To expect my work to pay for broadband and other wfh expenses?

[Zazzii]

Since last March like many of us I have been working from home - I have a work laptop and phone and use our spare room. I had always worked the odd day at home when it was convenient for wating in for deliveries/ appointments etc but only once or twice a month. I, and line manager etc, were happy with this but it was seen as a bit of a perk

Now that working from home is established as the 'new normal' is it wrong for me to expect my employer to cover my broadband costs? They dont seem inclined to give us anything telling us that as we have it already there is no increased costs for us of using it for an additional 7 hours a day.

It is vital for the business that we are connected therefore the cost should be met by the business. Plans from teh summer are for us to continue working from home at least for part of the week so it will be long term.

I undertsand that they dont want to get involved in discussions about individual broadband contracts etc but a standard amount for all staff - say £30 a month?, £40?- should be part of our expenses claim. Or do I need to accept it as part of the new way of working?

Then there are other expenses which I have incurred over the past year - bigger things like the heating and electricity during the day but also small things like the coffee, tea and other refreshments I would normally expect to have at work which I have had to pay for.

I havent reduced any costs in other areas - my commute is 2 miles by bike so negilible cost and time saving.

Am I being unreasonable? Would it be unreasonable to try and rally my fellow workers to ask for this?

@TatianaBis

We are also trying to... keep our job

If it's becoming too difficult for people to work, it's easy to put their name down first when redundancies are starting.

Your company will make you redundant for pointing out you need decent broadband to do your job? It's in their interest no?

Many employers would see it as being in their interests to employ people who pay for their own broadband and to generally shut up and get on with their jobs.

@crumbsnamechange

I want to know what my company are doing with the money they are saving on our refreshments/heating etc. They had to pay for some people to get Zoom licences but that's the only expense as far as I can make out.

I work for a company that is really open about this stuff, and their monthly costs have not reduced at all, some months it has gone up. They are saving on tea bags and biscuits, but still need to pay bills on the office, and have been very good at paying expenses for monitors, desks, webcam, etc, for employees.

I now run my own business from home and claim part of my broadband costs when I do my accounts. I have to state what % is for private use and then deduct that from the yearly cost. Similarly with the phone. I also claim part of my heating/lighting/council tax etc for those parts of the house which are related to my business use. The HMRC website has set amounts which you can claim or you can work out the actual use yourself.

Way back in the early 1990s before universal broadband it was part of my job to work from home 2/3 days a week as an academic. I didnt get any allowance for using the internet but I was able to dial in from home and use the university connection which was much faster than my home one.

I also saved on commuting fares, clothes, makeup and lunches/coffees on those days so it would not have occurred to me to ask my employer to make an allowance.

I checked our gas and electric account this morning. Last January gas and electric (when both me and DP were out of the house during the day) was £130 for the month. This January with DP WFH full time it was £270!!

I WFH yesterday and was a bit chilly, so put a jumper on and closed the bedroom door - within an hour I was too hot. If only my DP had figured out this tactic, but no, he has to be able to sit there in short sleeves because "jumpers are outside clothes"

@TatianaBis

Another thing all wfh should consider is - if your broadband does go down - how many GBs of data are there on your phone contract and will tethering cover you for a couple of days if necessary? Some phone companies charge a lot if you suddenly go over your data limit. Consider getting a Mifi device.

I have both - belt and braces.

If my broadband goes down they'll have to let me go into the office, there's no way I'm using my mobile data to work!

When I was WFH it was mandated. For precisely the reason I noted upthread. If you're on a domestic contract, you can wait a long time for a repair. Depending on ISP a business one has a 24 hour fix time.

Yep mine has an engineer out within 24 hours.

Even so Virgin business in my area went down for a couple of days last year and I had to use my Mifi device. Virgin then refunded the extra broadband costs.

To all those saying 'of course your employer shouldn't pay for your broadband, you would have it anyway' -

If you drove to work and your neighbour joined the company and asked to get a lift with you every day, would you expect petrol money? Most people would say they should contribute. Why should the neighbour pay for your petrol when you would be using it anyway? Because they should not be getting something they need just as much as you do for free, and free-riding on you.

Why should a company that requires people to have a space to work (with light and heat) and broadband, suddenly have no costs relating to those?

@TatianaBis

We are also trying to... keep our job

If it's becoming too difficult for people to work, it's easy to put their name down first when redundancies are starting.

Your company will make you redundant for pointing out you need decent broadband to do your job? It's in their interest no?

Mine will make redundant people who are a pain in the ass

It's people taking the piss the problem. We have supplied all the techs, everybody got at least 1 new fully ready work laptop.

Coming back to claim for a shredder or a pack of pencils

Many employers would see it as being in their interests to employ people who pay for their own broadband and to generally shut up and get on with their jobs.

They may, until employees' broadband goes down for a week and they can't do their work.

@TatianaBis

Another thing all wfh should consider is - if your broadband does go down - how many GBs of data are there on your phone contract and will tethering cover you for a couple of days if necessary? Some phone companies charge a lot if you suddenly go over your data limit. Consider getting a Mifi device.

I have both - belt and braces.

From memory, if Virgin were unable to provide a fix on their business lines, they'd supply a SIM with a 4G (now 5G I imagine) dongle to replace your router.

I never understood why Virgin, BT and Sky didn't push to provide WFH packages for their really big customers. My last employers spending with Virgin and BT was in the millions. Surely someone in their marketing department had floated the idea of plugging WFH deals ?

@HeyDemonsItsYaGirl

When you worked in the office did you think they should pay for your bike? After all it was needed for you to get to work. And your clothes - it's their rule that you can't go to work naked or in pyjamas, so why should you pay for clothes?

People who are required to wear uniforms or special clothing for safety reasons often have it provided for free.

@thecatandthevicar claiming or getting the company to provide a shredder makes sense if the person has confidential company documents that they need to dispose off.

But pencils..........

I’ve been at home for a year now. Claimed the tax relief - so an extra £1.20 a week - but am substantially out on energy bills, and previously walked to work so no saving on travel. We didn’t get free or subsidised drinks though!

It seems bizarre to me that I am actually paying more in bills to do my job, in less than ideal circumstances, but I know we should all be grateful to be employed and suck it up.

Don't be so ridiculous. I'm pretty sure you're probably saving far more than your broadband costs by WFH.

@thecatandthevicar

I am amazed by all these people who have different heating costs. Did you all switch off the heating every time you left the house?

Well it switches it self off, but yes. Why would I heat an empty house?

YABU expecting your employer to pay for tea/coffee etc. If you already have broadband I dont see why that's an additional expense.

@therocinante

I can't believe some workplaces don't pay for tea and coffee, that's next level stingy!

I’ve never worked anywhere that does. But then I work in education.

Heating has been the killer for me. I can’t afford to put it on for the full day.

Like the OP, my commuting costs were zero as I cycled, I took my own lunch/coffee/etc and so I’m not saving anything by not having to go to the office.

Not everyone has an unlimited broadband contract and if WFH does become the norm then I do think it’s something people should be able to raise. The same with good-quality office kit - we all took our laptops home but have had to make do as regards chairs, desks etc.

Yes, I’m grateful to have a job, before I get that chucked at me.

@RubbishRobotFromTheDawnOfTime

To all those saying 'of course your employer shouldn't pay for your broadband, you would have it anyway' -

If you drove to work and your neighbour joined the company and asked to get a lift with you every day, would you expect petrol money? Most people would say they should contribute. Why should the neighbour pay for your petrol when you would be using it anyway? Because they should not be getting something they need just as much as you do for free, and free-riding on you.

Why should a company that requires people to have a space to work (with light and heat) and broadband, suddenly have no costs relating to those?

This isn't remotely the same 🤣

You are inconveniencing your neighbour by getting a lift of them to begin with, and the difference is if you don't drive and someone else does 1 petrol doesn't exist.

If internet was paid by the MB these days then perhaps that argument exists, but if you haven't upgraded to faster internet then you have no increased costs at all. It isn't even a work cost in that sense, if you went into the office tomorrow your broadband bill would still exist.

No if employers want fibre speeds, quick maintenance call outs then they should pay.

People who are required to wear uniforms or special clothing for safety reasons often have it provided for free.

Uniforms are advertising/marketing.
Safety clothing is health & safety.

"Normal" clothing for warmth/decency is never allowable as an expense, as has been proved in the tax courts.

If I was the employer I'd insist that you're back in the office everyday. Especially so if you started trying to get other employees involved in a campaign.

@thecatandthevicar

I am amazed by all these people who have different heating costs. Did you all switch off the heating every time you left the house?

well yes! My heating used to only be on for 2 hours in a morning and 2 hours in an evening unless it dropped below a quite low temperature during the day. Sitting at a desk all day I really need it to be at least 18 or I get reynauds!

I agree heating bills plus office equipment are much more of an employers’ responsibility than broadband - unless you can prove categorically that you had to upgrade your contract as it was not sufficient for home working. Employers should only have to pay additional expenses that leave their employees out of pocket. My company is incredibly supportive but they took over 6 months to give us a small budget for an office set up ($500 pre tax) and about 2 months to even send out monitors and keyboards (couldn’t take ones from the office as they were all mounted). I’ve never seen anyone say they would cover heating even though for most that’s probably the biggest extra expense - hundreds a month for us as we live in a very old house. But I guess you could argue commuting plus the £6 per week helps offset that. Either way, broadband doesn’t leave you out of pocket.

Why not pencils? If they are normally provided at work, why not? Ditto board pens, biros for marking, printer paper..
Many people do not want to continue to wfh full time. My DD and her partner have a one bed flat in London. It was impossible for them to both wfh as she is a teacher and needed to be teaching online and he is on conference calls most of the day and into the evening. The bedroom is small and totally unsuitable for working from, and the kitchen likewise. She had to travel to school every day and work from there. Holidays were miserable as she couldn't use the living room or make a noise

I think many employers are taking a tougher stance (ours we don’t get extras beyond the tax wfh allowance) basically if we can’t WFH with own broadband meeting the business stipulations of quiet/ secure space to work (financial company) we have to go into office which has now moved further away as management shut one of their buildings after forcing all 300 plus staff to wfh to save same business money. It’s a no brainier to wfh for most staff as they don’t want extra commute back. But I also expect a lot of people will naturally leave our company and they will struggle to retain staff long term train new recruits as WFH is not the nirvana people thought.