This time five years ago the world of work was turned on its head. As the first Covid lockdowns were announced, employees packed up equipment and headed for home leaving behind empty offices, businesses and classrooms.
The remote working revolution had begun. It was a difficult transition for many, with no shortage of challenges such as slow broadband speeds and technical glitches, not to mention interruptions from family members and pets.
Five years on however, a working model that was borne out of a public health emergency has been embraced by thousands of employees who have no desire for things to go back to the way they were. From publican to remote worker Covid restrictions meant that Caitlín McConn was forced to close the pub she had been running in Roscommon town for the previous ten years.
She loved her job and said that a sense of shock was replaced by a grieving process when she realised that she was not going to reopen her pub. "I closed on the 15 March 2020, expecting we'd go home for three weeks and everything would go back to normal but life took a huge change," Ms McConn said. "It was quite a shock at the time. "As time went on, I realised things would not be normal again and I think there was a grieving process almost for me when I made the decision that I was going to hand back the keys and not sign a new lease. "The question for me then was, what am I going to do now?" Ms McConn is now a fully remote worker operating out of her home office.
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