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….

It's really the employees problem to solve, but moving closer or getting another job isn't always that easy. A lot of my colleagues have 50mile commutes because living closer to central London is really expensive, and most jobs are in my field are based in London.

Circumstances could have changed since she took the job. While fuel has come back down, it's still a lot more than it has been, plus food, mortgage, heating etc all gone up, maybe her partner is seeing similar cost increases too. Their disposable income could have reduced by hundreds of pounds a month due to all this.

Plus sometimes 25 miles away is the nearest they can afford to live, or they were previously made redundant and this was the best job they can find.

It's often not as easy as 'find well paid job and buy house nearby' and live happily ever after.

But is the company not offering a pay rise? You say you could offer WFH but don't. That seems rather regressive these days and if you're not careful, you're going to have real staff retention issues.

@Tootlingalong

I think that’s maybe a little harsh. We moved into our current property 2 years ago and now pay on average £400pm more for food/fuel/energy than we did. The cost of oil increased more than 5x it’s original cost last winter. That’s quite a large chunk in a short space of time and definitely enough to move from the ‘we have a comfortable monthly budget’ to the ‘oh this is getting a bit tight now’ bracket.

I do think a lot of people have overstretched themselves to start with and there is going to come a point where they can’t hide it anymore. However, we had a sensible budget coming in and now have had to sell.

ironically we were told last week by an estate agent that chains are now breaking left right and Centre. It started about 2 weeks ago apparently, sounds like most of the people who bought at massively inflated prices over the early part of the year have realised they can’t afford to take on those houses and are pulling out on mass!!! I’ll be interested to see if this is the beginning of the housing market collapse.

I don’t know which country you are in OP, but in the UK the state doesn’t actually allocate housing, and tell you where to live, so people are allowed to sell their house and move to another one.

It’s the same with jobs, people have the right to resign from one and take on another.

Obviously this isn’t the case where you live, so it’s hard to comment more without understanding the situation.

This or even if could! Time consuming
And all..

Maybe they were made redundant from a previous job and this was the closest new one in their field they could get.

Maybe they have to compromise on location with their partners job

Maybe they can't afford to live any closer

Maybe they have other ties to the location - children settled in school, aged parents etc?

Moving house is expensive and time consuming, especially if you're buying and selling. It can take months to get a chain in place and actually move, even when you've decided that's what you're going to do.

I think most people do consider transport costs when looking at housing and jobs and commutes.

We don't drive but bus and train fares do increase often above inflation.

Despite carefully considering transport to college for DD1 - we got caught out - covid delays in processing cheaper tickets passes then bus strike then finding alternative trains didn't run early enough meant taxi only option for some days and it meant the travel costs quadrupled till bus strike ended.

I do think it's an employee problem though they may solve it by changing jobs if wfh or pay rises aren't on offer.

Here it hit the news high fuel costs impacted the care workers driving between appointments many left the sector and it's added to the sectors staffing issues which has impacted the hospitals.

A friend lives in a carehome, they have lost staff because they simply can’t afford the petrol to get to work, mainly carers and cleaning staff. It isn’t served by public transport and its in a fairly rural area, so roads aren’t suitable for cycling.

I think we're going to see the opposite this winter. People won't want to WFH and pay large amounts of money to heat their house all day. They'll be asking to come into the office more

I think circumstances have changed massively and very unexpectedly for a lot of people, and we're keeping our ears open at work in case anyone in the team is struggling. We've also given everyone a small pay rise to help cover some of their increases in bills. There's very much a sense of everyone pulling together.

We're finding that our work from home policy isn't actually that appealing however, as employees then need to plug their computers in at home, put lights on, get the heating on (or work in the cold) so suddenly the cost of fuel doesn't seem so bad in comparison. Has your team member considered that?

I think that for years as a society we've over committed ourselves financially, big houses that cost 50+% of net salary, credit cards with 30% APR so we can have the latest/nicest of everything, streaming services, loans for extensions/sofas/kitchens.

Now that interest rates are rising and cost of living increasing we need to take stock and cut back.

People who are lucky enough to be on a good salary should be able to live within their means.

Obviously what I have said does not apply to those on minimum wage or getting UC top ups, but the OP says that her colleague is on a good salary and has over committed with the house.

I think the real problems will be with those that we don't pay well enough but do really on for basic societal infrastructure. The care workers who have to use their own vehicles to travel to peoples homes and have no control over their travel miles, the retail and factory workers who can't use public transport because they need to leave work at 3am, the junior doctors working night shifts...... How do they continue to afford transport when the costs are increasing, the pay isn't and there is no tolerance in their budget or alternative option like a bus available?

It's going to happen a lot, people moving out post pandemic enjoying the glory days of wfh enjoying paying no travel and commute costs.
Many still wfh or at least have hybrid others like your friend are now stuck with expensive commutes
This is an employee problem

That's going to be a really big issue for social care staff. There's a tendency to put a lot of care homes and supported living places in rural areas that aren't well served by public transport. Then they pay the staff the lowest wage possible and wonder if he they can't retain anyone.

My job is about the same distance round-trip and I have to say, as much as I hates WFH to start with wen COVID hit, I am so grateful now not to have to pay the fuel costs to commute every day.

They were high enough pre-COVID but I took the job knowing that so I couldn't complain and I would find a job closer to home rather than complain now if WFH wasn't an option as It's my responsibility to get to work, not my employers.

Can an flexi approach not be introduced where staff can WFH 2/3 days a week, which would massively reduce commuting costs?

Sorry, yes my post was far too generalised. I do recognize that some people are already experiencing greater increases in costs (so aren't on fuel price cap for example).
We really struggled through the financial crisis and are now very money savvy. We have old cars, cheap mobiles, always shop in discounters etc. I would just never want to go back to that so have never over stretched since.
Not everybody has had that wake up call yet though and are reaching their limit very early in this crisis which is worrying.

Had she got small print in her contract how far she can live? DH was checking something in his contract recently and realised that he’s got one. It was never relevant as we’re always close enough but I wonder that some people might have it without realising.

is it 25 miles away as some of the posts are saying 50, if it is 50 then that is a very long commute by car, if 25, a lot of people commute this distance

I think that for years as a society we've over committed ourselves financially, big houses that cost 50+% of net salary,

The housing market is fucked and that included rental market for both reneters and landlords.

Our mortgage is much less than private rent prices of slightly smaller houses - which isn't uncommon.

DH has a long commute because we couldn't afford to buy nearer to his work - an area where house prices have been inflated in recent years as people are priced out of nearish London.

Large parts of the country we just couldn't afford to buy or even live in - including where I was raised and we have bigger income than min wage.

I think this is a good approach to take. While employers are not responsible for solving this problem, working out what could help ease the pain a bit for their staff is a good approach to take.

People end up living a distance from work which has been manageable for years but the last few years have thrown curveballs. The comments about people overstretching themselves....no one could have foreseen fuel bills being five times as much a few years later could they? Even those with a decent margin will find themselves stretched.

God I hate the 'just move' lot. It's really not that easy. I'm in the 30-40 mile round trip a day group. For one, we would struggle to afford a house closer to my work. Then it would mean uprooting kids from their lives and schools. Dh would be further away from his job.

Could I get a job closer to home? If I wanted demotion and less money, then perhaps. But as a middle aged, experienced teacher, I'm still too expensive. So just have to suck it up. As a pp said, it's the younger colleagues and those with massive childcare bills that will struggle more.

If she's paid well and tied into a large mortgage, then she's going to have to do what people on low incomes have always done. Cut back on other areas of spending, or find a job closer to home. It's not exactly rocket science, is it?

I can see this starting to affect schools in areas where the teachers can't afford to live nearby. Even more so if the ulez is extended in greater london.

Teaching staff were, at the end of the last school year, beginning to find it a challenge. It is a problem. I don't think those who don't live rurally will understand the reliance on car ownership either. For example, for my job, I can not get on a bus to get there. No busses exist from my house, to my workplace. It is only a short distance but it's just how it is in many communities.

Sometimes situations change. A mortgage can be very affordable and life can be comfortable, until it changes and then it's a stretch. It isn't always about overstretching at the outset.