Women and hybrid workers face more obstacles to gaining promotion, according to new data published by LinkedIn, which ranks the country first for the availability of remote roles.
Some 9.1 per cent of Irish job postings on the platform in August were seeking remote workers, with Ireland also ranked second in Europe for hybrid jobs. About 37 per cent of Irish jobs postings on LinkedIn categorised as hybrid working, closely behind the UK at 39.3 per cent.
Remote roles also remain some of the most competitive jobs on LinkedIn, making up 15.4 per cent of job applications in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, with Ireland seeing even greater level of demand at 20.1 per cent.
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The LinkedIn data also shows that men consistently advance faster than women, with 10 per cent of men promoted within 65 months, compared to 74 months for women.
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This gap varies depending on flexible working, with on-site roles offering the fastest route for a promotion. Flexible arrangements reduce this gap, but only because progression slows for both men and women.
On site roles saw 10 per cent of men promoted within 64 months, with 10 per cent of women achieving this within 68 months.
Hybrid roles, however, saw delayed promotional opportunities, with men and women being promoted within 70 months and 72 months respectively.
While flexible work roles lead to greater parity between genders, staff based on site are promoted faster at the expense of slower progression for women.
Meanwhile, artificial intelligence (AI) engineering roles now represent nearly 7 per cent of all technical job postings on LinkedIn, which is a 63 per cent year-over-year increase.
Demand is not limited to technical roles – knowing how to work with AI agents is the fastest-growing skill in 2025, and AI literacy capabilities such as prompt engineering have surged more than 70 per cent in postings across fields like marketing and design.
LinkedIn Ireland country manager Cara O’Leary said: “Our data has consistently shown that Ireland continues to lead the way for remote and hybrid work opportunities, demonstrating how flexibility has become firmly established as a defining feature of our jobs market.
“Professionals are clearly embracing the benefits of choice in how and where they work, with Ireland seeing even stronger demand for remote roles than our European peers.
“This shows just how fundamental flexible working has become to attracting and retaining top talent, as employers continue to adapt to shifting expectations.”
Ms O’Leary said the research highlights that flexible working is “not without its challenges”, and “particularly for women, who continue to face slower progression” in the workplace.
“While hybrid arrangements help to narrow the gender promotion gap, they do so largely by slowing advancement for everyone,” she said.
“These findings underline the importance of companies being intentional about how they support career development in flexible environments, while also preparing for the next wave of change as AI reshapes roles and skills across industries.”
