Wednesday is the most popular day for employees to work from the office

According to a new report from the Dublin Chamber and Savills Ireland, Wednesday is the most popular day of the week for office workers.

A survey of 500 Dublin businesses found that employers are seeing an increase in midweek office visits, with occupancy rates between 61 and 70 per cent on Wednesdays.

Tuesday and Thursday were also popular choices for hybrid workers, with occupancy between 51 percent and 60 percent on those two days.

Monday and Friday proved to be the quietest days in Dublin offices, with employers recording attendance levels of 10 per cent or less on those days.

Employers mentioned in the report now require their employees to show up in the office two or three days a week. While office work is seen as important, employers said they would continue to offer hybrid work arrangements to retain and hire staff.

However, 75 percent of respondents said the dominance of hybrid working makes it more difficult to maintain a positive team culture, and another three in five were concerned about onboarding new hires.

Another 60 percent said they were concerned about staff isolation or workers’ mental health because of the typical hybrid work arrangement to which employees have become accustomed.

Despite fluctuations in occupancy throughout the week, 76 percent of the companies surveyed have not changed the size of their office space.

The main attraction of the office remains face-to-face with colleagues, followed by after-work meet-ups, shopping, and virtual meeting fatigue.

“This has its advantages, particularly its ability to open up opportunities in the workforce for those who may have previously struggled to participate,” said Mary Rose Burke, chief executive of the Dublin Chamber.

However, she added that the adoption of hybrid working has led to some challenges, such as “loss of corporate culture, individualistic rather than team-based ways of working and digital presenteeism”.

Ms Burke also pointed to the difficulties companies are now facing in training new hires as senior staff choose to work from home, which “contributes to a loss of experiential learning in the workplace”.