To wonder about the heating bills for WFH?

[CheetasOnFajitas]

It’s occurred to me, now that colder weather has set in and it looks like those who can do so will be WFH for the next 6 months- the heating bills are going to be through the roof!

Has anyone’s employer acknowledged that home-based employees are going to have to bear this cost? I know for some it will be offset by no commuting costs, but not for all: my husband and I cycle to work normally.

I do acknowledge that I am personally lucky to (a) have a job that can be done from home and (b) have a job at all.

@Teateaandmoretea

Where did anyone say it was “the most of their problems?”. I missed the rule that said you can only talk about the biggest and most important issue in your life.

You are the one getting wound up here, so to you it obviously is a big thing. In terms of inconveniences right now it is low to anyone sensible.

I’m not remotely wound up. I am just replying calmly to people’s comments. Like you do when you post on an Internet forum for a debate? Example of anything I have said that suggests I am “wound up”?

For us we are saving circa £100 a month on petrol so it's worked out ok, but moving to a bigger house soon (we'll have an office and a kitchen to work in rather than doing calls sitting on my bed!) and bills will be higher

You are the one getting wound up here, so to you it obviously is a big thing.

And at the moment for no reason, hasn't even spoken to management.

What are the most energy efficient extra heaters to get? We have an old house so don’t want to heat the whole house during the day.

@Figbee

In the office that is literally the law

No it isn't, there isn't a legal min or max, but the guidance is that it's a reasonable temp.

The employer is legally obliged to ensure a reasonable temperature for working.

You can apply through the government for £6 per week towards WFH expenses btw.

Not quite...

blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2020/04/martin-lewis--working-from-home-due-to-coronavirus--claim-p6-wk-/

You are saving money I expect on coffees and lunches etc so I would offset that against the extra money spent on heating, working from home during the winter

Not all of us spend any extra money on coffee and lunches while at work. I don't, neither does my husband.

Just cough up for a couple of heating pads, the kind the elderly use. They cost literally pennies to run.

The employer is legally obliged to ensure a reasonable temperature for working.

Yes but reasonable is subjective. Happy to hear of any successful court cases where someone has sued their employer for it being too cold or too hot, happy to admit I'm wrong.

@Figbee

You are the one getting wound up here, so to you it obviously is a big thing.

And at the moment for no reason, hasn't even spoken to management.

There is a VERY good reason- the thought only occurred to me at half past 4 today and I decided to have a think about it and gather some opinions before “raising with management”.

What are the most energy efficient extra heaters to get?

All electric heaters are 100% efficient.

They might not be the cheapest to run though.

Another one for a heated throw. Cheap to run and toastie toastie. Also fingerless gloves. Here's hoping for a mild winter.

@Bwlch

What are the most energy efficient extra heaters to get?

All electric heaters are 100% efficient.

They might not be the cheapest to run though.

Small oil filled radiator here.

I think it would be beyond cheeky fuckery to request payment help from work for working if you are WFH

Heating

I think it would be beyond cheeky fuckery to request payment help from work for working if you are WFH

Why? If it is costing you more to WFH than it does to work at your employer's premises and your employer is saving money by having you working from home, then it is entirely reasonable.

If we are in lockdown, you'll be spending less money anyway; working from home means less expenditure generally, eg you don't have to dress well all the time, buy lunches, etc.

You don't have to have the heating on full. I always had mine on a low temperature all day and night when I was at work, turned it up when at home of course but as someone else said, you only have to have it on high in your work room.

There is a VERY good reason- the thought only occurred to me at half past 4 today and I decided to have a think about it and gather some opinions before “raising with management”

So you're going to speak to them and say well I've spoken to people on MN and am going to ask you if you'll give me money for my heating haha.

Wish we could get AC in summer at work, no fun being in full PPE when it’s 34 degrees at work! Would rather it be freezing as can always wear more clothes🤣
Not sure what the answer is OP. Right now unfortunately you are going to upset some people due to the current job situation.

Ask the Royal Family how they are coping and then get back to the rest of us, thanks.

eg you don't have to dress well all the time, buy lunches, etc.

I wore the same clothes during lockdown as I do for work. I don't buy special clothes to go to work, nor do I buy lunches.

There's loads of people where I work WFH and they all don't want to come - they're saving a fortune on petrol and lunches - probably also clothes I know one in particular who's wearing jammies all the time lol.

Businesses won't be able to make individual rules for each worker. So the fact an individual cycled to work or never spent money on takeaway coffee is irrelevant.

Businesses will have to look at it in general terms and make general rules if any.

They might say they are saving on heating costs in their office and give every workers a small extra payment. Most won't pay anything extra and we should bear in mind that most businesses are having a hard time.

There will be different savings and costs involved in working from home for each person. Most people won't be considering totting them up and trying to present their employer with the list. It does seem penny pinching and remember this is government policy not a choice from the firm who might prefer their workers to be in.

If working from home results in really significant unavoidable extra costs it might be worth asking. But I woukd approach it as simply enquiring rather than coming across with a sense of entitlement.

And crucially I don't think there is an entitlement or any responsibility on firms to cover this and that some people are always on the look-out for every opportunity to squeeze the last penny of expenses or do the absolute minimum (or less than it) at work. This kind of attitude, which particulate fails to recognise the difficulties employers face too at the moment seems rather tunnel-visioned and unaware of wider issues.

But you’re obviously saving on not commuting

I’m don’t pay for commuting either and I took my lunch anyway, so there isn’t a huge cost saving for me. I’ve not worked out how much extra working from home is costing us because they’ve never had our direct debits right - they whacked the direct debits up earlier this year (before lockdown) as we had a debt but now we have a few hundred in credit with them!

However, my office was pretty shit with heating. One, I work with mainly men and obviously they like working in sub-zero temperatures. Two, all last winter our office boiler was broken. So I’m used to be cold at work. The advantage of being cold at home is that you can put slippers on your feet, a blanket over legs and if necessary between calls sit with your hood up. I’d also recommend hot drinks, even if you don’t drink them, you can put your hands around the mug or hug the mug into your body. They’re really easy ways to keep warm on a call if you can’t put your hood up.

For me, it’s going to cost more but I get to decide what temperature the house will be. And I can easily put another pair of socks on (or wear my thick Christmas morning socks). I think longer term, employers that value their staff will start to offer flexible woe and the standard arrangement will be if you’re working from home you will be offered an allowance. For now, I think it’s just muddling through. Sometimes management need a push to start thinking about these things. If you’re worried about bringing it up, suggest an anonymous staff survey (or wellbeing survey or check-in, whatever terminology your work like). You can suggest work from allowances and you’ll probably find that many others do too.

OP - "we didn't have any commuting costs"

45992894 replies "what about the money you're saving by not commuting"

🤦‍♀️

@Xiaoxiong sorry I'm late to this but ur landlord's practise doesn't sound legal if you're in England? (don't know about Scottish law). she or he should give you the ability to choose your own tariff and how/ when to heat your house. There's some government finance coming up which could help, this goes live next Wednesday but take a look at the simple energy advice website. ll would have to pay the first third of the costs of upgrades they suggest and fund, unless your house is listed in which case more tricky.