{"id":64740,"date":"2025-09-15T04:07:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T04:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/64740\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T04:07:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T04:07:06","slug":"employees-feel-entitled-to-hybrid-working-says-head-of-lewis-silkins-dublin-office-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/64740\/","title":{"rendered":"Employees feel \u2018entitled\u2019 to hybrid working, says head of Lewis Silkin\u2019s Dublin office \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the aftermath of the Covid-19<\/a> pandemic, some employees have been left feeling \u201centitled\u201d to remote and hybrid working, according to S\u00edobhra Rush, head of employment law firm Lewis Silkin\u2019s Dublin office.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe remote work, or hybrid working arrangements that came about as a result of Covid, they now see that as an entitlement, which it isn\u2019t,\u201d Rush tells The Irish Times, noting the issue has led to \u201ca lot of contention\u201d.<\/p>\n

She says the workplace has changed significantly since the pandemic, with arrangements that would have been \u201cunheard of in 2019\u201d now becoming the norm. It has brought challenges for employees and employers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur client base is mainly employers \u2013 we do very little employee work \u2013 but I definitely see this sense of entitlement.\u201d <\/p>\n

For employers, she says, you have to find the balance between fairness, flexibility and what is reasonable. \u201cIt\u2019s a very close relationship, and you have to try and work things out rather than being too dictatorial.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rush has found that the decisions to increase employee requirements to be in the office are often portrayed as a \u201clack of trust\u201d, but points to its importance for teaching and developing new and younger staff.<\/p>\n

It is something she has had first-hand experience doing, having led Lewis Silkin\u2019s Dublin office since its inception, growing its Irish workforce and training new solicitors. The firm first set up its Irish presence in 2018, just before the Covid-19 pandemic, with a clear vision \u201cto be the leading employment law practice in Ireland\u201d, Rush explains.<\/p>\n

Headquartered in London, Lewis Silkin approached Rush to lead its Dublin office, which she says was a \u201conce-in-a-lifetime opportunity\u201d. <\/p>\n

Many of the firm\u2019s blue-chip clients based in the UK were setting up bases in Ireland and the firm wanted to provide the same consistency of advice to these firms for their Irish operations, explains Rush. But the timing worked out well for the firm \u2013 \u201cwe got lucky\u201d \u2013 as it had been able to get a foothold in the Irish market before the disruption of the pandemic. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so well timed, really, because we grew so quickly and then Covid hit.\u201d <\/p>\n

It has rapidly expanded in the years since, setting up an office in Belfast in 2021, joining forces with local employment law specialist Jones Cassidy Brett before combining with media, tech and IP practice Forde Campbell in January 2022.<\/p>\n

The firm\u2019s presence in Ireland now stands at 85 people, having recently been joined by a series of new hires to complement its specialisations in employment and immigration law, as well as Workplace Relations Commission proceedings and internal HR practice. A new partner, Joanne Hyde, also came on board early this year.<\/p>\n

The expansion comes after the firm increased its fee revenue by 50 per cent in the past year, which Rush says was key to its continuing expansion. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe had offices in London, Cardiff, Oxford, Hong Kong, and then Dublin was the fifth. Since then, Lewis Silkin has opened offices in Belfast, Leeds and Manchester, and we\u2019ve just opened one in Glasgow.\u201d <\/p>\n

Its offices also collaborate with the international Ius Laboris network of employment law firms \u2013 its Dublin office is the only Irish member.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Working from home \u2018trending upwards\u2019 despite moves to bring workers back to the officeOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

When the Dublin office first opened, the firm struggled with brand recognition in the Irish market. \u201cThe brand wouldn\u2019t have been known, really, except amongst employment lawyers at the time,\u201d explains Rush, but that has begun to change, with the firm attracting more new domestic clients as it has grown.<\/p>\n

The goal is to \u201creplicate what they have in London. To be the firm that clients want to work with; be the firm that star employment lawyers want to come and work with,\u201d Rush says, noting: \u201cWe are definitely on track for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a long way to go, and, while the journey so far as been \u201creally, really great\u201d, she admits that \u201cevery time I think about it, I get tired\u201d.<\/p>\n

A graduate of University College Dublin, Rush has been involved in employment law since qualifying, quickly specialising in the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmployment law is the type of area where your clients, it\u2019s a very high-trust relationship, and when things can go wrong \u2013 particularly in relation to senior employees \u2013 you need to be on the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Particularly in Ireland, she says, employment disputes and issues \u201ccan get very legal quite suddenly, and it can get aggressive\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Majority of workers see hybrid working as essential to wellbeing, survey showsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

This comes from constitutional rights to natural justice and fair procedures under the Irish Constitution, Rush explains \u2013 disciplinary procedures and investigations are \u201cheightened\u201d.<\/p>\n

In Ireland, there is \u201ca lot more emphasis on employers complying with their procedures\u201d, which she agrees with but says it means that for international firms \u201cgaps in procedure or slips that you might get away with elsewhere, you might not [get away with] in Ireland\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have heard of investigations in which there were more lawyers in the disciplinary procedure than there would be in a courtroom, because even the witnesses have lawyered up. It is that type of environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rush says her job is \u201cto be at the cutting edge of employment law\u201d but the world of work is ever-changing. With the rise of AI, she says, \u201cwe are all learning, you\u2019re constantly learning in this game\u201d.<\/p>\n

AI is increasingly appearing in the workforce and Rush says she has even come across ChatGPT-generated documentation in her practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t see it necessarily replacing jobs [in law], I just think jobs will change, the workplace will change,\u201d she says, but believes it will be increasingly used in recruitment and worker performance analysis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think any employer who ignores it is foolish. It is like a train that it coming for us, and we need to learn how to monitor and regulate it, to ensure it is not being used in ways that expose employers to legal risk.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, some employees have been left feeling \u201centitled\u201d to remote and hybrid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[176],"tags":[79,18,19,17,227,45669,80,1737,81],"class_list":{"0":"post-64740","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-jobs","13":"tag-law-society","14":"tag-work","15":"tag-working-from-home","16":"tag-workplace-relations-commission"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}