2025 in Review - The World of Work
The impact of artificial intelligence on the workplace and ongoing battles to retain remote working were among the employment issues that came to the fore during 2025.
There was a slight weakening in the jobs market towards the end of the year, with small increases in unemployment and a decline in advertised job vacancies. But despite this, the labour market is expected to remain tight next year and many employers may continue to struggle to fill key roles.
There was a limited number of industrial disputes throughout the year but unions have warned of potential unrest in 2026.
Pay demands amid ongoing cost-of-living pressures could be met with resistance from some employers who are already worried about increased costs in the form of pension auto-enrolment and another rise in the minimum wage.
Remote working
Within weeks of each other in the summer of 2025, the country's two biggest banks, AIB and Bank of Ireland, announced plans to increase the number of in-office days for their hybrid workers.
The moves led to angry responses from staff and their representatives, with the Financial Services Union (FSU) describing the AIB announcement as "regressive, shortsighted and without justification".
The FSU branded the Bank of Ireland decision as "problematic and at variance with the views of staff".
It was a reminder of how important flexibility and remote working has become to so many employees, and a reminder also that they are willing to fight to keep it.
In November, the Government opened a public consultation seeking views on the right to request remote working. It received more than 8,00 responses with the bulk of them coming from employees.
The right to request remote working came into force in March 2024.
It requires employers and employees to have regard to a Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) code of practice when considering applications for remote working arrangements.
Deirdre Malone, Partner and Head of Employment Law, EY Law Ireland, said conflict can arise because some employees incorrectly believe they have a right to remote work.
"The code of practice is very much focussed on a right to request and once an employer satisfies its obligations under that code, that's it and the WRC isn't going to step into the shoes of an employer and say you should have given this person remote working," Ms Malone said.
In November, a high profile and vocal critic of remote working made headlines.
Businessman Denis O'Brien claimed there has been a "marked decline" in the efficiency of all parts of the Government due to remote working.
"These problems are extremely serious and urgent," he said.
In an address to the Business Post's Economic Outlook Forum in Dublin, Mr O'Brien described remote working as "a mistake".
AI in the workplace
The impact of artificial intelligence on employment came into sharp focus in 2025.
In July, an Employment Monitor Report from recruitment firm Morgan McKinley Ireland found a drop in graduate hiring by major firms in the accountancy and finance sectors because of the adoption of AI.
"The notable reduction in graduate hiring by major firms, driven by AI capabilities, highlights potential challenges ahead," the report found.
"Companies are increasingly leveraging AI capabilities to automate routine tasks such as accounts payable, accounts receivable, credit control, and payroll," it stated.
"A notable trend driven by automation is the reduction in graduate-level hiring, raising concerns about potential shortages of experienced mid-level professionals, which could impact future business operations and growth," according to Morgan McKinley.
The graduates of today may well end up being the key staff members, middle-managers and executives of tomorrow.
It means there is a danger that companies could be depriving themselves of future talent pipelines by reducing graduate hiring.
In the summer, AIB announced a major AI rollout for staff in conjunction with Microsoft Ireland, sparking concerns from trade unions.
The bank said the new tools would reduce time spent on repetitive tasks, freeing up employees for higher-value work.
The Financial Services Union expressed concerns that AIB made its big AI announcement before a formal agreement had been finalised with unions.
In July, Microsoft announced plans to cut 9,000 jobs globally following on from 6,000 layoffs announced in May, and 1,000 redundancies in January.
The cuts came amid a major drive towards AI at the tech giant.
The move resulted in around 250 redundancies in Ireland.
Also during the year, a Workplace Relations Commission hearing was told that 150 job cuts announced in 2024 for multilingual support staff at TikTok's Irish office were driven by major advancements in AI.
A barrister for TikTok told the WRC that the business rationale for the layoffs was based on "vastly improving" AI technology "taking on a bigger role" and "reducing the number of employees required, particularly language skills".
A recent survey from PTSB found that 47% of respondents said they are very concerned or somewhat concerned about AI's impact on job security, compared with 44% of respondents who said the same the previous year.
In November, Jason Kwon, Chief Strategy Officer at OpenAI, visited Dublin to announce a new partnership framework for Ireland designed to boost AI skills.
Jason Kwon
Asked about concerns that AI will replace humans in the workplace, Mr Kwon told RTÉ News that technology will help people become more productive so that they can free up time to concentrate on other tasks.
"What we have seen in partnerships that we've had with other governments, one being the state of Pennsylvania in the United States, is their workers saving an hour per day," he said.
"That's not leading to job dislocation, it's actually leading them to do more with their time," he added.
Industrial disputes
The biggest industrial dispute of 2025 involved school secretaries and caretakers who went on strike demanding pensions comparable with teachers and Special Needs Assistants.
The dispute saw around 2,600 school secretaries and caretakers, who are members of the Fórsa trade union, engage in strike action for over a week at the start of the school year, impacting around 2,000 schools.
Fórsa withdrew the strike action after an agreement was reached to engage in talks at the WRC.
The negotiations broke down however and the dispute has not yet been resolved. The matter will be heard by the Labour Court in January.
In December, members of SIPTU and the INMO at GP out-of-hours service Caredoc went on strike as part of a pay dispute.
The action was suspended after a funding agreement was reached between Caredoc and the HSE but the unions warned they would have to see the details of the deal, and consult with members, before making a decision on future planned action.
In November, SIPTU members at Carroll's Cuisine in Tullamore, Co Offaly, engaged in strike action in a dispute over pay and union recognition.
The action was suspended after agreement was reached for management to enter negotiations with SIPTU representatives.
There was another dispute over union recognition in the aviation sector. The Irish Airline Pilots' Association (IALPA) had threatened strike action at cargo airline ASL Ireland over the busy Christmas period.
The strike threat was withdrawn after the two sides reached agreement at the WRC.
In November, the incoming General Secretary of the country's largest trade union, SIPTU, warned of significant periods of industrial unrest because he said the cost-of-living crisis is "screwing workers".
John King said the Government had abandoned the interests of working people.
"There will inevitably be pressure for wage demands in order for workers to be able to survive, so inevitably, I believe, it will lead to significant periods of industrial unrest," Mr King said.
The current public sector pay deal runs until June 2026.
"We know our members want a public service agreement, but not at any price," Mr King said.
"And unless there's an acceptable agreement that delivers on pay and conditions of employment, it could well be that there would be significant industrial rest in the public sector," he added.
In December, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) recommended unions in the private sector seek pay increases of between 4.7% and 6%, where sustainable, for 2026.
ICTU said the recommendation came as workers face continued pressure from inflation and followed a budget in which the Government chose to give "a no strings attached €700m handout" to the hospitality industry, instead of tax cuts for workers.
But while unions may be seeking pay increases of up to 6%, a survey by business group Ibec found that among employers who are going to increase pay in 2026, the average planned increase is just over 3%.
Many businesses will point to limited scope for large pay increases amid other rising costs such as pension auto-enrolment and another increase in the minimum wage.
Deirdre Malone of EY Ireland believes many employers will push back against excessive pay demands.
"I think increases will be small and limited because of all of the other costs businesses are facing," she said.
Pension auto-enrolment
From 1 January 2026, Ireland will embark on the biggest shake-up in the country's pension system in decades.
My Future Fund, the new pension auto-enrolment system, is designed to help around 750,000 workers to begin saving for their retirement.
Employees not already in a pension scheme, who meet the eligibility criteria, will be automatically enrolled in the new system from 1 January.
Initially, employees will pay in 1.5% of their salary, this will be matched by their employer, with the State topping up contributions by €1 for every €3 saved by the employee.
It will be an additional cost for workers and employers alike.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has welcomed the new scheme.
"Saving into a pension will be a big behavioural change for lots of workers and, given the large numbers of workers and employers coming under the scope of auto-enrolment, teething troubles can be expected in the early days," said ICTU General Secretary Owen Reidy.
Deirdre Malone of EY Ireland also believes there will likely be glitches at the start of the scheme.
"I think it's something new and it is 20 years in the making," she said.
"We are all going to figure it out. There is a lot of information out there but at the same time, there'll always be those unusual situations that arise," she added.
Something else coming down the line in 2026 is new pay transparency legislation.
Ireland has until June 2026 to transpose the EU Directive on Pay Transparency into national law.
It will require businesses to make further adjustments to how they report gender pay gap data.
Under the rules, employers will also have to disclose pay details in job adverts and will be prohibited from asking applicants about their prior salaries.
"An employer will not be allowed to ask you any questions about your current pay or your pay history, which really will help when you have two candidates in front of you, and one's man, and one's a woman, and in all likelihood, given the statistics across Europe, the man is likely to be earning more money," Ms Malone said.
"This starts a level playing field," she added.
Labour market
In November, the Labour Force Survey from the CSO showed that the unemployment rate rose to 5.3% in the third quarter of the year.
This was the highest rate recorded since the third quarter of 2021 as Ireland emerged from Covid.
A recent ESRI forecast said that employment would grow at a slightly slower pace with unemployment rising slightly in 2026.
Advertised job vacancies also dipped towards the end of the year.
According to LinkedIn, the drop off in advertised vacancies has led to a rise of "job hugging", the trend of workers reducing their job searches and staying put in their current roles.
But despite a predicted slowdown in employment growth in 2026, the labour market is expected to remain competitive with many employers continuing to struggle to attract and retain staff in certain sectors.Recent research from hiring platform IrishJobs showed that 70% of employers said that finding candidates with the right skills is their biggest hiring challenge for 2026.
"With employers continuing to face a competitive talent market in the months ahead, securing high calibre talent with the right skills will be one of the chief concerns for many organisations," said Christopher Paye, Country Director of The Stepstone Group with responsibility for IrishJobs.
Next year will be another year of balancing acts in the labour market. While some employers will continue trying to reduce remote working and get staff back into the office, others will have little choice but to offer flexible work in a bid to attract talent.
Unions have vowed to ramp up industrial unrest if pay demands are not met amid ongoing cost-of-living pressures.
With a new public sector pay agreement to be negotiated in the summer, the Government will need to strike a deal that maintains industrial peace but also achieves value for taxpayers.
Whether it is the ongoing battle to retain remote working, job losses linked to AI or pay demands being rejected by employers there are plenty of potential clashes looming in the world of work in 2026.
