Fears have been raised that the shift to home working will lead to job losses following PayPal’s announcement of office closures in Dublin and Dundalk.
he online payments company is set to close its customer service headquarters in Dundalk on March 31. It will also downsize by selling its Dublin hub at Ballycoolin and moving to a smaller office.
The announcement comes in the wake of a seismic shift to remote working that began during the pandemic.
The Dundalk staff will be able to work on a hybrid basis with their Dublin-based colleagues at the smaller premises.
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There will be 62 compulsory redundancies out of a workforce of 2,000. Thirty-five jobs will be lost in Dublin and 27 in Dundalk.
A company spokesperson denied the job losses were linked to the changed way of working. He said the redundancies, which will be across a range of roles, are a “correction” following a substantial increase in hiring during the pandemic.
However, there is concern that further big office closures as a result of hybrid working will hit hard staff working in building facilities.
PayPal said a small number of contract workers who are employed by third parties to manage facilities at its offices will be affected, although some may be redeployed.
Home working is also affecting businesses that rely heavily on office staff.
PayPal’s announcement arose out of hybrid and remote working arrangements that are already in place. It said it had seen a change in working arrangements since the start of the pandemic as employees embraced the opportunity to work from home.
Sources said that in the past couple of months there had been a daily average of 60 to 80 people “rattling around” its two offices, which can accommodate up to 1,100 staff each.
Mary Connaughton, director at HR specialist firm CIPD Ireland, said companies are now more likely to review their building requirements and there is an evaluation of space going on. This has become more relevant due to a sharp rise in heating costs.
“They’re getting more established in new ways of working and are now looking at the space requirements they have,” she said. “Some have revamped and they are more communal. I know companies are saying they are relatively empty on certain days of the week and asking, ‘Do we need to be paying high rent for those?’”
Ms Connaughton said this did not mean there would be widespread office closures, as some employers would find they could expand without having to increase their office space due to hybrid working.
“It does have implications for employees that might work in facilities,” she said. “In most organisations, that’s not a big number of employees that would be in that support function.
"You could have a canteen, you would have receptionists and some level of facilities to manage the heat, the photocopier and all of that infrastructure. If you are closing a premises, that means that particular group of people would no longer have jobs. It doesn’t mean the overall workforce is being cut down.”
Moira Grassick, of Peninsula Ireland, said home working has had a knock-on effect on SMEs as their footfall has dropped. She said: “The newsagents and coffee shops that thrived with business in the city centre, they’re the ones that will probably suffer most.”
