Ireland, 31 August 2020: Alison, one of the world’s largest free e-learning platforms, announces it is reducing its head office space by 80% and moving to a fully remote operation in response to an internal survey looking at its employees’ attitudes towards home working.

The survey of its 23 workers based at the company’s headquarters in Galway, Ireland, which was conducted as a result of the pandemic, shed light on their desire to join their international peers across the globe and continue working as a virtual workforce. For many employees, the remote working proposition offers a better work-life balance, increased productivity and more disposable income from reduced commuting.

The company has a global headcount of 100 working in twenty-two countries across Europe, Asia, America and Africa. Collectively, the team speaks over 20 languages. 

The company also reveals it has enjoyed growth during the pandemic as many people turn to digital tools to upskill whilst at home. The business saw nearly 500,000 people complete courses in quarter two and one in fifteen of the UK’s workforce has been on the Alison website.

Mike Feerick, CEO and Founder comments on the move, “The pandemic has changed the way businesses operate. While Alison was increasingly virtual before COVID, the twin realities of the health risk of COVID and the lifestyle benefits of working from homemade many organisations like ourselves leap forward in that respect. A surprise has been the increased productivity of home working. Our team starts work without the stress and time-sink of commuting with a focus immediately on the tasks at hand. We have a global team, many of which work from home so it made sense to ask our office-based staff if they wish to return to the office or remain working from home indefinitely. We are a service company and video conferencing tools mean we have no real need for an office in the traditional sense. We still have a base in Galway but we have reduced our commercial office footprint. We were early adopters of the remote-working revolution – it allows us to tap into developing countries’ workforces and to create employment opportunities across the globe. This is aligned with our core belief that everyone should have access to education and opportunities, irrespective of gender, geography, economic status or any other barriers to access.”

ENDS

For further information please contact the Alison PR Team via email: [email protected].