The HRLocker Room Episode 4: Remote Work Reset - Ireland’s €10 Million Missed Opportunity

Why Ireland’s remote work revolution has stalled, and what it would take to win the next wave of jobs, with Tracy Keogh, Co‑founder of Grow Remote.

Episode overview

Six years on from the great work‑from‑home experiment, the conversation about remote work in Ireland has gone strangely quiet. Roughly 15% of Irish companies now hire fully remotely and 45% are hybrid, but the change is, in Tracy Keogh’s words: “stitchy, not systemic.” Headlines focus on big multinationals pulling people back to the office, while a whole category of globally distributed employers passes Ireland by.

In this episode of The HRLocker Room, HRLocker’s CEO, Crystel Robbins Rynne, sits down with Tracy Keogh, Co‑founder of Grow Remote, to unpack where Ireland has actually landed on remote working, and what it would take to turn dispersed progress into a genuine national advantage.

Grow Remote was founded pre‑pandemic to solve the practical problems of remote work and maximise its benefits for people, places and employers. Today it runs Europe’s largest training programmes for remote workers, managers and adopting organisations, and operates the world’s largest offline community of remote employees, with local meet‑ups across Ireland growing by 120%.

Tracy makes the economic case in stark numbers: for every 1,000 remote jobs landed into Ireland, the country gains approximately €10 million in tax revenue and €20 million in GDP, and proper PRSI/PAYE employment, dispersed across towns from Mullingar to West Cork. She also doesn’t shy away from the harder truths, saying: there is real, organised pushback against remote work in parts of Ireland, the “right to request” legislation isn’t moving the needle, and not every company should go remote…and that’s fine.

Tune in for a candid, practical conversation about defining what remote work actually means, why the IDA / Enterprise Ireland model needs a location‑agnostic equivalent, and the surprising story of an Irish AI team that landed roles a multinational couldn’t fill in the US.

Key topics we explore

• The state of remote work in Ireland: 15% fully remote, 45% hybrid, and why the progress is “stitchy, not systemic”
• Why the “right to request remote work” legislation isn’t shifting the dial
• The missing category: global remote‑first employers (Automattic, GitLab, Zapier) and how to win them into the Irish market
• The economic case: €10M in tax revenue and €20M in GDP for every 1,000 remote jobs landed
• Defining “remote work”: from one‑day‑a‑week hybrid to fully nomadic, and why location‑agnostic employment is the sweet spot
• The talent gap: why Irish candidates and global remote employers aren’t finding each other
• Local pushback against remote work and why blocking it isn’t an option
• What an “IDA for remote work” could look like in practice
• Why some organisations should stay office‑first, and how to know which camp you’re in

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