What happens when people can’t afford to actually get to work?

[Standbylove]

We have this scenario potentially cropping up, one of our team members is struggling for money since the cost of living has risen - they are tied into a large mortgage and even though we are paid well she’s finding it hard to find the money to make the 50 mile commute daily. It’s starting to make her stressed and anxious.
We don’t really have a WFH policy but the job could be done WFH but then that would open the can of worms for the whole organisation.
Surely this is going to crop up more and more. I wonder how sympathetic businesses will be….

Find it or change jobs

I don't expect to find many employers sympathetic to this - regardless of what they pay already, how many are going to agree they don't pay enough to cover basic living costs. In the end it's the employees choice - commute, move or find another job. Where you choose to live will never be the employers concern.

You can’t make policy decisions like WFH based on one individual’s circumstances. However it’s surprising that your organisation doesn’t have some WFH policy post-pandemic.

Presumably this person knew there was a 50 mile commute when they took the job. So the onus is on them to manage that or find a job nearer to home. However a more flexible WFH policy would be reasonable if your business can accommodate it.

I don't think businesses are likely to be sympathetic at all, do you? If you tether yourself to a large mortgage 50 miles away from work then that's your own personal choice.

Now, if your skill set or experience is in hot demand you could negotiate a pay rise to overcome this kind of issue. But that isn't an act of sympathy, just logistics.

It is definitely something that is going to affect a wider demographic soon. There are areas of the country where a 25 mile commute is seen as normal and there is little public transport, such as the South West. It will also affect those who have longer school runs too.

Honestly that sounds like the employees problem, not the employers.
I do really feel for anyone in that situation though.

Well when you take a job surely you work out the cost of commute and then subtract that from your salary to get your take home pay after travel costs? So the person's salary isn't really Salary X. It's Salary X minus travel costs. What they do with the remaining amount is up to them, but if it isn't enough they either need a new way to work or a better paid job, or a lower paid job closer to home.

It is already a concern in some schools...

I have a colleague who is talking about this situation too. The only difference is that I know she gets paid well, and I know how much she socialises (she tells me) so I’m biting my tongue hard not to explain that most employers are hardly going to care that she doesn’t want to pay her train fare twice a week because she still wants to go out socialising…

However, if your company doesn’t have a WFH policy it might be time to float the idea of looking at one, as it is one thing a company can do to help with the cost of living increases; some people will save more not commuting than they pay on increased energy bills.

But petrol has come back down quite a bit now, (although is still expensive) whereas it's food and heating costs that are going to keep going up by all predictions - so she might find it a lot more expensive to keep the heating on while wfh even if she saves some petrol money.

Unfortunately if you choose to live miles away from work you have to factor in the costs (time and monetary) in getting there! It's not like the office has moved, she knew where it was when she chose to buy.

As a workplace you could look into the benefits of wfh for everyone (at least everyone who can) though, even if it's just 1 day a week - its a good benefit to offer without costing the company anything.

Employees problem to sort
If she cant commute or move then she needs a new job that's closer.

What about those who bought four years ago? Some rough maths, based on average salary for South West (£30k). Two people buy a home for £220k (which will probably get you a property share rather than full ownership if you want to live anywhere half decent) . They can just about afford it and expect things to level out.

Then we enter the current economic landscape. Mortgage goes up £125 a month, food up by £90 a month, Fuel costs by £32 just for the commute. That’s an additional £250 a month. Perhaps a child has also been added to the mix.

What seemed a feasible commute four years ago is no longer viable so we shouldn’t automatically blame the employee.

We were starting to find it too tight tbh…so we’ve sold our ‘big family house’ and are downsizing to a home we bag more easily afford closer to DH work.

If you can’t afford your mortgage/bills you simply need to move.

It happened to me and I went looking for a job that was totally wfh with occasional visits to the office which is covered by my expenses.

Moving is not that simple for many people. Neither should that have to be the solution. Not everyone owns a house that is too big for them and can easily downsize, but I think you would know that if you stopped and actually thought about it.

Yup, change jobs or move.
I do think most employers who can offer some wfh are doing so already though so I’m surprised yours isn’t, but if there is a reason not to then they can’t change this based on 1 employee.

My company offers a free buspass and subsidised train travel. We have wfh too.

some companies will do a discounted travel pass that is taken via payroll before tax so you get savings that way too.

My colleague (teacher) has already had to leave our school and move to one closer to home as she was struggling with commuting costs on an ECT wage. Lots of our younger / newly qualified teachers are struggling.

Moving is never simple! But it’s a solution even if it’s not one that you want to take. And no not everyone can downsize. But a 50 mile commute is big.

Why would you take a job 50 miles away if you couldn’t afford the commute?

Unfortunately a lot of people overstretched themselves to buy houses they couldn’t really afford. They can either move to a cheaper property or change jobs. I can envisage a lot of larger open plan homes coming onto the market as people realise the cost of staying warm this winter.

I think rural employers will find it increasingly hard to recruit, and will end up paying more, or running minibuses/coaches. Not all jobs can be done from home, and not all staff are paying a mortgage - if a business pays NMW and relies on staff driving to work, you either need to help them get to work, or you end up massively understaffed.

@Worldgonecrazy

Thats pretty much exactly what happened to us only a slightly bigger home and two babies entered the mix.

just because you could afford your life two years ago doesn’t mean you’re entitled to keep it going now despite all the rises. Downsize, downgrade area, change careers lots of options but all things people rarely want to do (trust me I get it I didn’t want to either) but if you have to then you have to. Our eldest is also waiting on ASD diagnosis so moving will be even harder for them but needs must I'm afraid.

I’m honestly really shocked by how many of our peers are openly voicing how much their struggling and ‘can’t possibly carry on like this’ yet are doing absolutely nothing about it. When we sold up they acted really shocked and concerned. I predict that 6/12 months from now half the country are going to be absolutely drowning financially and angrily fist shaking at the government like they couldn’t possible have seen it coming 🤔

The cost of living crisis is only just getting started, anybody already struggling has clearly over stretched themselves,especially if that includes a large mortgage and other debt. You should never leave yourself with such a small margin for comfort when deciding to take on debt or make non-essential purchases.

Most employers won't care if they leave. It'll be a right mess.