just under half of firms here and a similar proportion of global firms.

When it comes to staffing, more than a quarter of Irish employers (27.8pc) say their biggest challenge is pay increase requests – well ahead of the other countries surveyed.

Almost two-thirds of firms (62.2pc) here say they have already offered financial remuneration to try to retain staff, up 17pc on this time last year.

But there has been a more than threefold (222pc) increase in the number of Irish firms offering “rewards and recognition” programmes and a 58pc bump in firms offering skills and training, the largest jump of any country surveyed.

“There is a real concern about labour and trying to appoint people and retain them,” said Moira Grassick, Peninsula Ireland’s chief operating officer.

“Maybe, for example, they might have put bonus schemes in place, extra training, they may have other benefit schemes, such as healthcare.

“There is much more of an emphasis on that now than just solely on pay increases.”

However, flexible working options are down 14pc on last year and hybrid working is down 17pc in Ireland, whereas it has risen in the four other countries surveyed. Almost half of Irish firms (49.1pc) say staff are now in the office full time.

“We are seeing, slowly, that people are looking to move back into the workplace full time, and it’s not just from employers,” Ms Grassick said.

“There is a little bit of a drive from employees as well. People feel a little bit isolated. I think, as the year goes by, we will probably see more businesses coming back – not necessarily on a full-time basis, five days a week, but definitely more than what we’re doing at the moment.”

The survey also showed an eightfold increase in Irish employers citing ­“other” challenges going into 2024, which Ms Grassick said could be related to a raft of new legislation on sick pay, minimum wages and leave that is coming into force this year.

Employers’ group Ibec recently called for a moratorium on new labour laws as firms try to implement what has ­already been agreed. “Employers have had a lot to deal with, a lot to implement,” Ms Grassick said. “And some of those ­pieces of legislation that we have brought in aren’t fully enacted yet.

“We probably need to make sure that all of that is done and all of it is implemented in the workplace before we look and say ‘what’s next?’.”

Meanwhile, retail and hospitality firms are considering layoffs and ­redundancies as the new year begins.

“That isn’t completely unusual when you have the peak of the Christmas ­season,” Ms Grassick said. “Some of that may be linked back to the cost of living crisis, and obviously the increase in the different wage elements as well.”