The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment intend to seek proposals from the research community on the social, economic and environmental implications of reduced working time.
Similar research has been carried out in other jurisdictions to give consideration to how, for example, a move to a four-day week would impact on:
- greenhouse gas emissions, environmental pollution and resource / energy consumption
- macro-economic impacts, employment levels, competitiveness of businesses and staff productivity
- gender inequality, staff well-being and job satisfaction
This new research call will provide an opportunity to address these impacts in the specific context of the Irish economy.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said-““The COVID-19 pandemic has caused us to rethink and re-evaluate how we work. It’s been shown that huge numbers of people can be just as productive while working at home rather than having to come into the office every day and it has accelerated the shift towards more flexible and family-friendly working hours.”