In a move that finds a resonance with corporate activity more than 150 years ago, Tesco wants to see whether the concept of providing accommodation for its workers in the high-rent capital will ease staff retention problems.

This all seems very, very retro. Back in fact, to the 18th century industrial revolution, when wealthy factory owners began building housing for workers. In Ireland, the concept took off in the mid1800s.

In 1854, at Harold's Cross in Dublin, the Quaker-owned Pim's Textiles built housing for its employees. Guinness, headed at the time by Lord Iveagh, followed suit, along with some other companies. It was partly because of social conscience, but the housing construction also served a practical end.

Guinness had thousands of employees and making sure they had somewhere to live near the brewery was a means of securing its labour pool. Between them, Guinness and a handful of other firms built something in the order of 4,000 employee houses.

Even up to 1926, when a housing bill was being pushed through the Seanad, one senator bemoaned the fact that "failure with regard to the housing problem in this city [Dublin] has been the failure of the large employers of labour to give their contributions to the solving of the question".

He added that one English employer had established a factory in the capital 12 months previously, and unable to find "decent houses" for its workers, had built 80 for them.

"I wish Irish employers would take a ly a means for employers of realising value in assets."

Finnegan said it could make sense for some companies to examine the possibility of building employee housing, but that it would probably make more sense for those firms whose employees number in the thousands.

Paul McNeive, managing director of Savills HOK, also thinks the notion of the Tesco move being a throwback to the days of Guinness and similar employers is somewhat fanciful. He said that, with capital being globally mobile, there is less likelihood that large-scale employers would be willing to invest in property purely on the basis of offering it to employees.

"It's certainly a bonus for employers to be able to offer accommodation to employees, " said McNeive. "But Tesco's decision is unlikely to be as altruistic as it would have been for Guinness."

McNeive believes that some retailers are simply realising that they can derive more value from sites by adding an apartment development to a new retail unit. Still, he thinks that with more retailers now open 24 hours a day, for instance, it could possibly seem appropriate to provide accommodation for some employees who might otherwise have difficulty commuting to work.

Noeleen Corry, marketing manager with Jobs. ie, thinks Irish workers would probably be more interested in benefits such as creche facilities.

"Creche availability remains a huge issue at the moment, " she said. "Employers offering purpose-built accommodation isn't something we're likely to see here any time soon."

While it's unlikely that Tesco has started a trend, some former Guinness executives might well be raising a heavenly pint of plain to the retailer's management.