How much £ is WFH worth to you?

[Howmuchwfh]

How much money would you sacrifice to never have to travel to an office for work?

Currently considering a 20% pay cut to be fully remote. I am a high earner for what it's worth and currently travel a far amount plus regular office days.

I’d do the same.

Have you factored in savings on commuting too, which would be an outgoing after tax?

I am in a fully remote role on 80usd an hour. I’d do it for 30 an hour but I’m not telling them that!

At least double the cost of my season ticket tbh. Probably triple.

Commute costs are minimal for me - maybe £200 a month. Lots of my travel is expensed, it's just so tiring and tough with/on my kids!

If you can afford it then it's priceless! How much does you current commute cost you?, and obviously there's your actual time.
I've been WFH for 18 months, do an office day once every 2 months, and nothing would make me want to go back full time.

I'm fully remote for a few years. I'm looking for something hybrid as I am going slightly mad. I've joined clubs, etc, but still missing the office. The house is so quite when WFM. Also so tired of video calls. Its not natural, miss some sort of interaction.

This. Before Covid, I was 100% in the office. Never thought anything of it as didn't know any different. Now, we're just in the office once or twice a month. I hate it. Really lonely. Terrible for my mental health. I think hybrid would be much better - eg, 50/50 split.

I genuinely think people don't cost the benefit on this accurately enough. People tend to think in terms of, say, a £10k difference in pay. But after Tax/NI etc, you're probably looking at only £6-7k take home (and that's without any other deductions) and then you've got to cost your time (say 1-2hrs a day), extra 8-10 hours 'work time' a week and then costs of commute and dependent on your salary etc, you're easily 'saving' the £6-7k in time costs, commute costs, wear and tear on car, work clothes etc. Unless the difference is huge, WFH is worth it - when you have children perhaps even more so in terms of less childcare, availability etc.
That said, I prefer being in work but do have the option (but my commute is a max 10min walk, 2 min drive).

Yes, this is what I worry about most. I would have to make some kind of active plans to prevent the crazy. I worry I might sacrifice the adult interaction/being out in the world and end up in a bubble of small kids/my house!

I would love a job 10 mins walk from my house!

You also need to be careful about taking on too much domestic and childcare stuff. Will your DC need attention after school? Will your partner assume you will sort out dinner every night because you’re already at home? Worth thinking about these things.

I took a £15k payout but I was a teacher so stress was also a factor.
In real money, it wasn't actually £15k because with the commute and long days and marking on weekends etc I could only manage working 3 days a week with 2 small children.
Now I'm remote I work full time.

Mm
I go in on average twice a week, entirely my choice. It £30 a time in train fares and about an hour each way.
It's 5% of my gross pay.
But I like doing it!

It's the time factor for me. That's worth so much.

I was offered a job for a 30% pay rise but 2 days a week in the office and I seriously hesitated to take it. I did in the end and I'm glad as it's more like 2 days a month in the office if that, so win win for me but yeah if it massively increased my time at home I'd take a pay cut.

While Ds needs me to drop him at the school bus in the mornings, either a very local job or wfh is worth ,000s in stress reduction alone.

That ends in June but I'll never go back to a long commute. I'd rather retire, I'm 62 and I don't need to put up with the hassle any more.

I wouldn't but I have only ever had a max 45 min commute, now 30 mins (driving). I like going to work and being amongst other people too much to WFH.

I’d look at the savings. If you are saving e.g. £200 on commuting and another £100 by needing less childcare hours, that’s £500 a month less you need to earn, so a 20% pay reduction could lead to more disposable income.

But… do think about the implication for your pension and career prospects.

20% is a lot. I took a fully remote job at around a 7% pay cut from my previous role where I was expected in the office twice a week.

For me it's at least £10k which was approx 15% of my income at the time.

Cost of fuel, tolls, parking, buying lunch because I needed to escape the office, random purchases because I have no control, dog sitter / walker - actual costs I could quantify.

Unquantifiable benefits - my chronic migraine is under control because I can manage my environment (heat, light, sounds, smells), increased time spent with the dog who is aging, increased time spent with the husband who deploys for months at a time, flexibility to do local things like pop to a GP appt which takes me 45mins but would have required a half day off in my old job. My mental health is the best it's ever been.

Sticking on a wash, turning on the dishwasher, running the robot hoover and bring able to rescue it, accepting parcels at the door.

Avoiding office politics, not wanting to murder people for eating with their mouths open - priceless.

However it's probably come at a cost to my career trajectory, so that's worth considering in advance.

Im hybrid and a FT wfh model doesn’t suit me so I wouldn’t take an increase to move to that model let alone a salary cut.

conversely I refused to even consider a role last year that was 5 days in office up from the two I currently do, for a 30% increase. So I guess that’s the value I put on my current situation.

Could not have said this up better I was such a stressed person before Covid and didn’t even realise it working at home has saved me

I've WFH since 2014 and I'd not leave this set up for anything less than £20k extra. Compared to my previous job I reclaimed at least 2 hours each working day that I wasted on commuting. We were able to get a dog as I could walk him in the morning on the school run and be in the house during the day. Although I had childcare for after school while they were in primary, I was still able to do tea time and all dropping off to hobbies and sports. I've been able to go to all sports days, parents evenings, concerts and that's all priceless. When I've had health issues, it's eaten up far less time than if I'd worked away from my GP surgery. I've been able to volunteer as a school governor, on a few other community committees etc because I can be more flexible and get to meetings more easily. My colleagues all WFH and we do set hours so there's trust. It's been brilliant for family life, work-life balance and other opportunities which make my life feel more worthwhile. So yes, I've stuck at a lower paid job because I don't want to lose the flexibility and the trust. For a few years I did this job part time alongside a job that needed me on site 2 days a week and I hated having to make a packed lunch and the absolute waste of time being in the office early was as everyone else would just chat and catch up for the first half hour - like, I had to use breakfast club and drop the dog to my mum, could we just crack on and get stuff done?

My WFH situation is kind of different because I’m a tutor. I will do home visits for some children (physical disabilities, ASD..) but unless there’s a reason I tend to primarily take pupils who come to me. It’s just having to lug all my stuff in the car, drive there, drive back ect. Also I have a really good set up. I don’t turn down everyone who requests home visits but I have turned down some.

For DH, him working from home is pretty important for us. Having another adult in house when I’ve got the kids gives me peace of mind. If he got offered 20% more to come in full time, he would probably take it but it wouldn’t be an automatic yes. He prefers it as well because we can have lunch together and he just prefers the home perks like wearing his slippers around.

Thanks for the input. I am senior and both jobs are well paid so not really bothered about that element. Potentially a slight step to the side whilst kids are young might be what I need. I will definitely need to build in opportunities for human interaction though. Has anyone successfully done that?!