Working from home over Christmas in Ireland: should you let staff?

Our best advice

Yes, if you're happy with it - for a few days at Christmas it's an informal decision for you to make. Agree it in advance, be clear it's working, not annual leave (so it doesn't come off their leave and they do need to be reachable), and keep a record of who's home on which day. The statutory right to request remote working is a separate, more formal process for longer-term arrangements.

Between Christmas and New Year a lot of offices are half empty, the phones are quiet and the roads are a nightmare. So it's no surprise people ask to work from home. For most small teams we think it's a perfectly sensible thing to say yes to. It just needs a bit more structure than "yeah, whatever works".

Can staff work from home instead of taking annual leave at Christmas?

If you agree to it, yes. And it's genuinely useful for both sides - you keep cover for the odd email or call that does come in, and they save a few days of annual leave for later in the year.

The thing to be clear on is that working from home is working. It doesn't come off their annual leave, so they need to be doing their normal hours, answering emails and picking up the phone. If someone actually wants a day off, it's annual leave and it goes through as annual leave. Mixing the two is where it goes wrong - "working from home" on the 30th that turns out to mean "at the mammy's, checking my phone now and then".

If you're closing completely over Christmas, it's a different question - most people will just be off. We've gone through the closing-or-not decision in do companies close over Christmas in Ireland?

Do staff have a right to work from home over Christmas?

Not a right to work from home, no - unless it's in their contract or you've agreed it. What employees in Ireland do have is a right to request remote working. That's a formal process for an ongoing arrangement: the request goes in writing, ideally at least eight weeks before it would start, and you have four weeks to decide (extendable by up to eight more if it's genuinely hard to assess). An approved arrangement can't start until they've been with you six months.

So it's not really built for "can I do 29 and 30 December from home?". For that, an informal yes or no is all it needs - just write it down. If someone does make a proper remote working request, deal with it properly and follow the WRC's code of practice.

How to keep it fair for the people who have to come in

This is the bit that causes the most resentment, in our experience. Some jobs can't be done from home - someone's got to open the post, run the warehouse, serve the customers. If they're coming in while everyone else is at home in their slippers, they notice.

Use the same rule as annual leave. First come, first served up to however many you can have working from home on each day.
If some roles genuinely can't work from home, say so - and think about giving them something back, like an early finish or an extra half day.
Don't let it be the same people in the office every year. Rotate it if you can.

We've written more about deciding fairly in who gets Christmas off? - the same principles work for working from home.

Seeing who's in and who's at home

You need to know who's actually working on each day, and where. Otherwise you'll get to the 30th, need something done in the office and find out everyone's at home. Or find out someone you thought was working from home was actually on a flight to Lanzarote.

A shared calendar or a list does the job for a small team. What matters is that working from home goes on the same calendar as annual leave, so you see everyone in one place.

Why we built this bit

Working from home on the same wallchart as annual leave

In Book Time Off you can add your own leave types, so we added a "Working from home" one. It doesn't come off anyone's allowance - it's just recorded - and it shows on the wallchart right next to annual leave, so you can see who's in the office, who's at home and who's off at a glance. It's not a timesheet or a remote-working tool, we should be clear. It just answers "who's where?" without a message thread. There's a quick guide to creating leave types if you want to set one up.

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What to put in the Christmas email

A couple of lines is plenty:

Whether working from home is OK between Christmas and New Year, and on which days.
That it's working, not annual leave - normal hours, on email and on the phone.
How to book it (the same way as annual leave is easiest) and by when.
How many people need to be in the office each day, if any.

There's a full Christmas email ready to copy in our Christmas email to staff templates.

The legal bit, if you need it

You don't need this to get Christmas sorted, but here's what the rules actually say if anyone asks.

Employees have a right to request remote working under the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023. The employer must reply within four weeks, which can be extended by up to eight weeks, and an approved arrangement can only start after six months' service (Citizens Information).
The WRC Code of Practice sets out how employers should handle and decide remote and flexible working requests (WRC).
Working from home is working, so it doesn't count as annual leave (Citizens Information).
Health and safety duties still apply to people working at home (Citizens Information).

Sources

Citizens Information	Right to request remote working · Timescales and eligibility. Checked October 2026.
WRC	Code of Practice on the right to request flexible and remote working · Checked October 2026.
Citizens Information	Working from home · Employer responsibilities. Checked October 2026.
Citizens Information	Annual leave · Checked October 2026.

FAQs

Can I insist staff come in between Christmas and New Year?

Yes, if their contract says they work at your premises and you haven't agreed a remote working arrangement. There's no automatic right to work from home. If you need people in, say so in your Christmas email and explain why - most people are fine with it if they know in advance.

Does working from home count as annual leave?

No. Working from home is working, so it doesn't come off anyone's annual leave. That also means they need to be available and doing their normal hours. If someone wants the day off, it's annual leave and should be booked as annual leave.

Can staff use the right to request remote working just for Christmas?

The right to request remote working is meant for an ongoing arrangement: the request should go in at least eight weeks before it starts, the employer has up to four weeks to decide and an approved arrangement can only start after six months' service. For a few days at Christmas it's much simpler to agree it informally and write it down.

Who wrote this

The team behind Book Time Off. We run a small business ourselves, so we've had the Christmas leave clashes, the lost requests and the end-of-year leave pile-ups first hand - that's a big part of why we built it. Everything legal here is checked against Citizens Information, the Workplace Relations Commission and the Irish Statute Book, and we keep it updated when the rules change.

Not legal advice

This is practical, general information for employers in Ireland. If you've got a dispute brewing or something unusual in a contract, check with the Workplace Relations Commission (its information service is free) or an employment solicitor.