The Remote Work Standoff

Why Your RTO Policy Is Costing You Talent in 2025

The Email That Started It All

"Effective January 1st, all employees are required to return to the office four days per week."

Your Head of Engineering sent this email six months ago. Since then:

• Three senior engineers have given notice
• Five more are "quietly looking" (you can see the LinkedIn profile updates)
• Your offer acceptance rate dropped from 80% to 30%
• The passive-aggressive Slack messages about commute times are getting harder to ignore

Sound familiar? You're not alone. But you might be wrong about what's actually happening.

The Data You Need to See

Remote and hybrid work postings in Ireland reached 17.5% at the end of 2024, more than four times pre-pandemic levels. Ireland ranks second in Europe for hybrid jobs, with 37% of job postings offering hybrid arrangements.

But here's what the data doesn't tell you: your engineers aren't fighting you about remote work because they want to wear pajamas all day. They're fighting you because the maths has changed.

The New Mathematics of Commuting

The Old Calculation (Pre-2020)

• Commute cost: €200/month (parking + fuel/transport)
• Commute time: 1.5 hours/day
• Opportunity cost: "That's just what work is"
• Alternative options: Limited

The New Calculation (2025)

• Commute cost: €300/month (inflation hit transport hard)
• Commute time: 1.5 hours/day = 30 hours/month = 7.5 working days/year
• Opportunity cost: Could be coding side projects, learning, exercising, parenting
• Alternative options: 200+ companies offering remote roles at similar or better pay

Your senior engineer making €100k is spending €3,600/year and 7.5 days commuting. That's a 3.6% pay cut plus a week of their life. It's little wonder that they're interviewing at companies offering full remote at €105k.

What Engineers Actually Want (And What They'll Accept)

The Non-Negotiables

• At least 2 days remote per week (60% of candidates)
• Flexibility on which days (no mandatory Tuesdays and Thursdays nonsense)
• Actual remote work, not "work from home but be on Zoom calls for 6 hours"
• No tracking software, no activity monitoring, no "green light must be on"

The Nice-to-Haves

• 3+ days remote (35% of candidates make this a dealbreaker)
• Fully remote with optional office access (15% of candidates will only consider this)
• Core hours flexibility (don't care if they start at 7am or 10am)

What They'll Trade Remote Work For

• €15-20k additional salary (about 40% would accept 5 days office for this premium)
• Significantly shorter commute (under 30 minutes)
• Exceptional office environment (proper parking, great food, quiet spaces, top-tier equipment)
• Compelling technical challenges that require in-person collaboration

The Arguments You're Making (And Why They Don't Work)

"We need spontaneous collaboration and innovation"

Your engineers' response: "We had five spontaneous hallway conversations last year. Four were about lunch. The fifth could have been a Slack message."

The reality: Most "innovation" happens in scheduled meetings, dedicated brainstorming sessions, or during intentional pair programming. The spontaneous insight is rare enough that it doesn't justify five days in-office.

"Junior engineers need mentorship and osmosis learning"

Your engineers' response: "Agreed. So require juniors to be in 4 days and seniors to be in 2-3 days for mentorship coverage. Why does the entire finance team need to be there?"

The reality: This is your strongest argument, but you're applying it too broadly. Juniors benefit from in-person time. Seniors with 8+ years experience? Less so.

"We built this culture in person and need to maintain it"

Your engineers' response: "The culture is Zoom meetings from individual desks and lunch at our laptops because there's no lunch break anymore."

The reality: If your office culture is people on video calls in separate rooms, you haven't maintained office culture, you've just made everyone commute to be on Zoom.

"We pay for this office space"

Your engineers' response: "That's a sunk cost fallacy and not my problem."

The reality: They're right. Your office lease is a business decision that shouldn't dictate talent strategy. Would you force engineers to use old technology because you already bought it?

What Actually Works: The Hybrid Models That Don't Suck

Model 1: Team Sync Days: Each team picks 2 days per week when everyone is in. Different teams can pick different days. The office has 40-60% occupancy instead of swinging between 90% (mandatory days) and 5% (other days).

Why it works: Actual collaboration happens. No one commutes just to be on Zoom. Teams have autonomy.

Model 2: Core Hours + Outcome Focus: Remote-first with quarterly in-person weeks. Focus entirely on outcomes. Track velocity, not attendance.

Why it works: Appeals to high performers who want flexibility. Quarterly meetups provide culture reinforcement without the daily grind.

Model 3: The Honest Premium: 5 days in office, but pay €15k above market rate and own it. "We believe in-person work is superior for our specific context, and we compensate accordingly."

Why it works: Respects your belief while acknowledging the market reality. Attracts people who prefer office work (they exist!).

What Doesn't Work: The Stealth RTO

"We're hybrid! 4 days in office, 1 day remote."

That's not hybrid. That's office-based with occasional remote work. Call it what it is. Candidates see through the language gymnastics.

How to Make the Right Decision for Your Company

Step 1: Actually Measure Impact

• Compare team productivity metrics pre-RTO, during hybrid, and post-RTO
• Survey your team anonymously about productivity factors
• Track who's leaving and why (are your best engineers departing?)

Step 2: Acknowledge the Tradeoffs There's no perfect answer. In-office has benefits. Remote has benefits. Hybrid has both sets of drawbacks. Own your choice and the reasoning behind it.

Step 3: Make It Defensible If you require in-office work, be able to articulate:

• Specific ways it improves outcomes for your company
• Why alternatives wouldn't work
• How you're compensating for the flexibility loss

If you can't defend it beyond "that's how we've always done it," expect to lose talent.

Step 4: Be Consistent If remote work is bad for productivity, why are your executives working from home 2-3 days per week? If collaboration is essential, why are product and design fully remote while engineering is required in office?

Inconsistency signals that policy is arbitrary.

The Recruiting Reality You're Facing

When we're recruiting for clients, here's what happens:

Full Remote Client: 40-50 qualified candidates interested, close rate 60-80%

3-Day Hybrid Client (with flexibility): 25-30 qualified candidates interested, close rate 40-60%

4-5 Day Office Client: 10-15 qualified candidates interested, close rate 30-40%

The 4-5 day office client needs to offer €15-20k more to get similar candidate interest as the remote client. That's the market rate for commuting in 2025.

What We See That Works in 2025

The companies successfully hiring in Ireland right now are doing one of three things:

Option A: True Remote-First 

Fully remote with quarterly meetups. Office space available but optional. Build culture through intentional virtual events, clear documentation, and async communication. Hire from anywhere in Ireland (or Europe).

Option B: Flexible Hybrid 

2 days in office (team chooses which days), 3 remote. Core hours but flexible start/end. Measure outcomes, not attendance. Accept that office is 50% occupied.

Option C: Office-Based Premium 

4-5 days in office, but pay 15-20% above market, provide exceptional environment (free lunch, parking, gym, quiet spaces), and be honest about the tradeoff. Hire people who want office culture.

How TREQS Helps

We help you navigate the remote/hybrid conversation during recruiting:

• We tell you honestly when your office requirements are costing you candidates
• We share what competing offers look like (including remote/hybrid terms)
• We help you articulate the benefits of your approach in ways that resonate
• We identify candidates who actually prefer your model (they exist!)
• We navigate the negotiation when candidates want more remote flexibility than you typically offer

The companies that are honest about their approach (and flexible where it matters) are the ones closing the best candidates in 2025