To think we shouldn't assume WFH is easier / cheaper?

[BoredtoTiers]

Having read quite a few pieces in the ongoing debate about return to the office, some of the arguments being put forward have been that WFH is necessarily easier / cheaper (often accompanied by a suggestion that it's totally fine to pay less to home workers).

Now obviously, employers can make a job office based and employees can either accept that or go elsewhere. This isn't really about that.

My own experience is that home working has been more expensive and longer term will be cost neutral at best. Easier? In some ways, but not in others.

Yet I see a lot of articles and posts in threads suggesting that of course it's easier / cheaper. Often this is based on things like the cost of a London commute. AIBU to think that this argument simply doesn't hold water for many who have shifted to home working during the pandemic?

Cheaper for me. Our smart meter shows that our total energy used in a day costs less than my return bus fare to the office so any additional heating/electricity bills are made up for by the bus fare saving. Plus due to allergies I always take a packed lunch to work, and I don’t drink tea/coffee so don’t benefit from it being free in the office.

As for being easier, it’s not for me, but it’s also not much harder. I have a work laptop and a lot of people I deal with day to day aren’t in the same office as me - they’re in other UK offices, around the world, or at client sites. I had a call this week with a colleague based in Boston - it made no difference that we were both at home vs in our respective offices. There are limited second screens in the office and if I don’t get one, it is markedly harder to work than with my second screen at home.

So much more expensive walked / ran / cycled to work now have to heat the house. Only I don’t heat the house as too expensive sit in a giant wool jersey and wrapped in a blanket and feel miserable.

Hate not having any to bounce ideas through, feel like I am working harder and achieving less.

Spent more on running gear to cheer myself than ever did on work clothes.

working from home has broken me.

More expensive for me, I have to have a stable none interferred internet connection so I disconnect everything but my work laptop from the wifi, but that means I have to have my data on as school/parents/others contact me via email or the app and need me to respond.

Also gas and electric due to have the lights on when it goes dark earlier and the heating on. And I'm on a water meter as well so using more water to boil the kettle/wash my hands after the toilet. It all adds up.

My work had a carpool service so I'd get a lift with a colleague and the saving there doesn't make up for the more expenses of being at home.

@PickledOnionSandwich

I’ve definitely found it cheaper. No fuel costs. No temptations to buy lunch out and I’ve not bought any new work clothes in two years. What’s not to like?

My commute was a 1 mile walk. I'd take a home made coffee in a travel mug and a packed lunch. My savings are in work clothes but I think that's balanced out with extra heating and water costs. Think wfh is cost neutral for me.

I prefer wfh though, as I'm an introvert and noisy offices drain me.

'Dead time' in the office was absolutely that, whereas I do appreciate that I have more options as to how I use e.g. short breaks between meetings.

My experience of wfh was that I could easily spend all day logging out of one call and straight into the next. So there was no "dead time". Whereas in the office, people scheduled between meeting time to physically move from meeting to meeting and you could use that time to grab a drink or chat to a colleague about something of mutual interest.

DH doesn’t have the option of going back to work as they’ve closed the whole office. I already work from home, and sharing a room for (loud, meeting filled) work is going to get one of us buried under the patio.

His work involves multiple screens and doesn’t port easily between places. It takes up most of the dining table.

While one or other student child is absent it’s ok-ish as we can co-opt a bedroom. When they’re all here, that doesn’t work.

I’m actually pretty indignant that his work can effectively permanently co-opt part of our living space without even asking.

Well you can write off some costs of wfh/ claim them from govt if your office was closed due to pandemic, and you can’t do thst with rail fares if you’re employed, so that’s a saving. I think wfh is cheaper for me.

DH already WFH a lot so not much difference in our lekki/heating oil use when I came home, too.

DH and I are both still mainly wfh and going into work one or two days a week (neither of us used to wfh before Covid).

It's much cheaper for us. DH saves on parking and train fare and I save on petrol. Also lunch at home is cheaper (of course we could take a packed lunch to work, but never do).

Heating isn't a massive issue for us - we're happy to keep the house quite chilly and wear jumpers etc.

@Howshouldibehave

No WFH for me as I’m a teacher, but it’s saved DH a fortune. £400+ a month train fares, no need for work clothes/shoes/lunches/coffees etc

The 4 hours a day extra time that used to be spent travelling has been a huge bonus to mental health and work/life balance as well.

Why and how has home working been MORE expensive for you?!

Can you really not see how it wouldn’t be more expensive for some people? Really?

Heating. Electricity. Broadband packages gone up. No subsidised canteen. No free milk for
Tea etc. No free printing of stuff you need FOR your job

I sit wrapped in a heated blanket as I live in a big house ( 🎻 ) on oil heating that was 38p a litre in end 2019 and is 74p now
Had to buy a desk, a chair - rearrange our living space
Kettle on and off all day

My commute was 12 mins by car and free parking. So actually I’ve also had to replace my car battery as it conked out because I hardly use my cat but don’t live on a bus route (rural, no street lights or
pavement etc)

Sorry to pinpoint you but your !! Surprise is just weird

Also I hardly use my car. The cat is well used 😂

So I actually don’t really need a car now but would be stranded without it so it’s another additional expense.

Cheaper for me too, no bus/rail fares (only about £5 a day tbf) and no temptation to buy outside lunch on my wfh days.

We don't put the heating on (live in a flat so only need the heating on in the morning for a bit), we do use more electricity but I get a wfh allowance.

No need for breakfast club is the biggest saving as can drop DS1 off at 8.45 and be back home to log in by 8.55.

@GuppytheCat

DH doesn’t have the option of going back to work as they’ve closed the whole office. I already work from home, and sharing a room for (loud, meeting filled) work is going to get one of us buried under the patio.

His work involves multiple screens and doesn’t port easily between places. It takes up most of the dining table.

While one or other student child is absent it’s ok-ish as we can co-opt a bedroom. When they’re all here, that doesn’t work.

I’m actually pretty indignant that his work can effectively permanently co-opt part of our living space without even asking.

Yes! Cheek of it. We have a large house split between dh dd and myself and mum in an annexe

(Heating already split between ‘houses’ )
We have 2 bedrooms and 2 living rooms but I basically work from one - I could use dd room when she’s not here but I’d have to move 2 screens plus laptop and all the mountains of wires

My office block has been sold too

I don't find wfh easier. I have a household of 5 people to manage at home. It might be great that I can put a wash on etc, but that doesn't make my job easier.

I tend to finish a day wfh dissatisfied at my participation at work. When I am working I am being paid to focus at work. I am grateful for the occasional day where a tradesperson can come round etc but again I don't think it makes me better at my job

I now rarely wfh, and encourage people back too

Even accounting for extra money spent on heat, water and electricity (which I've noticed for sure) it still works out cheaper for me. Petrol prices are so high right now and commute takes an hour+ in traffic and just rinses the petrol tank.

I also don't have to send DS1 to before school club when WFH as WFH means I don't need to leave for work at 7am or earlier to beat the traffic (if I left at 8am or later I'd never make it in for 9am). That alone saves me a about £10 a day. I also don't need to pay for early-bird nursery fees for the baby when WFH so that's another £8 saved per day.

fWIW I do go to the office twice a week as I think it's important to be in a bit and see colleagues. But I can see this reducing to maybe once one week and twice the next week - the reality has been that I go in to see colleagues but they're actually not there!

I think it depends on the person, the larger the commute the bigger the saving.

I always took lunch in anyway, my commute is a 20 min drive, yes it does save breakfast club, but with heating water and electricity use at home it is probably only slightly cheaper and I am not sure that i will continue to get the v tiny tax benefit once we are back to hybrid working.

However the employer is also making a saving in buildings and all the expense that comes with that.

The biggest winner is the environment and road structures imo less people driving/ travelling is less environmental damage

A loser is public transport users as less demand means companies cut timetables.

There are loads of pros and cons at personal/ commercial/ social levels for both wfh and on site.

I have similar financial wfh costs/savings as outlined above. The biggest cost though is extending our house to provide a suitable office area. Both husband and I needed to move to wfh and as it became clear this was going to be longer term we no longer wanted both our bedroom and our kitchen to become permanent office areas. Also had to buy office furniture. I feel fortunate that we were able to do this as made a big improvement in the wfh experience and work/life balance.

wfh was more expensive for me as I can walk to work. I also used walking to work as exercise and destress time, so had to replace it with something else while wfh so therefore not saving any time.

This for me too. My commute was my exercise, listening to music/podcasts and reading time. I either don’t do it much any more (podcasts) or have moved it into the evening (reading and exercise) but I’m usually too tired to stay up late enough once bedtimes, dinner and housework have all been done.

Monthly travel card in London was just short of £200 my gas and electric is probably going up that much.
However, I always eat food in the house, no cafe temptation
Don’t pay for childcare as can pick my child up.
So definitely cheaper wfh for me.

There's also the cost of using your own equipment at home, not all employers provide laptops. I've had to use my own and it's now falling to bits with wear and tear. I also got a lot of back and shoulder pain from using the kitchen table as a desk so we ended up buying adjustable chairs, laptop stands, keyboards and mice etc.

I'm now back in the office 5 days per week but 'occasional working from home' requests are only granted where we can provide photographic evidence of adequate dse set up at home - all at our own expense.

I save £80 per month on train fare, plus saving on bought lunches, work clothes etc. It isn't the money so much for me though - its the logistics (or lack of) that make me much prefer WFH.

I have my own office, its quiet, I have natural light and fresh air if I want it (office is sealed windows and recirculated air). No chatty Cathys so I can actually crack on with work without having to hear about Kelly's kids toilet training, or Lauren's new boyfriend.

I actually don't work directly with anyone at my office or have f2f meetings, so being dragged back in just so I can sit in a hotdesking seat and lose hours of my day to trying to get the IT equipment to work seems pointless. Seriously considering looking for a full time WFH job..

It works out more expensive for me and sometimes a lot harder.
Electric and gas use have obviously increased and I'm not saving on fuel as I still have to take DC to school anyway.
Wfh is okay through the week days when everyone else is at work/school but I also work weekends and evenings.My job involves answering calls all day and of a weekend there are 6 people at home and all the noise that come with them. My DP also has to deal with our 3 year old who doesn't understand why he can't come upstairs to see mummy and I get stressed as I can hear him upset downstairs.

@GuppytheCat — absolutely agree. The assumption that everyone has a spare room or a study to work in beggars belief. DH and I are now WFH. One of us is in the living room and the other in the kitchen/dining room. I often can’t make a drink as he’ll be in the kitchen on a call. The kids can’t watch TV in the living room when they come in from school because I’m working there. I feel like I’m working to pay a mortgage on not just my home, but to benefit my employer! The irony! I am supposed to divert my work phone to my own mobile as work won’t provide mobiles. I just don’t do this and pretend to miss calls. They’re not paying for my contract so they don’t get a say. Commute is negligible in terms of cost savings, ditto childcare. Gas bill has shot up. I’m not winning in this scenario!

i will continue to get the v tiny tax benefit once we are back to hybrid working.

I think it's being made more complicated to claim.

Probably neutral for me, as I drive in and my daughters school is half way and I do that drive regardless even when WFH. I used to take lunch maybe 80% of the time, now I cook something or make a sandwich so probably similar. What I save on the petrol I save not making the other half of the journey from school to office I pay on additional heating and electricity costs. No temptation to pop to the shopping centre and no lunches with colleagues. We go back 2 days a week from next week (I’m already back 1 day) and I’m looking forward to it.