US tech company, Concentrix has chosen Donegal for its initial remote working recruitment drive. This is due to the region’s talent pool and its proximity to Concentrix’s existing offices. They plan to create 50 new remote working jobs throughout Ireland but are focusing initially on Donegal.

The search has already started with opportunities available now with immediate starts. Roles are entirely remote and are open to people situated anywhere in Ireland. They plan to start in Donegal since it is nearby Concentrix’s offices situated in Derry and Belfast. They also have a presence in Dublin.

The business also chose Donegal due to its great potential. Donegal has a rich talent pool of well-educated individuals and Concentrix wants these people to join its company but still to give them the flexibility.

The US tech company offers customer experience tools to businesses across the globe. This includes over 95 Fortune Global 500 companies. They employ over 4,300 individuals in Ireland and have 270,000 team members around the world.

Donegal TD and Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue said: “The fact that a global company such as Concentrix has targeted Donegal for the first phase of their recruitment campaign is a testament to the education, skill, and ability of the Donegal workforce.”

“The fact that these 50 jobs are remote working opportunities is a clear sign that Donegal is a place to grow our remote working offering, which will, in turn, develop and enhance our rural communities.”

The Irish Government has been working tirelessly to find ways to make remote working a permanent choice after the COVID-19 pandemic. Leo Varadkar recently published legislation that gives Irish workers the right to ask their employer for remote working.

The Westgrove Hotel situated in Clane has announced its €2m upgrade which will allow them to create an additional 50 jobs in Kildare. The four-star hotel opened initially in 2006 and said they will be upgrading their event and meeting areas in addition to their bedroom suites.

Later this year, a second refurbishment will be taking place which will be an entire upgrade of the interiors. This includes the main ground-floor spaces. They will be carrying out a full redesign of their restaurant and bar. The residents’ bar will be renovated and added to the new hotel slug in addition to a new reception area to greet guests on arrival.

Leading interior design business Ventura Design will carry out the work. They have previously worked on projects such as the Adare Manor Estate in Luttrellstown Castle in addition to other work for Vogue Williams, Pippa O’Connor, and Millie MacIntosh.

The hotel just did a recruitment drive to increase its team of 100 staff. They have said they have seen a great bounce in the company within the last few months and with restrictions easing, they have seen a big demand for weddings and conferences.

The CEO, Patrick Fadden said he is excited the sector is back up and running again and that they expect to further develop their corporate and domestic leisure market which makes up around 80% of their current business.

A recent report has found that one in five job advertisements now offer work-from-home, flexible, remote working options. This figure includes 19 percent of job postings on LinkedIn.

The news comes from the recent Labour Market Pulse report carried out by IDA Ireland in collaboration with Microsoft and LinkedIn.

Additionally, the report uncovered hiring rates within the last two months of 2021 averaged at 22 percent higher than the same stage the year prior. This increase has continued into 2022 as hiring rates in January were recorded at 28 percent higher than in January 2019.

IDA Ireland’s report analysed the three-month period between October and December 2021. They discovered Irish employers were increasingly offering remote working options and one in seven job advertisements on LinkedIn do exactly that.

This shows a 118 percent year-on-year increase in the availability of remote working roles, making Ireland one of the greatest for flexible working across eight markets. According to LinkedIn’s research, Ireland is second to Spain. France, Sweden, Germany, the UK, the United Arab Emirates, and the Netherlands followed.

The number of job advertisements in IT and software industry groups also increased by 22 percent year on year. Other industries that saw an increase were finance at 9 percent and transport and logistics at 6 percent.

Martin Shanahan, CEO of IDA Ireland responded in relation to the data saying, he hopes this will enable “employers to tap into the talent base across all regions of Ireland.”

VP of Microsoft International Operations, James O’Connor said the number of roles that offer remote working “demonstrates the degree to which the Irish economy is continuing to digitally transform. It’s clear an increasing number of Irish-based employers are providing greater flexibility to employees who are seeking to embrace this new era of hybrid working.”

He added: “In a climate where employers continue to face challenges in terms of attracting and retaining talent, it’s hugely positive to see hiring rates continue to grow and sectors that were more exposed to the challenges of Covid-19 begin to recover.”